Cardiff Airport - General Thread

[Jerry]

I've just seen a post on social media stating that from tomorrow people won't be able to use Priority pass to gain access to the Executive lounge.

 

[Jerry]

Cardiff airport is hosting a series of focus groups. If anyone wants to give them face to face feedback then click on the link in their tweet and register.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1167446888972455936

 

[superking]

You going Jerry to have yr say.

 

[Jerry]

Only 2 arrests for drunkenness at Cardiff over the last 3 years.

Revealed: 500 people in three years arrested drunk on a plane

EXCLUSIVE: 499 people were arrested for being drunk and disorderly, or for other offences committed while drunk, on a plane at a British airport over 2016, 2017, and 2018.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Jerry]

You going Jerry to have yr say.

Unfortunately the only date I can attend I'm in London.

 

[Charterman]

Only 2 arrests for drunkenness at Cardiff over the last 3 years.

Revealed: 500 people in three years arrested drunk on a plane

EXCLUSIVE: 499 people were arrested for being drunk and disorderly, or for other offences committed while drunk, on a plane at a British airport over 2016, 2017, and 2018.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Not surprised with the prices for a pint!

 

[Jerry]

UK government refuses to devolve Air Passenger duty to the Welsh government.

Cardiff Airport - Freedom of Information FOI – CWL

The official Cardiff Airport website for live flight information, news, airport parking, offers, booking flights & holidays.

www.cardiff-airport.com

 

[Jerry]

I wonder if any of these trips started at Cardiff airport?

All the flights around the world taken by Welsh Government ministers

One £20k trip involved flights to America for a climate change conference

www.walesonline.co.uk

 

[Jerry]

54 year-old man jailed for Cardiff Airport laser attack on Tui 737

54 year-old man jailed for Cardiff Airport laser attack on Tui 737 | UK Aviation News

ukaviation.news

 

[TheLocalYokel]

54 year-old man jailed for Cardiff Airport laser attack on Tui 737

54 year-old man jailed for Cardiff Airport laser attack on Tui 737 | UK Aviation News

ukaviation.news

I've 'liked' the sentence imposed, not the moron's actions. I'd have liked an even longer imprisonment sentence imposed but hopefully this will be enough to make one or two others think instead of using a laser pen.

 

[Jerry]

I've 'liked' the sentence imposed, not the moron's actions. I'd have liked an even longer imprisonment sentence imposed but hopefully this will be enough to make one or two others think instead of using a laser pen.

It is sheer idiocy to do such a thing, hopefully a jail sentence will act as a deterent for others.

 

[Jerry]

So apparently from the 1st October people can no longer use Priority Pass, Lounge club and LoungeKey to access the Executive lounge at the airport. DragonPass is unaffected.
Shortsighted from Cardiff airport not to be in these schemes? Or a way to make the lounge more profitable?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

So apparently from the 1st October people can no longer use Priority Pass, Lounge club and LoungeKey to access the Executive lounge at the airport. DragonPass is unaffected.
Shortsighted from Cardiff airport not to be in these schemes? Or a way to make the lounge more profitable?

Does Cardiff Airport operate the executive lounge? From the website it appears that they do. Was there not an Aspire lounge at CWL once? I think Aspire lounges are operated by Swissport.

I note from the terms and conditions that two alcoholic drinks are reckoned to be the permitted limit in the executive lounge. I understand that Qatar premium cutomers use the executive lounge. I wonder if they are included in the restriction.

 

[Pontyboy]

Jerry, what are the assumptions that priority pass and other lounge access providers that were affiliated to cwl were in affect draining profit? Wouldn’t someone that enters the lounge with a pass card add to cwl profits? The airport would surely receive a fee per person.

As the lounge is well known to be of a shoddy standard compared to other airports, I can’t see people paying now when they had a priority pass for free access. This is a step back and will result in lower revenue.

As I understand the KLM/Qatar biz lounge is a stand alone to this. How small is the ‘standard’ lounge now? I visited the lounge 2-3 times in 2016-2018 and I thought it was a relaxing space and I had no limits put on me by staff when it came to alcoholic drinks. At the time of visiting I though the lounge could do with a hot buffet/soup/cold buffet of cheeses and hams to enhance the product.

I’ve said this elsewhere but if the 2nd floor of the terminal isn’t being used then I suggest a Croeso (Welcome in English) lounge to be built - offering views of the runway and a hot breakfast/lunch and dinner with full drinks selection to be served. It would be in comparison to the No1 lounge brand who must rake in a big profit as they are always full for a reason. They are a good product and people will part with cash if the quality is high.

 

[Jerry]

Jerry, what are the assumptions that priority pass and other lounge access providers that were affiliated to cwl were in affect draining profit?

I'd have thought that a scheme like that wouldn't pay full price for access to lounges especially at a small airport like Cardiff. Someone did tell me that Cardiff also refused to meet certain standards that these schemes were demanding. What they those standards are i don't know as the person refused to elaborate. So whether meeting those standards would've required significant investment that might not have been worth it in the eyes of the CWL management i honestly don't know. I suppose they would have to make a judgement based on the usership of the lounge and what customers are making it profitable.
Cardiff Airports lounge seems to get a lot of criticism and from what i've seen always seems to get compared to lounges in much bigger airports than it and not in ones of a similar size ie airports like Exeter or Southampton. I've only used it once and found the experience good enough and since then have used 2 other lounges, Iberia's Velazquez lounge and Dublins T2 lounge and i'd say Dublin's T2 lounge was a similar experience to Cardiff except that they offered sandwiches and had an apron view and cost 29 euros for walk up entry, not sure you can do that at Cardiff. The Velazquez lounge was way superior to both!

As I understand the KLM/Qatar biz lounge is a stand alone to this. How small is the ‘standard’ lounge now? I visited the lounge 2-3 times in 2016-2018 and I thought it was a relaxing space and I had no limits put on me by staff when it came to alcoholic drinks. At the time of visiting I though the lounge could do with a hot buffet/soup/cold buffet of cheeses and hams to enhance the product.

It's not a separate lounge but a just a separate room for them i believe and i do think now they have hot soup available.

I’ve said this elsewhere but if the 2nd floor of the terminal isn’t being used then I suggest a Croeso (Welcome in English) lounge to be built - offering views of the runway and a hot breakfast/lunch and dinner with full drinks selection to be served. It would be in comparison to the No1 lounge brand who must rake in a big profit as they are always full for a reason. They are a good product and people will part with cash if the quality is high.

It does beg the question of why when they were doing the departure area revamp which included the lounge they didn't put the lounge upstairs and making it much bigger with it's own kitchen for a full buffet, a full bar, it's own toilets, a shower area and a separate business class lounge with dine on demand. It always seems to me from the comments online that the expectation is that Cardiff should have a lounge of a standard of much bigger airports like Heathrow and Bristol and Gatwick. Whether that is profitable or the airport has or had the money at the time to do something like that i honestly don't know.

 

[Pontyboy]

I disagree that the state of the lounge at CWL is what a customer should expect from an airport of that size. It shouldn’t depend on airport size as to the quality of the lounge. If that is the airports rationale then it’s a very inward looking way of what to offer customers. As I said previously, invest in a high quality product and people will flock to start their journey there. All the bad criticisms of the bar in departures would suggest that a lounge with good food and drink options would be a winner. Back to the initial point - It should have a better food and drink offering. I don’t understand why it doesn’t.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Does Cardiff Airport operate the executive lounge? From the website it appears that they do. Was there not an Aspire lounge at CWL once? I think Aspire lounges are operated by Swissport.

I note from the terms and conditions that two alcoholic drinks are reckoned to be the permitted limit in the executive lounge. I understand that Qatar premium cutomers use the executive lounge. I wonder if they are included in the restriction.

It's run by CWL. I don't think Aspire/Swissport/Servisair have ever operated a lounge at CWL.

I think the reference to 2 drinks is an advisory for reasonable drinking, not a rule.

Cardiff Airports lounge seems to get a lot of criticism and from what i've seen always seems to get compared to lounges in much bigger airports than it and not in ones of a similar size ie airports like Exeter or Southampton.

Comparing other Airports, Southampton has "Priority Lounge", Inverness, Belfast City & Humberside all have Aspire lounges. Comparing photos on the website, all of these have a much better décor and better presented feel than the CWL lounge. CWL has an almost bland and boxy feel about it.
In terms of offerings, it looks like the comparable Airports offer a variety of different options;
SOU - Hot & Cold food
BHD & HUY - Snacks, soup/Pasta
INV - Snacks, Soup & Sandwiches
But lets not forget that CWL is pitching bigger than it's passenger numbers with a much bigger range of holiday destinations & Qatar.
From what i'm told CWL's lounge is profitable which is why they've never wanted anyone else to take it over. But I can't help but think standards are falling and they are becoming complacent about how good the lounge actually is. I can imagine people only book it to escape the business of the departure lounge. I for one would be disappointed in the offering if I were comparing to lounges at other Airports. BRS has to be included in the comparison, regardless of passenger numbers, because its the same catchment. Both of the BRS lounges are far superior to CWL, have had huge investment in décor and furnishings and offer excellent options whilst in the Lounge.
CWL needs to wake up and start actually offering top Welsh service, rather than just (ahem) Aspiring to offer what people really want.

Whilst I appreciate there's no kitchen in the current Lounge for hot food, it can't be that difficult to offer a better selection of cold snacks, Sandwiches/wraps/baguettes etc at least which would also encourage people to avoid the over priced, poor quality of the bar food and drink. CWL are really missing a trick.

 

[Jerry]

Sandwiches/wraps/baguettes etc at least which would also encourage people to avoid the over priced, poor quality of the bar food and drink. CWL are really missing a trick.

I'd have thought that could easily be arranged with a local catering company with 2 deliveries a day, as a cost example subway do platters that contain 16 3 inch subs plus dips for £20 a platter. I do wonder then if the airport doesn't want the extra cost.
As for the lounge in general i will say that although i've only visited it once and had a decent experience, it wasn't that a good enough experience to make me want to purchase a ticket just for 30 minutes or 1 hour 30 minutes before the early morning flights i've taken with KLM and Flybe and i've still not made my mind up whether to purchase a ticket before my 08.40 flight to Paris with Flybe in November. I think i would want to be able to get the maximum 3 hour stay there to maximise the value.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

When airlines use third-party lounges around the world they will inevitably be of variable quality from country to country and at times from airport to airport within a country.

In recent years my experience has been with Emirates' own lounges which to me are of comparable quality and size at whichever airport they are sited except at Dubai where there are separate first-class and business-class lounges that are like airport terminals in themselves; the general standard is very good with an array of hot and cold food available as well as snacks, plus a myriad of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. In the UK I think that Emirates only uses a third-party lounge at NCL - Aspire Plus - presumably because there is only one return flight a day.

I believe that in the UK Qatar only has its own lounge at Heathrow.

Perhaps it's slightly surprising that Qatar didn't insist on at least some hot food availability at CWL. I've no doubt the airport would have managed it somehow if it meant the difference between having Qatar and not having them. One can only assume that Qatar doesn't attach too much importance to some of the third-party lounges it uses which is surprising given the high quality of its own lounges if most reports are to be believed.

It might well be that some of Qatar's other third-party lounges around the world supply only basic refreshment.

 

[Jerry]

One can only assume that Qatar doesn't attach too much importance to some of the third-party lounges it uses which is surprising given the high quality of its own lounges if most reports are to be believed.

Not just Qatar but KLM as well, I'd have thought that if they weren't happy with the lounge the airport would try and upgrade as they are an important airline to the airport as well.