Why do flights leave early?

[Buddenbrooks]

"pete" <no-one@unknown.com> wrote in message
news:slrnh45beu.1mq.no-one@corv.local...
>I missed my flight today.
> For reasons that will not become clear, I was booked on the 18:25 from
> Murcia to Loo-un courtesy of RyanAir.

Ryan Air and other airlines have a tight schedule and discouage their
staff from being late.

I have been on a RyanAir flight from Bremen where the crew girl stood by
the aircraft door looking at her watch and slamed the door shut
as soon as it was the latest time to be at checkin. There were no
passengers in the departure lounge.

It was the last flight of the day and the staff both aircrew and groundstaff
could go home, so expect them to be pushing it.

They had met their contract, anyone who got to check in prior to the stated
time got their flight.

Ryan Air doo seem to call for missing passengers when they have loaded
baggage, otherwise you do need to be there at the stated time.

Put it another way 200 passengers who did get there on time want to get
home, why should they wait for one tardy passenger?

[Roland Perry]

In message <slrnh46eq3.9gn.no-one@corv.local>, at 08:54:19 on Thu, 25
Jun 2009, pete <no-one@unknown.com> remarked:

>Murcia airport is small - tiny. It has 1 arrivals area and 1 departures
>area. You drop off a hire car, walk to the car rental area (100yds), drop
>off your keys and then walk straight through to security. There's
>never a queue at the security check, they seem to have enough guards to
>deal with their peak-flow. Once through security, you're in the
>one and only departure lounge. All 5 (count 'em!) gates are along one
>side of the room.

I've seen smaller (Poprad in Slovakia, served by Sky Europe from the UK
- there's a flight at lunchtime today, has just two gates iirc).

>I've heard their staff (at the top of the steps, on the aircraft) discussing
>the number of no-shows. Their main concern is that there's enough
>space for people's luggage in the overhead bins or on the floor in fron of
>their seats.

The captain has to sign off the manifest, so there comes a point when
you have to "close" the flight and count the people.

As for baggage, I very rarely see either passengers or flight attendants
putting cases under seats (despite all the trouble they go to, to make
sure that bags they allow on board are small enough to fit). Even when
the overhead bins are full to bursting point.
--
Roland Perry

[Roland Perry]

In message <h1vh4p$me8$1@news.eternal-september.org>, at 10:48:09 on
Thu, 25 Jun 2009, William Black <william.black@***********.uk> remarked:

>Your boarding card will have the time the gate closes printed on it.

I get the impression he's been ignoring that on the basis of "it's a
tiny airport and they won't mind me being 5 minutes late [1] at the
gate. But this time, they did mind.

While we are swapping tales of woe, I had a bit of a wake-up call
earlier this week. When I got to the airport my flight was showing as 25
minutes late. Which is quite unusual (they don't normally admit such a
thing until the last minute). I was in plenty of time (an hour early) so
went off for something to eat, airside.

I was then surprised to see boarding announced (on the screens) early,
and had to scurry to the other end of the airport quite quickly in order
to get to the gate by the allotted time. Of course, the reason they want
you at the *gate* when they specify, is so they can make changes like
that (I still don't know how they made up the time - maybe switching to
a different plane).

[1] ie t-15 minutes rather than t-20 minutes.
--
Roland Perry

[Roland Perry]

In message <slrnh49eet.sfd.no-one@corv.local>, at 12:06:44 on Fri, 26
Jun 2009, pete <no-one@unknown.com> remarked:

>>>Your boarding card will have the time the gate closes printed on it.
>>
>> I get the impression he's been ignoring that on the basis of "it's a
>> tiny airport and they won't mind me being 5 minutes late [1] at the
>> gate. But this time, they did mind.
>
>Well you'd be wrong. Considering I didn't write anything about my
>schedule as it wasn't pertinent to the question I posed

Actually you did. You reported how you got to the gate at 18.10 for an
18.25 flight.

>However, it did get me interested in why the flight didn't take off at
>it's advertised / scheduled time.

Hopefully this has now been explained.

One way to look on it is that the flight "time" is really the "reporting
time at gate" and the subsequent boarding process is just part of the
trip.
--
Roland Perry

[Roland Perry]

In message <h22ghl$ngg$2@news.eternal-september.org>, at 13:56:20 on
Fri, 26 Jun 2009, William Black <william.black@***********.uk> remarked:
>>>So even if the airport security staff are
>>>> scanning boarding cards, the results are only used to satisfy the
>>>>security staff that the person is entitled to go through (modulo a
>>>>good forgery of a boarding card), and the information isn't checked
>>>>with, or passed onto, the airline.
>>>>
>>> The cards are scanned by security and are a one time pass.
>>
>> But only at those airports which bother. I can't think of one outside
>> the UK which does.
>
>Bombay International scans them and stamps them all at security.

I was really thinking about online check-in boarding "cards" from the
likes of Ryanair and Easyjet. But I did have my boarding card stamped on
exit from India as part of the security check, although this was after
checking in a desk, so the airline knew I was there.
--
Roland Perry

[Buddenbrooks]

"Roland Perry" <roland@perry.co.uk> wrote in message
news:j1MiI9drxLRKFA9d@perry.co.uk...
> One way to look on it is that the flight "time" is really the "reporting
> time at gate" and the subsequent boarding process is just part of the
> trip.

For contractral purposes it is the only time that matters.

[Roland Perry]

In message <f941m.14176$xw7.288@newsfe26.ams2>, at 14:36:04 on Fri, 26
Jun 2009, Buddenbrooks <knightstemplar@budweiser.com> remarked:
>> One way to look on it is that the flight "time" is really the "reporting
>> time at gate" and the subsequent boarding process is just part of the
>>trip.
>
>For contractral purposes it is the only time that matters.

Yep, and the contracts state that you have to be at the gate by the
boarding time.
--
Roland Perry

[Buddenbrooks]

"Roland Perry" <roland@perry.co.uk> wrote in message
news:+Ec1E1$pOSRKFANy@perry.co.uk...
> Especially Brits for their homeward leg.
> --

Trusting they can find a Internet Cafe with a working printer at the last
min?

[Henry]

William Black <william.black@***********.uk> wrote:


> For all I know they could have been the cleaners or the porters, nobody
> says who they're from, they wear police style khaki, but so do the bus
> conductors in Bombay, and the badges are often in Hindi...

In some cases they may very well be the cleaners or porters or ... ?

It's the (in)famous 'revenge of the third world', which even the
best-intentioned Westerner sometimes experiences there.

cheers,

Henry

[Buddenbrooks]

"Roland Perry" <roland@perry.co.uk> wrote in message
news:OpYpPkM7KTRKFAZY@perry.co.uk...
> In message <Pfa1m.9$u75.7@newsfe19.ams2>, at 21:32:29 on Fri, 26 Jun 2009,
> Buddenbrooks <knightstemplar@budweiser.com> remarked:
.
>
> BMI-baby, however, only allow it 24hrs in advance of flying, which is a
> significant disadvantage for homebound legs.

I wonder why the only internet terminals at Stansted available to the
public are after security.
I know you have to print it out > 4Hrs but it would be a yseful option.