My experience with the Flybe Heathrow service & the problems... sorry its a big read 😆
Flew to LHR last week, security line was back to hall B but staff remain pro-active in pulling people from the line with imminent departures.
Flybe customers get fast track but this is not very well published, I only saw mention via the odd Facebook post from LBA. Happy to be corrected if it is promoted elsewhere.
Got to the airport at 0515 for the 0645 departure as arriving 3 hours before for a domestic shuttle taking 40 minutes would be silly, may as well get the train instead. Through to departures in about 20 minutes thanks to the fast track lane & I don't know how anyone can spend more than an hour in that departure lounge. Grim, overcrowded & filthy.
Lovely to fly the Dash again, the soft cabin refurbishment is smart and the interior was nice & clean. Terrible load factor, perhaps 15 by my count and some of those onboard clearly enthusiasts - which is lovely but indicative that even fewer people are actually using this service for business or connectivity.
Returned a few days later, online check in so no need to visit the desk or drop a bag - the evening service back to LBA at 2045.
Terminal 2 was very busy, fast track lane was closed & I don't think there is any agreement with Flybe to provide the Fast Track facility at LHR in any case. The line snaked outside the front of the Queens Terminal with staff wearing pink vests directing customers. Joined the line at 1915 and told it would take just 15 minutes (believe that when we see it we thought). Essentially, there was a queue for a queue to join the actual queue and periodically the staff stopped customers walking to check in desks to let more people transition to the next stage of the queue for the queue.
Herein lies the problem when people are not proactive at managing chaos, in the line there was people not flying for 2,3 sometimes 4 hours. Literally the last flights leaving T2 that evening. We very quickly deduced that it would take more like 1 hour to reach the front of the line and actually go through security. We saw people leaving the queue and calling friends saying they would not make it & understandably getting rather upset. The staff just kept smiling when asked if there was enough time "oh yes"...
In the end we had to speak to a Staff member of Swissport who handle Flybe, he (after some explanation of what he needed to be doing)... managed to get us to the front of the queue for the boarding card scanner. It was now 2000 & we find another queue to actually filter into the security lanes, we gave it another 15 minutes and realized this was not going to work either, so had to speak to another member of staff & explain our flight was now boarding. After some deliberation he allowed us to go to a lane & we reached our boarding gate at 2030. In total it took 3 separate conversations with staff to make our flight before the gate closed. One last customer made the flight, he also had to beg his way through security through a sea of people with hours to kill.
Only about 11 people on the flight up, lovely chatty Cabin Crew who demonstrated a lot of empathy when listening to how stressful the experience was at LHR. Unfortunately, everyone around me said the same thing basically "never again" .. or words to that effect. There was a lady that had spent 3 hours at LBA that morning to go down to LHR, attend a meeting and then spent another 3 hours in the terminal at LHR. Total travel time with the flights about 8 hours. Others said the would drive next time or revert back to the train. It's damning to hear the few people who have taken the route saying they wouldn't do it again. But quite rightly who in their tiny mind would think this is a sustainable or enjoyable alternative to taking the train or driving?
Flybe are pushing this as a real alternative to the train and reaching London which is what they have to do since there is no interline agreement at this stage. The problem is, the majority of people will find it a stressful farce & soon you won't even have the option to fly there & back in a day with all but the morning flight getting the chop.
For the sake of its Employees I truly want Flybe to succeed & for the sake of LBA I want a regular/reliable London connection that also has an interline agreement. I just can not see this route surviving at all, it would struggle even pre Covid so when you add in the poor airport experience & stress involved you have to ask why you would choose to do this.
It's sad because the only element of the journey Flybe have direct control over... "the flight" was pleasant & on time.
Marketing for the route has not been adequate, an interline agreement(s) are essential & ensuring a fast track facility at both airports is a must for business commuters to take this route seriously.
