Birmingham Airport - General Thread

[Jon Dempsey]

cost would not remotely come in to it (lucky them)

If they're travelling First Class, then that service is not available from BHX.

Kevin

My friend was travelling business, so had the chauffeured drive.

 

[Ray Finkle]

When we've discussed route development and talks with potential new airlines it's often been wondered how much autonomy the airport CEO or the RD team actually has in terms of the deal offered. Do they have full control or are there parameters set by the owners/shareholders?

Below is an interesting excerpt from an article with the Newcastle Airport CEO about his negotiations with Emirates.

I'm sure each airport has their own way of doing things but I found it interesting that he had a limit that he could go to, then he broke it

In terms of Birmingham, the recent round of new services and increases seem to time perfectly with the OTPP taking over a larger stake in the airports ownership.

Coincidence?

“At the end of the day I’m the gobby one, I can sell snow to eskimos – Chris Sanders, the head of aviation development, will do the detail and prove why the route is going to work.

“To see what the Emirates route has done for the region has been a major highlight of my career.

“When I was doing negotiations I’d been given a limit to what I could go to. I was in the heat of these negotiations and the Emirates team came in and said: ‘Do you really want this?’ and I said I thought I had proved it.

“They said ‘if you give us another £150,000 in terms of the deal in totality then we can shake hands. I was on the spot, and was worried I’d lose this route. I felt that if I went for another break in discussions to get clearance we might lose it, so I followed my instincts and shook hands.”

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/business ... f-10885389

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[offtopic]Fascinating insight and Barbara Cassani in her book about Go also revealed how some of the last minute deal clinching goes on.

Go had almost agreed with the BRS management team that BRS would become their second base (after Stansted). However, at the last minute the new BRS owners (not stated but would have been Ferrovial and Macquarie) threw in a capital charge levy.

Cassani was furious and at an industry dinner shortly afterwards met the then BRS CEO, John Parkin (now at LBA), and his senior team. She let them know in no uncertain terms what she thought of the last minute extra charge.

The following morning she rang Parkin and told him that the charge was a 'deal breaker'. After a 'long pause' she says that Parkin backed down and the extra charge was withdrawn.

The long pause led to what is now one of easyJet's biggest bases and does suggest that the BRS CEO had a considerable amount of autonomy in negotiations, although of course the additional charge might have been a 'try on' to be discarded if necessary which it was.[/offtopic]

 

[Ray Finkle]

And what a different place Bristol would be now had he not budged.

It sure would be interesting to be a fly one the wall at these meetings.

For many years BHX was considered one of the most expensive airports in Europe, if not the world, to operate from. Mr Kehoe has recently said that they have worked hard to lower the cost base and are now one of the most competitive. The appointment of the highly experienced William Pearson was also significant for BHX.

It would be interesting to know if it was a combination of the above that has been the catalyst for the recent change in the airports fortunes or whether it's simply a change in ownership meaning a better deal can now be offered.

Whatever it is I just hope it continues :smile:

 

[Kevin Farnell]

cost would not remotely come in to it (lucky them)

If they're travelling First Class, then that service is not available from BHX.

Kevin

My friend was travelling business, so had the chauffeured drive.

If your friend had requested a business class flight from BHX, would they not have also been entitled to a chauffeured drive from their home address ?

Kevin

 

[stevepayne]

Yes indeed they would and furthermore they are probably being chauffeured
to MAN but that doesnt change the fact that they should have been booked
from BHX. The more i think about it the more it seems the T/A must have
had some incentive to book the way they did!

Steve

 

[richard winterbourn]

Forgive me if i have missed it, but there is one piece of information that may be vital to this question: where do this couple live?

Are they from Birmingham or close by or do they live somewhere where it might be reasonable to think their first choice of airport would be MAN.

I ask this because if they do live in Birmingham i am surprised the taxi driver did not ask them 'why are you flying from MAN?' As i am sure Emirates have contracts with specified taxi or private hire firms.

 

[stevepayne]

Hi Richard,I dont think i made that clear,but they do live
in Sutton Coldfield and yes it will be interesting to get the
taxi drivers comments,I think they travel on 17th march
Steve

 

[CL44]

Emirates have an arrangement with a Chauffeur service based on-site at the Airport (in Forward House for people who know the building). As far as I am aware they only use this service for their business class passengers and do not use other Companies. I know for a fact that this Company are actively recruiting extra drivers for when the A380 starts. This Company have had the contract for this service for a number of years and are always in and out of the Airport with their cars. They operate a fleet of Mercedes cars with the odd Mercedes "mini-bus" thrown in. They are not limited to the local area either as I know of people from the South of England who have used their services while travelling from BHX.

 

[justplanecrazy]

It's an impressive sight when they are all lined up in staff car park especially at night when they all have their head lights on it would make a great advert for Mercedes lol.

 

[CL44]

It's an impressive sight when they are all lined up in staff car park especially at night when they all have their head lights on it would make a great advert for Mercedes lol.

It might be an impressive sight but it has been a pain in the neck at times when they are lined up ready to go over to the Airport as the flight arrives. Forward House is not blessed with a large amount of space at the front of the building and there have been many times where drivers cannot get anywhere near the building due to their cars.

 

[justplanecrazy]

Don't they use the carpark by Portland house now?

 

[Brummiegem]

They do use the current sfaff car park which is the NEC west car park,by the traffic island leading into the International station.
I see them in the morning on my way home,as they are waiting for EK41 to land.

 

[route66]

Hi. This is my first post, but I have been an interested observer for some time.

I thought that I needed to contribute to the discussion concerning travel agents and which airports local people fly from. I am going to Japan and Australia later this year and I went to a well know large travel agent in Birmingham city centre late last year ( just follow the trail from Snow Hill and it's easy to find) to see what possibilities there were regarding flights, but with no intention of booking and the agent knew that. I said that I wanted to fly from BHX and the agent got various flights and airlines for the dates I was interested in. Obviously, Emirates had a lot of possibilities and Qatar also looked good, but the stopover in Doha was quite long depending on which day you went, there being two flights on some days. Qatar were cheaper, I am going business class, but the flight times were an issue.

The agent put all of the details together and then said "...........of course there is always Etihad from MAN." I reminded the agent that there are plenty of flights from BHX and that I would look at the information that had been found. In addition, Etihad don't have a chauffeur service I think.

In the end I booked Qatar on-line, moving the date so that I catch a flight which ties in better at Doha.

Now I know that travel agents are a business and that where people fly from is probably of little concern, because most punters don't have a clue what fly's from their local airport and rely on the agents to guide them, but I'm intrigued to know if there is commission related to airports/flights.

 

[User001]

All this talk of commissions is almost like a conspiracy.

Firstly, regarding the Emirates BHX/MAN situation earlier, this is not commission related. I asked a friend from EK at Wilmslow (customer contact centre so they have a good grasp on current fares).

They advised there are no specific flight based commissions at the moment apart from LHR and LGW. For BHX/MAN/GLA/NCL, there is just the generic commission and has been for some time.

In terms of the above poster almost seeing to be offended that the agent offered Etihad from Manchester, does it cross your mind that the agent saw a good price and just tried to get you the best deal they could? Etihad have some competitive fares for all 3 of its U.K. Routes at the moment, so, probably got swayed by price, after all, many travelers are swayed by price.

There is no conspiracy, there is no 'campaign against BHX' or anything else. There may be a lack of education around BHX, after all, they are travel agents, not oracles. It will get better, but, until news is fully bedded in, it's a work in progress.

 

[route66]

As far as I know, no prices had been seen in relation to Etihad, it had been suggested as a possibility and it went no further.

I did say that agents are a business and I implied that flying locally is of no real interest to them, but the case in an earlier post regarding people living in Sutton Coldfield being chauffeured upto MAN, mainly because they didn't realise they could fly from BHX stretches incredulity. That is a case in point where the agent should have put them right, but obviously we don't know all the facts.

 

[BHXsupporter]

I can't accept 'There may be a lack of education around BHX, after all, they are travel agents, not oracles.' That is their job - nothing else - so they absolutely SHOULD know EVERYTHING offered by their local airport. If the level of incompetence/incogniscence is that great, if that were to be broadcast then the end of the travel agent should draw nigh in the not-too-distant future.

Interestingly, looked at another way it turns into an opportunity (perhaps missed to date?) for BHX who might benefit much from arranging training visits to the airport - you know the stuff, 'This is an aeroplane, this is the runway which it uses to take off from ...

Really! Such standards might edge out second-hand car salesmen on the way down to politicians. :shok:

 

[stevepayne]

Absolutely couldnt agree more

 

[User001]

But why should they be able to know everything about their local airport?

I suppose with that statement you could confidently answer that you know EVERYTHING about your job and company and there is not one single question I could ask that you would not know the answer to?

I'm not saying that lack of awareness of Emirates is OK, they do enough advertising and fares are usually competative, but, I would not expect any agent to know every single routing between point A and point B off the top of their heads. They will offer what the system throws out at them.

My point remains that it's not a conspiracy against BHX. To say that an agent will go completely out of their way to promote a competing flight at a competing airport is fallicy at best. They will be doing what they think is right for the customer, and, if the customer is happy (they must be to pay the money) then so be it.

I would defy anyone to say that an agent would search and say 'oh, a flight from BHX? I'll just skip over that one and not tell them, surely the customer wouldn't want BHX?'.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I can't accept 'There may be a lack of education around BHX, after all, they are travel agents, not oracles.' That is their job - nothing else - so they absolutely SHOULD know EVERYTHING offered by their local airport. If the level of incompetence/incogniscence is that great, if that were to be broadcast then the end of the travel agent should draw nigh in the not-too-distant future.

Totally agree.

This was a flight between the UK and Australia, one of the most popular long haul routes. Bread and butter stuff for an 'expert' travel company. If they were travelling to Equatorial Guniea I'd possibly buy it but AUS?

Emirates are also one of the most widely known about airlines in the world and have promoted their services widely in the UK, non more so here than in the last couple of months. Even my wife (who cares very little about such things) knows how many flights they have each day and that the A380 is coming. Qatar have also been shouting loudly about their new flights and I'm sure internal communications to various travel companies would have been done.

If there are certain packages being sold for incentives/commission then fair enough, it's just business, similar to airports offering incentives for new services. If there really is an 'expert' travel agent out there who doesn't know that Emirates are an option between Birmingham and AUS then I think they need to be considering a new career.