Leeds Bradford - General Thread

[Aviador]

Leeds Bradford Airport boss backs call to scrap air passenger duty

Tony Hallwood, aviation and marketing director at Leeds Bradford Airport, has welcomed a new airlines-commissioned report which says scrapping the Air Passenger Duty airport departure tax could create up to 61,000 jobs by 2020.

I think when so many government departments are seeing huge cuts in expenditure, it's highly unlikely we'll see a cut in Air Passenger Duty.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I think when so many government departments are seeing huge cuts in expenditure, it's highly unlikely we'll see a cut in Air Passenger Duty.

Unlikely, I agree. However, the Westminster government is letting Scotland administer APD there (and possibly Wales too) knowing that Scotland will immediately reduce and ultimately abolish the tax.

Scotland will have to find other revenue sources to make up the APD loss, with new tax raising powers doubtless being used.

So if Scotland and Wales are allowed to go their own way and at the same time reduce/abolish APD the huge anomaly and disparity will exist whereby England (by far the biggest constituent of the UK) will continue to be subject to high APD (made even more stark up against reductions in other parts of the UK) controlled by the Westminster government.

 

[jfy1999]

Ultimately LHR is the biggest winner-as it always has been, but in regard to taxes it is due to the immense transfer traffic it has which does not fall under APD. It has benefitted from a huge loophole which almost no other airport in the UK can exploit. The regions lose out.

 

[Moo2009]

I wonder if the Airport Management team read the Skytrax reviews of the airport this would be a eye opener for them, have a read its really bad

 

[Aviador]

Smiley faces have been installed at various locations around the terminal to enable the management to get a genuine cross section view of customer opinion. I would like to know if this provides real time information so the views of flying passengers can be linked to things like passenger densities, flow rates and other factors such as delayed aircraft etc?

:s_cry :sad: :s_bored :search: leasantry: :good: :hatsoff:

 

[oldendays]

Ive been looking at some of the Skytrax reviews. Not pretty reading at all.

Why can't we have a nice, new, bigger terminal building on the site of one of the car parks ? Let's create an environment that is a pleasure to work in as well as to fly to and from. The existing terminal is well past its best and should be replaced without delay. Faffing around with it any more is just throwing good money after bad.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Those of us who know Leeds well will read and smile. Some of the contributors only seem to want to damm leeds and promote their airport of choice. You usually find on sites such as these it is usually those with a moan who contribute. You have 9 negitive reports covering over 750,000 passengers not a bad result in the last three months.
people have to having a laugh if they can promote Manchester security service as being better service then Leeds and receiving your luggage. Complaining you cant see the planes from the executive lounge, cant think of one where you can, sure there must be, but not the reason I use a lounge.
All airports have issues in the terminal, but I have used Leeds twice in the early morning rush in the last three months and manchester once, on numbers alone Leeds would win for me. Its like leaving old trafford at the final whistle going through customs at manchester, not pleasant and if your old, people basically just trample on you. At least the volumes at Leeds make it a more pleasant experience, you not in a cattle herd at all times. Accept Leeds staff seem to have had a sense of humour bypass, but not the best job in the world. Having to remind people to do the obvious, when notices all over, would blow my mind.
The new T2 at LHR on this weeks ITV programme, showed that being modern is not always good for people, especially oldies. Why should we have to use machines to print luggage labels or use apps. Morrison are removing self service tills and replaceing with under 10 item tills, we want interaction with humans.

 

[AZGAZORD]

In general, I love flying from Leeds and always use it for leisure flights. I came in yesterday afternoon on the Jet2 flight from Malta. We landed on time, hooked up to the air bridge at Gate 8 and all was going well. When we got off the plane, we had only travelled a few yards when we hit the back of the immigration queue. It then took half an hour to get through passport control, giving all the anti LBA brigade in the queue plenty of time to vent their frustrations and spout negative views in earshot of everybody. Despite the automated announcements apologising for the delays (putting it down to a large amount of incoming aircraft arriving at the same time), it really was hard to defend. When we then descended to baggage reclaim, it was like a football crowd at half time at the bar. Nowhere to move, claustrophobic, people pushing past each other, tempers rising. We got our bags in a reasonable time (15 minutes) but it was not a pleasant experience overall. If 'we' (LBA) are trying to attract new customers from North Yorks, South Yorks, Teesside, Humberside (I heard one or two in the queue), then this is not the experience that is going to convince them to come back. I will not stop using LBA, but we really have to bring it up to speed. Customer relations and handling is key and we do it very badly.
I am Flying again early July (again Jet2) this time midweek, so will see if it is any better on a weekday rather than the weekend.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Thanks for that AZGAZORD. I don't live in the north of England and have never used LBA, but it does chime with complaints about other rapidly growing airports (my local at BRS is a good example).

These airports have grown so quickly in passenger volume that the infrastructure hasn't kept up - even at airports such as BRS where continuing expansion of the terminal has occurred and is continuing; but it's really playing catch-up.

The airports can do some things themselves to improve the passenger experience. Taking out seating and manoeuvring space in terminals to put in more retail outlets is an obvious negative influence on the experience, although airports will say with some justification that the business these days relies on ancillary revenues as airlines that will bring in bulk routes (and passenger numbers) no longer pay the going rate in landing fees etc.

One of the main issues and one that seems to be involved in your recent arrival is the time it can take to clear immigration. Passengers invariably blame airports for this but in truth they have no say in the matter. It's entirely in the gift of a government department (Border Agency) how quickly they process arriving passengers.

So long as airports provide the physical means to enable the Border Agency to do its work quickly and effectively they are completely in thrall to the agency as to how many staff they employ at any one time and how efficient they are.

 

[michael]

We must not forget that it's not just LBA where there is a 'problem' with border control queues. All Uk airports are similar and try entering the USA in a hurry. A few years ago we landed at Chicago and only just made a connection that was 3 HOURS later (different league size of airport I grant you). However, go to Tenerife, for example, Dubrovnik is another, and the policeman sat in the border control booth just waves you through, apparantley the quicker the better. I'm afraid to say that border control queues seem to run in correlation with the country's security standing in the western world and I'm sure we would all rather take a few minutes longer getting through and being safe than have some hair brained numpty enter the country that could cause a security issue. This is however no defence of unmanned booths at busy times!!

 

[AZGAZORD]

Michael / TLY
Yes I agree with both of you, but unmanned booths and not enough of them should be addressed. Also my other point was the baggage reclaim area which is not good. Not mentioned before was on the outward leg big queues for security (again can be argued they are doing a thorough job) but not particularly friendly with it (something they can look at). Ladies toilets upstairs 2 of 4 out of order leading to a big queue. All these added together do not give people a good experience travelling through the airport. I do appreciate others airports have problems, but i would hope we could aim higher than we seem to do presently.

 

[Aviador]

It's a tough one for me. I have been a life long supporter of LBA particularly during the periods when Leeds Bradford Airport was trying to gain planning permission to extend facilities and it's operating hours and I was always one of the first people to write to the local press in support of the airport with a view of providing business services and employment for the area.

I worked at LBA between 2001 up until last year and witnessed the transition period between the public and private sector. I still to this day believe the airport was in better hands under public ownership when everything the airport made was put straight back into upgrading it's facilities. Now the airport is in a situation whereby we have a private company who appear unable to demonstrate their ability to expand facilities in-line with customer and regional business commerce expectations.

It is my view that the only possible way for the airport to expand further is by investing in new terminal facilities for customers and navigational equipment to enable the airport to increase it's traffic during the quieter winter months.

As I mentioned elsewhere in the forum recently, the last time LBA had any kind of serious expansion was back in 1996 when the arrivals walkway was built. Four years following that expansion, Bristol Airport opened a purpose built terminal. Today in 2015 we are still waiting for a new purpose built terminal at LBA, Bristol airport on the otherhand is pushing ahead with building terminal extensions and permanent passenger walkways with air bridges.

 

[AZGAZORD]

Aviador
I agree entirely with you. I am also an ardent supporter of the airport and am desperate for it to succeed. The only way to do this and expand further is to invest and also to look after it's customers.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Bristol airport on the otherhand is pushing ahead with building terminal extensions and permanent passenger walkways with air bridges.

No air bridges yet but even with all the money already spent and continuing to be spent on the airport it receives appalling marks in Skytrax. Many of the complaints relate to the security staff and Border Agency (sound familiar?) but the airport itself comes in for a lot of criticism too.

I always remember the old adage though. If you receive good service from someone you might tell a friend; if you receive bad service you will tell ten people. In all walks of like people are prepared to complain (and do) but comparatively few praise when it's appropriate. I always read Skytrax and similar organs with this is mind.

 

[Aviador]

I know air bridges were part of the plans for BRS, not sure when they're going to be installed though.

Totally agree with what you say regarding Skytrax. Very few people bother to post any good reviews about airports, most people only ever seem to complain. Having said that, I'd swap the Bristol airport facilities for the LBA ones any day.

 

[kevinbev]

I arrived from Enfidha into Newcastle on Mon 8th June at about 2330. Aircraft was slightly early, parked on a remote stand. We must have waited 10 minutes for the bus to arrive for the transfer to the terminal. On arrival at the terminal went up the stairs to then join the big queue for immigration. I think one aircraft had landed just in front of ours. The queue was a joke for that time of night. I dont know what it would have been like if a few aircraft had landed within a few minutes of each other. After the we cleared immigration we still had to wait for the luggage as it had only just been offloaded so we stood next to the carousel for another 10-15 minutes. On the journey back to East Yorkshire the journey was bad enough as there were roadworks around Gateshead which went on for a few miles then just as we thought our troubles were over we found the A1(M) was closed at night for more roadworks.
I have arrived at LBA a few times when a few aircraft have arrived within a few minutes of each other but can say it was a lot better experience than flying into Newcastle and I do fly from and into LBA maybe 3-4 times a year.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

For those who might not stray too far from the LBA section I have posted a thread (UK airports passenger reviews) today in the Passenger Forum and Frequent Flyer Reviews section comparing the Skytrax scores for all UK top 20 airports and a number of other UK airports.

Those who are concerned about LBA might be interested to see how it compares with the other airports in the eyes of Skytrax contributors. The short answer is no worse than many others.

 

[White Heather]

I have just returned from 2 weeks in Tenerife so thought I would post my LBA experience here. I flew both ways on Jet2 and have posted separately on the Jet2 thread about the flights with them.

On the 5th, I was dropped at the free drop off zone car park, which was not busy despite Friday afternoon being a peak period. The signage into there was fine. The walk up to the terminal took 4 minutes and was OK, but I would have paid £3 and gone in the drop off area in front of the terminal in bad weather. Check in took precisely 2 minutes - the fastest ever. I just walked in and went to a check in desk. Plenty of passengers but plenty of desks too and no queues at all.

Security was very busy but the queue wasn't too bad and was well controlled. The staff were pleasant enough. I was through security in just under 10 minutes.

The terminal was very busy indeed but I found a table to sit at in one of the cafe areas, with a view out onto the runway. I could also see arriving passengers on the walkway. There was a steady stream of flights in but the queues never got back to the walkway area in front of the cafe, so they must have been going through reasonably quickly. I had a wander around the shops before boarding. The terminal was still packed but everyone had a seat. That said, despite the improvements made, I remain of the view that the terminal is a lost cause and we need a completely new one built on two levels where the lower tier of the car park is now - with the present terminal being demolished to vastly increase the apron area. Anyone got about £150m spare to lend the owners?

Boarding was problem free and I had the pleasure of using the walkway down to stand 12 I think. Not a problem.

The return flight landed at 0115, 30 minutes early. We were positioned on to stand 8 - the air-bridge was not working (not sure if that is 'still not working' or 'not working again'), but in a way it helped as we had air-stairs front and rear. As I was only 4 rows from the back I was off the 757 very quickly - which wouldn't have been the case using the air-bridge.

Border control for the one 757 was 3 desks manned. The queue moved rapidly and I was through in 5 minutes. The queue was directed by a member of the airport staff.

The luggage area was again very crowded and this is in my view, the worst aspect of LBA. Thank goodness there was only the one 757 landing at that time. On the plus side, the luggage was already on the carousel as we went down there. I got my cases after around 10 minutes so I presume they had a second load that came through and I was on that one.

Outside, I went to the Arrow Taxi booking office. I booked and paid in less than 5 minutes and the taxi (with very friendly driver) arrived 5 minute later, despite a shortage of drivers due to Ramadan. I was home 10 minutes later, minus £11.12 plus tip. A bit steep me thinks for a 4 mile journey. From landing at 1315 to getting home was exactly 45 minutes.

LBA is far from perfect and desperately needs some drastic work on the terminal, but overall there was nothing that would persuade me to go elsewhere. I don't fly often, but I have never really had a bad experience of using LBA when I do fly - and that goes all the way back to 1980.

I was listening out for comments from other people and heard nothing negative - nor anything positive either.

All in all another decent experience although it could have been far worse if there had been more aircraft landing given the fact that the Border Control people saw fit to only man half the desks and knowing the inadequacies of the baggage re-claim area.

Ultimately, it is visiting airports like Tenerife that make you realise how inadequate LBA terminal is - although having said that, we found it impossible to find a table to sit at in the cafe bar area of TFS yesterday so had to go up a floor to find a seat. Big airport, same problem as LBA when it is busy.

Also interesting to note that both yesterday and on Thursday, TFS had flights 'going round' late afternoon in blue sky conditions - I presume due to wind shear. 3 went round in succession on Thursday (all landed next time) and 2 yesterday, one of which was a BA A319 from LGW that came back - 3 hours later! I can only presume it didn't have the fuel to circuit Tenerife and try again in case it resulted in another go around and divert. I am not sure if it diverted to Tenerife North or to Gran Canaria, but it didn't come back until 2050 and was not due out until 2130, nearly 4 hours late.

 

[Aviador]

Thank you for the very balanced review. Plus I hope you enjoyed your holiday in tenerife!

 

[jfy1999]

Good review White Heather, but whenever I'm on this forum I always see someone mention that airbridge! I think the correct answer is "not working again" as I thought someone said on another thread that it had been fixed, or jerry-rigged, or something, and then it broke after that...