Stay out of the green and into the black if you know what you're doing when you go pack

I'd been meaning to write something about the US preflight screening 'lanes' that are being piloted at some airports - you're invited to join a black, orange or green lane depending on your experience and confidence at having your hand baggage x-rayed, the size of your group and so on. The black lane is for those of us who have our shoes off and laptops out as soon as we've been given our boarding pass - and it's as much about not having less-experienced travellers intimidated by business people getting impatient as they move through more slowly.

As it happens, I've just posted a comment to the TSA blog which sums up my experience, so I'll just recycle, if I may:

Just got back from the US, where I traveled through Salt Lake and Denver, and am a big fan of the new system - the thing that really surprised me was that people were surprisingly self-aware in choosing lanes; prior to the trip I'd assumed that the black lane would attract people who were over-confident about their familiarity with the system, but that wasn't really the case. Indeed, I'd suggest that there are people who could take the black route who aren't - that passengers tend to underestimate rather than overestimate their experience.

Overall, a very positive experience. Thank you!

Spring forward, fall over: Gatwick forgets to change their clocks

We always wonder what sort of person manages to miss the many messages instructing you to change your clocks as Summertime gives way again to GMT. After all, you'd have to be a bit daft to forget, wouldn't you?

It turns out BAA is a bit daft. They somehow managed to leave Gatwick stuck in BST when the rest of the nation shifted to GMT this morning, thereby creating a whole new flavour of chaos:

Arrival and departure times at Gatwick airport are being published incorrectly on Teletext, Ceefax, the Gatwick website and within the airport itself.

Not every flight is affected. Airport operator BAA said it was mainly domestic flights and some European flights.

You have to take your hat off to BAA - just when you think their amateur-hour performances can't get any worse, they manage to surprise you some more.

Rumours that Ferovial executives spent thirty minutes arguing amongst themselves "is it spring back, fall forward or the other way around" before someone was able to check the correct details in their daughter's My Little Pony Pocket Diary are probably just cruel jibes.

JLA strikes; LHR scolded

As Liverpool prepares for its year in the Capital of Culture glare - it's not clear if it'll be searchlight or spotlight yet - staff at John Lennon Airport are set to strike over a long-running wages dispute.

The offer - a percentage point below what Unions were looking for - won't be recommended to the firefighters, maintainence staff and birdscarers at JLA.

In other airport news, the Competition Commission has oked a rise in fees charged to airlines using Heathrow, but has also called for larger fines for the times when BAA screws up:

The commission says that during its inquiry it received “strong criticisms of quality of service, particularly at Heathrow.”

The problems were not all due to BAA but were also caused by other organisations at the airports including the airlines and the immigration authorities.

The report says, however, that “important aspects of BAA’s performance have been poor.” The existing regime for penalising BAA for weak performance based on service quality rebates paid to the airlines must be “extended and strengthened,” it says.

It criticises the present scheme because it omits “key aspects of performance, including maximum lengths of security queues, and the security arrangements for transfer passengers, airline staff and perimeter control points where performance has been particularly poor.”

BAA, of course, isn't happy at suggestions that it be made to compensate airlines more generously. Understandable, as Heathrow is such a shambles at the moment it'd be losing money like a drunk playing poker with cardsharks. It admits as much:

n a statement on Wednesday, BAA said that the commission’s proposals “introduce a high degree of risk” over plans to refinance its debt.

In other words: their capacity to foul-up operations would leave its future financial plans looking very dodgy indeed.

Small security breach at John Lennon

Some bloke allegedly broke through the vehicle entrance and ran towards the planes. Fair enough, could happen anywhere. What's alarming, though, is the different stories coming from the airline and the airport:

The airport say the man was stopped at the top of the stairs but Thomsonfly say he got on board where he was discovered by cabin crew.

Even more interestingly, apparently, a man running through the airport and getting on a plane (or not) is, apparently, not a breach of security according to Liverpool airport:

Robin Tudor, spokesman for Liverpool Airport, said: "The man forced his way through a security barrier by the main access gate on the airport apron.

"Security guards saw this happen, gave chase immediately and the man was apprehended.

"We don't regard this as a security breach. There was no lapse in security - the man broke a barrier to gain access.

"As a matter of course we have informed the Department of Transport about the incident and they have not instructed us to alter procedures."

So a barrier that doesn't keep people out isn't breached if it is, erm, broken and someone passes through it. It's funny that, in an age where taking a half-bottle of shampoo on a plane is considered dangerous, John Lennon is so laid back about people running onto airside.

Glimpsing Terminal 5

BBC News has had a sneak preview of Terminal 5 at Heathrow, where they're testing the baggage system:

Security officer Mick Pearman, who gave the BBC News website a tour, explains: "We've got cases and bags just like normal but without passengers."

Actually, Mr. Pearman, cases without passengers and passengers without bags is also pretty normal for Heathrow.

It's not just Heathrow: LAX has nightmare day

Trouble over at LAX, where computer failure made the airport grind to a halt.

To make matters worse, it was out of the airport's control - the computer belonged to Customs and Border Patrol; 20,000 people were kept waiting for hours while officials tried to get their system back online.

Seven flights were redirected - to Ontario - and three people were hospitalised as a result of the stress of hanging around in the airport.

Aer Lingus heads north

Aer Lingus have dropped their Shannon- Heathrow routes, in order to free up resources to operate a Belfast hub. It's their first hub outside the Irish republic:

The announcement is an early sign the newly-privatised airline company is ready to ignore local political fall-out when taking decisions it considers in its commercial interest.

Ian Paisley, the hardline protestant politician who heads the four-party executive at Stormont as first minister alongside Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander, hailed the decision by Aer Lingus as “a shining example of how competitive our economy is becoming”.

And whoever would have thought you'd hear Piasley welcoming the Irish flag-carrier operating on his patch?

Yeah... but it's no Munich, is it?

A love song to Frankfurt Airport:



[via, somewhat surprisingly, Stephen Pollard's Spectator blog]

John Lennon sees sense

Talking of John Lennon Airport, it's good to see they had a second thought about plans to charge people two pounds just to get into the airport. They appear to have replaced the scheme with a 'fasttrack' system, which allows you to pay two quid to woosh down a special security screening aisle instead of waiting at the back of the usual long queue.

Of course, in order to make money from this service, it could be argued that John Lennon has a vested interest in making the official, 'free' line move as slowly as possible. And all you're really doing is shifting the side of the barrier you'll be hanging about on.

It's an interesting approach to funding the extra costs of security, though, and one we'd imagine other airports will be watching carefully.

Ryanair expands in Liverpool

Ryanair are adding a number of new destinations from John Lennon Airport - from October, they'll grudgingly carry you to George Best Belfast City Airport, Hungarian capital Budapest, Tenerife, Fuerteventura and Bydgoszcz and Lodz in Poland.

Naturally, they're doing it for the Capital of Culture:

Neil Pakey, airport managing director, said: "These new services once again offer passengers from throughout the North West a range of destinations that will appeal to a cross section of travellers."

"In addition, the link with yet another European capital city is important in the run up to Capital of Culture year with visitors from Budapest soon having direct access to Liverpool."

Uh... why is it important, exactly? Are Liverpool now only expecting other Capital of Culture survivors to be interested in their event? Is there some sort of survey showing that Glaswegians visited subsequent Capitals of Culture in large numbers?

Luton runsaway from expansion

Something of a surprise here: The owners of Luton Airport have withdrawn plans for a new runway. TBI reckon its because it would take them too long to make their money back on the investment, so it's not entirely a victory for environmentalists - although the costs it would have taken to go through a planning process which pretended to listen to their concerns must have helped it end up a game not worth the candle.

Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam

These are a few notes on Amsterdam's main airport which I added to the Tripadvisor wiki:

Onward Travel

Getting from plane to train is incredibly simple - the railway station is inside the arrivals hall; purchase your tickets from the machine on ground level (it takes credit and some debit cards as well as cash), go down the moving walkway or lift, and you're ready to go.

As of October 2006, the journey to Amsterdam Central cost about six Euros first class, and takes somewhere around fifteen minutes; there seem to be fast trains every ten minutes or so at peak time.

Schiphol Airside

It's worth noting that going airside at Schiphol is a slightly different experience from other airports - you pass through a security ID checkpoint and come to airside shopping before you go through your main security clearance. If you're flying to America, you'll find that you can shop, but your purchases have to be delivered to you at the gate - you won't be able to take your amusing clog-shaped chocolates or perfume through security yourself, but this could be an advantage: less to carry.

Airside there's mostly tourist-item and usual airport shopping, a couple of bars, a bookshop selling English-language books; a McDonalds with a small wifi work area; an ocean-themed bar and a few other small places to eat. You have access to small trolleys to push your hand-baggage about the terminal, which is a really nice touch.