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Author Topic: Follow-up on Heathrow & UK airports  (Read 14510 times)

jjj

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Follow-up on Heathrow & UK airports
« Reply #20 on: January 17, 2008, 01:31:28 pm »

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Christopher, yes, I agree, BA service is generally first-rate. I've been flying with them a lot during the more active years of my professional carreer. And for regular business travel I have only good things to say about them. The airport itself is a dfifferent story, but Terminal 5 may correct much of that. The discussion here is about one specific issue that has a recent genesis and evolution, and for a traveling photographer could be a real deal-breaker despite all the other good things.[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=167773\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Like I said above it's the airport that  is the major pain not BA. Not that BA is woithout fault.
BAA however have been attacked in the UK press of late for various things to do with how they run the airposts in the UK. The airlines in the UK attack the airports/BAA for how they do things but they have to do what the airports [or government] tell them to.
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Mark D Segal

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Follow-up on Heathrow & UK airports
« Reply #21 on: January 17, 2008, 01:48:36 pm »

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Like I said above it's the airport that  is the major pain not BA. Not that BA is woithout fault.
BAA however have been attacked in the UK press of late for various things to do with how they run the airposts in the UK. The airlines in the UK attack the airports/BAA for how they do things but they have to do what the airports [or government] tell them to.
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Like I said above, there is shared responsibility for this mess. And it isn't only the UK by the way. This is dated, but symptomatic of how it works or doesn't work: [a href=\"http://www.hoothollow.com/TIPS%202002-2003/Tip-March%202003.html]US restrictions (2003-04)[/url]

Different rules covering differnet aspects of the baggage business are set by different entities. When it all adds up to a mess, from our perspective as victims it is a plague on all their houses. Customers of BA, or any other such airline for that matter, may have more clout directing their complaints at the people who want their revenue, rather than trying to complain to government bureaucracies and airport administrators wo have their own agendas and are largely unaffected by passenger concerns.
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mahleu

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Follow-up on Heathrow & UK airports
« Reply #22 on: January 18, 2008, 08:51:22 am »

I went through Heathrow yesterday with two camera bags as hand luggage and had no problems. I flew with SAA though so I can't speak for BA.

On a completely unrelated note, BA managed to miss the runway last night delaying all the flights  
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jjj

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Follow-up on Heathrow & UK airports
« Reply #23 on: January 18, 2008, 11:31:56 am »

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I flew with SAA though so I can't speak for BA.[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=167948\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Why do people keep talking about specific airlines allowing whatever, when it is the airports that say whether or not you can take baggage through. Check in desks rarely even look at one's cabin luggage, let alone weigh it/check sizes. I doubt I've ever travelled under the onboard weight allowance [if there is one].
However the security guys when you go through passport control will certainly check to see if your luggage does fit in the size check frame, which of late are determined by the Government, not the airlines]. They are then are difficult if it's even just the straps that stop it fitting. That's in the UK BTW, flying back to the UK no-one seems that bothered. Obeying petty + irrelevent rules is a very British trait.
People who are like that are called 'Jobsworths'. As in "More than my job's worth."
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Mark D Segal

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Follow-up on Heathrow & UK airports
« Reply #24 on: January 18, 2008, 12:23:41 pm »

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Why do people keep talking about specific airlines allowing whatever, when it is the airports that say whether or not you can take baggage through. Check in desks rarely even look at one's cabin luggage, let alone weigh it/check sizes. I doubt I've ever travelled under the onboard weight allowance [if there is one].
However the security guys when you go through passport control will certainly check to see if your luggage does fit in the size check frame, which of late are determined by the Government, not the airlines]. They are then are difficult if it's even just the straps that stop it fitting. That's in the UK BTW, flying back to the UK no-one seems that bothered. Obeying petty + irrelevent rules is a very British trait.
People who are like that are called 'Jobsworths'. As in "More than my job's worth."
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=167977\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

jj, that's partly correct. Depending on the airline the check-in staff can be quite anal about the size of carry-on bags eenthough the regulation itself may have been issued by the Government. And some do insist that they be weighed, though this is less frequent. The business about the straps fitting inside the metal frame is a UK-specific add-on which most other countries do not require. Because it is an unusual restriction, the makers of most of the compliant backpacks assume the straps can be outside the dimension limits. In the UK these packs would be rejected, and that is why I shall not risk taking my stuff to the UK until they change this. I have nailed this problem onto BA for resolution, in another letter to the CEO, because they have the clout to talk with DfT - I have none, not even being a citizen of the UK. Photographers in the UK who need to travel with alot of equipment should be up-in-arms about this stuff and bothering their MPs about it.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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mahleu

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Follow-up on Heathrow & UK airports
« Reply #25 on: January 18, 2008, 01:28:29 pm »

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Why do people keep talking about specific airlines allowing whatever, when it is the airports that say whether or not you can take baggage through. [a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=167977\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Because some airlines are still allowing only 1 piece of hand baggage. Ryanair and Easyjet are 2 that I can remember but i'm sure there are others.
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