Bristol: Passenger Reviews, Q&A, and Travel Advice

[TheLocalYokel]

Arrived into BRS this afternoon and as usual had an excellent excellent experience.
Aircraft landed at xx:00,
Aircraft pulled onto Stand 2 at xx:02 and disembarking started at xx:05
Straight through security (which given the amount of arriving flights was excellent),
bags arrived just after passing through security which was at xx:15, and although my suitcase wasn't the first out,
I was out of the terminal by xx:20 after landing!

Certainly beat arriving into LHR T5C last week.

That's very good. My wife and I experienced a similar quick path through the airport when we arrived on a busy Friday afternoon a few weeks ago. I don't read social media sites. Are there as many complaints about slow service at arrivals as in recent summers?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Arrived into BRS this afternoon and as usual had an excellent excellent experience.
Aircraft landed at xx:00,
Aircraft pulled onto Stand 2 at xx:02 and disembarking started at xx:05
Straight through security (which given the amount of arriving flights was excellent),
bags arrived just after passing through security which was at xx:15, and although my suitcase wasn't the first out,
I was out of the terminal by xx:20 after landing!

Certainly beat arriving into LHR T5C last week.

That's very good. My wife and I experienced a similar quick path through the airport when we arrived on a busy Friday afternoon a few weeks ago. I don't read social media sites. Are there as many complaints about slow service at arrivals as in recent summers?

 

[Severn]

Travelling through BRS this morning, and unsurprisingly it’s heaving, but all seems to be moving well. I’ve never seen the airport this busy, but then again I normally don't decide to travel through the airport at 6am on a summer Friday! I counted 29 departures that all are scheduled to leave before 8am, which I make just over 5,200 seats!
Since I last passed through the airport, I’ve noticed more clear signage, announcements in the main terminal regarding gates that are about to close and a welcome variety of food outlets.
Best go, about to to board to Amsterdam, for the second time in as many weeks!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Travelling through BRS this morning, and unsurprisingly it’s heaving, but all seems to be moving well. I’ve never seen the airport this busy, but then again I normally don't decide to travel through the airport at 6am on a summer Friday! I counted 29 departures that all are scheduled to leave before 8am, which I make just over 5,200 seats!
Since I last passed through the airport, I’ve noticed more clear signage, announcements in the main terminal regarding gates that are about to close and a welcome variety of food outlets.
Best go, about to to board to Amsterdam, for the second time in as many weeks!

105 airline departures today, excluding the Airbus and BAE corporate shuttles. With 29 before 0800 it does show the peaks and troughs at an airport like BRS and is a clear demonstration how difficult it is to provide a viable number of handling staff throughout the day without being understaffed at busy times and overstaffed in the quieter periods.

0515-0800 29 (one at 0515, the remainder between 0600 and 0755)
0801-1000 5
1001-1200 9
1201-1400 19
1401-1600 7
1601-1800 16
1801-2000 16
2001-2200 4 (last departure at 2110)

If flybmi was still operating there would have been something approaching 120 departures today.

My wife and I try to avoid the morning rush whenever possible, but in September we have no choice but to join in. How quickly were passengers being processed through security?

 

[CraigW92]

Been a while since I posted due to a busy year so far, however , I travelled through Bristol on the 26th June to Lisbon with easyJet and had an excellent time and a great experience with both easyJet and the airport.

Left my house around 10:00 in the morning in Cardiff for the flight at 13:45 to Lisbon , arrived in about an hour and 10 mins which I thought was pretty decent going , this time instead of choosing the long stay parking , we opted for the the multi story car park and I have to say it is superb , very easy to navigate you to the car park and a very easy system once there , we booked in advance , however you can drive up to the gate and pay on your return if you haven’t prebooked , we found a space on the 3rd floor and what I especially liked was that there was space indicators with a green icon if there was an open space, a lot easier than driving around looking for one, once parked we used the path from the car park to the terminal which is only a few minutes walk, the covered walkway is a great addition, especially saves getting soaked when the weather elements change, after only a few minutes walk we arrived at the terminal , no bags so straight to security and this was very simple , very polite security agents and staff, all lanes were open which meant a 2 minute breeze through security and then to departures which I spent a bit of time of the roof terrace as it was a lovely day.

At around 13:00 the call came to board the easyJet aircraft , I don’t think I’ve used the newish boarding area down the bottom before but it was only a 5 minute walk or so , we then had a seat and waited for the speedy boarders to board the aircraft before the rest of us were allowed , this didn’t take too long and boarding and finished by 13:25, the pilot informed us on the aircraft that there would be a bit of a delay due to ATC slot issues , at around 14:30ish we got under way a little behind schedule.

The easyJet flight itself was very pleasant and a very good crew on board which seemed to enjoy the job and also took some time to talk to you which I thought was a nice touch, a 2 hour 30 flight to Lisbon ( headwind ) but a very enjoyable flight and was time to discover a different part to Lisbon this time.

So after exploring most of the main city in the last few times I’ve been , we decided to spend the day in Sintra and I have to say it’s well worth a visit, lots to see , especially if you like old castles , palaces and enjoy different views, I myself enjoyed visiting Cabo da Roca, and has the most beautiful views over the sea whilst also allowing a walk around the cliffs, Pena palace also has some lovely views but unfortunately the queues around 11am were at 2 hours for going up, still for a lovely day I’d recommend getting there around 9 to explore and skip most of the queues, nothing more I can say about Lisbon itself other than it’s one of the beautiful cities I’ve visited , so much to see and I’d highly recommend a visit if you get the chance 🙂

Coming home was equally as good , the flight left Lisbon at around 10:30 and arrived back into Bristol at around 12:30, stairs were waiting on arrival when getting to Bristol and then a short stroll to the security area, Security was really quick only took around 3 minutes from queuing to using the passport gates, considering that this was the peak afternoon arrivals from all the morning flights really I thought this was quite impressive, A short walk then back to the car and then back on the roads after a great overall journey.

Overall I have to say Bristol is now a fantastic facility to use, everything ran like clockwork, staff all very friendly and with Easyjet, for me the best LCC out there, I shall continue to use for many years ahead, honestly not one thing i could moan about, Very impressive from both the airport and airline, until next time 🙂


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[TheLocalYokel]

Been a while since I posted due to a busy year so far, however , I travelled through Bristol on the 26th June to Lisbon with easyJet and had an excellent time and a great experience with both easyJet and the airport.

Left my house around 10:00 in the morning in Cardiff for the flight at 13:45 to Lisbon , arrived in about an hour and 10 mins which I thought was pretty decent going , this time instead of choosing the long stay parking , we opted for the the multi story car park and I have to say it is superb , very easy to navigate you to the car park and a very easy system once there , we booked in advance , however you can drive up to the gate and pay on your return if you haven’t prebooked , we found a space on the 3rd floor and what I especially liked was that there was space indicators with a green icon if there was an open space, a lot easier than driving around looking for one, once parked we used the path from the car park to the terminal which is only a few minutes walk, the covered walkway is a great addition, especially saves getting soaked when the weather elements change, after only a few minutes walk we arrived at the terminal , no bags so straight to security and this was very simple , very polite security agents and staff, all lanes were open which meant a 2 minute breeze through security and then to departures which I spent a bit of time of the roof terrace as it was a lovely day.

At around 13:00 the call came to board the easyJet aircraft , I don’t think I’ve used the newish boarding area down the bottom before but it was only a 5 minute walk or so , we then had a seat and waited for the speedy boarders to board the aircraft before the rest of us were allowed , this didn’t take too long and boarding and finished by 13:25, the pilot informed us on the aircraft that there would be a bit of a delay due to ATC slot issues , at around 14:30ish we got under way a little behind schedule.

The easyJet flight itself was very pleasant and a very good crew on board which seemed to enjoy the job and also took some time to talk to you which I thought was a nice touch, a 2 hour 30 flight to Lisbon ( headwind ) but a very enjoyable flight and was time to discover a different part to Lisbon this time.

So after exploring most of the main city in the last few times I’ve been , we decided to spend the day in Sintra and I have to say it’s well worth a visit, lots to see , especially if you like old castles , palaces and enjoy different views, I myself enjoyed visiting Cabo da Roca, and has the most beautiful views over the sea whilst also allowing a walk around the cliffs, Pena palace also has some lovely views but unfortunately the queues around 11am were at 2 hours for going up, still for a lovely day I’d recommend getting there around 9 to explore and skip most of the queues, nothing more I can say about Lisbon itself other than it’s one of the beautiful cities I’ve visited , so much to see and I’d highly recommend a visit if you get the chance 🙂

Coming home was equally as good , the flight left Lisbon at around 10:30 and arrived back into Bristol at around 12:30, stairs were waiting on arrival when getting to Bristol and then a short stroll to the security area, Security was really quick only took around 3 minutes from queuing to using the passport gates, considering that this was the peak afternoon arrivals from all the morning flights really I thought this was quite impressive, A short walk then back to the car and then back on the roads after a great overall journey.

Overall I have to say Bristol is now a fantastic facility to use, everything ran like clockwork, staff all very friendly and with Easyjet, for me the best LCC out there, I shall continue to use for many years ahead, honestly not one thing i could moan about, Very impressive from both the airport and airline, until next time 🙂


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Great to see you back again posting on F4A, Craig. I wondered where you were.

Many thanks for an excellent report and pictures. I've been to Lisbon and agree entirely that it is a beautiful and fascinating city, with plenty of places of interest in the city region as well. We didn't manage to get to Sintra on our visit but visited such places as Estoril.

I hope it will be possible to 'see' you a bit more often on F4A in future, if your commitments allow.

 

[CraigW92]

Great to see you back again posting on F4A, Craig. I wondered where you were.

Many thanks for an excellent report and pictures. I've been to Lisbon and agree entirely that it is a beautiful and fascinating city, with plenty of places of interest in the city region as well. We didn't manage to get to Sintra on our visit but visited such places as Estoril.

I hope it will be possible to 'see' you a bit more often on F4A in future, if your commitments allow.

Many thanks Local, I’m hoping I’ll be able to keep updated more regularly from now on

Unfortunately didn’t manage to get to visit Estoril this time , however we are hoping to visit again next year whilst also adding in Cascais too, If you manage to get in early enough I think we paid £75 return each to Lisbon with seat selection so can’t go wrong really.

Bristol is definitely a class facility to use and we’ve never had a bad flight with easyJet so can’t fault either.

 

[8mileshigh]

On 23 July we flew out to Girona on the 06:45 Ryanair flight, we only booked in April but managed to get return flights for £80 each plus the usual priority boarding and seats selection fees, still a fair price for school holiday flights. For ease of use I always tend to use the Long Stay Car Park so that it is only a short walk to the terminal, part of the deal included half price Fast Lane Security. Not sure how long it would take to get into the Departure Lounge I splashed out to gain a few extra minutes in bed.

We live in Whitchurch South Bristol, about 9 miles from the airport, obviously I know how to get to the airport and don't have to rely on a sat navs that, from previous posters comments, seem to take people all round the lanes and houses. What happened to the way of navigating, following the road signs. We left home at 04:30, with hand luggage only, and walked into the Depature Lounge at 05:05, quickest time I can recall.

The gate number was announced about 06:00 and as soon as we got to the gate boarding started without any checks on bag sizes. Despite the flight being full we pushed back 5 minutes early and after a trademark fast Ryanair taxi quickly airborne.

Girona Airport is quite small, seems to be mainly Ryanair and TUI flights on a Tuesday, probably about 25-30 departures in a day., however there appears to be a large base for swearingen metroliners, with about 10 examples in residence including two being stripped for spares. Mainly Spanish registered with an odd Danish example The return flight left Girona about 25 minutes late due apparently to the heavy rain earlier in Bristol, again did not appear to be any spare seats, made up a few minutes but not really a problem. Quickly off the plane and despite following a TUI 757, that left Girona a few minutes before went straight through Immigration using the new scanners. Mind you the families being directed to use the manned points were not going through anywhere near as quickly.

All in another good experience using the airport

 

[TheLocalYokel]

On 23 July we flew out to Girona on the 06:45 Ryanair flight, we only booked in April but managed to get return flights for £80 each plus the usual priority boarding and seats selection fees, still a fair price for school holiday flights. For ease of use I always tend to use the Long Stay Car Park so that it is only a short walk to the terminal, part of the deal included half price Fast Lane Security. Not sure how long it would take to get into the Departure Lounge I splashed out to gain a few extra minutes in bed.

We live in Whitchurch South Bristol, about 9 miles from the airport, obviously I know how to get to the airport and don't have to rely on a sat navs that, from previous posters comments, seem to take people all round the lanes and houses. What happened to the way of navigating, following the road signs. We left home at 04:30, with hand luggage only, and walked into the Depature Lounge at 05:05, quickest time I can recall.

The gate number was announced about 06:00 and as soon as we got to the gate boarding started without any checks on bag sizes. Despite the flight being full we pushed back 5 minutes early and after a trademark fast Ryanair taxi quickly airborne.

Girona Airport is quite small, seems to be mainly Ryanair and TUI flights on a Tuesday, probably about 25-30 departures in a day., however there appears to be a large base for swearingen metroliners, with about 10 examples in residence including two being stripped for spares. Mainly Spanish registered with an odd Danish example The return flight left Girona about 25 minutes late due apparently to the heavy rain earlier in Bristol, again did not appear to be any spare seats, made up a few minutes but not really a problem. Quickly off the plane and despite following a TUI 757, that left Girona a few minutes before went straight through Immigration using the new scanners. Mind you the families being directed to use the manned points were not going through anywhere near as quickly.

All in another good experience using the airport

Thanks for that, 8mileshigh. I'm glad you had a good holiday and everything went well.

I probably live within a mile or so of you and have never been held up seriously going to or leaving the airport, and I've been using it year-in and year-out for 40 years. Mind you, if I was travelling to the airport from the Bristol direction in the teatime commuter rush period or on the afternoon of POETS day, or leaving it in the morning commuter rush towards Bristol that might be a different matter. Other than that I find the A38 traffic runs pretty smoothly, unless there are roadworks or a road collision or, as was the case earlier this summer, a vehicle fire on the side of the A38 at Potters Hill that caused traffic chaos for an hour or two.

I use the road at least two or three times most weeks between the South Bristol Link Road and Lulsgate Bottom for non-airport purposes, again outside the rush periods for the most part, although I do sometimes see the Friday afternoon congestion leaving the city as I'm travelling towards Bristol (as much to do with commuters leaving work in Bristol early as with airport-bound traffic). POETS day southbound stationary traffic can sometimes stretch from the traffic lights outside the Airport Tavern to the bottom of Barrow Hill - a couple of miles, perhaps a bit more - and once or twice I've seen stationary traffic on Friday afternoons all the way back to the Town's Talk, which is over three miles.

I don't use satnav - don't even have one. If I'm going anywhere unfamiliar I look at a road atlas beforehand and memorise the key parts of the route, and then follow road signs. We travelled from Bristol to Norfolk and Suffolk recently and didn't go wrong once either outbound or return, and we eschewed motorways for most of the jouneys. I used to do the same when we regularly drove around the USA and Canada long before anyone had thought of satnav.

I read a post on F4A a few months ago from someone accessing BRS from South Wales and couldn't understand why the poster had used such a complicated route. I think the reason was faith in the satnav.

I believe that satnavs now play a part in driving tests. That would be me finished then.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Bristol-Geneva-Bristol with easyJet

Outbound to Switzerland

I’ve used easyJet so many times that I don’t usually bother to submit flight reviews about the airline as its service is invariably of an acceptable standard in my view. However, because on this occasion my wife and I used the airport during the morning peak for the first time in several years (we try to avoid that period) I have submitted my thoughts.

Mrs TLY and I have been regular travellers to Switzerland down the years and on the last three or four occasions we have transited via Geneva Airport. This time, as with other recent Swiss holiday trips, we booked a package through TUI although in effect we were travelling independently as easyJet was the carrier and there was no TUI rep in the resort, which was Grindelwald in the Bernese Oberland this time.

Our outbound flight was the Sunday 0735 hours easyJet BRS-GVA on 1 September. Because of the likely extremely busy nature of the terminal in the early morning (about 30 departures including 17 easyJet alone before 8am) we decided reluctantly to make an early start and set the alarm for 4am with a taxi pick-up at 4.50. That didn’t work as the airport-accredited Arrow Taxis car was 20 minutes late (thus depriving us of an extra 20 minutes in bed), but at least Arrow telephoned us to warn of the delay just as we were beginning to become annoyed at the non-appearance.

We reached the terminal at 5.30am (we live just a few miles from BRS) to find the queue for the easyJet self-service checked-in baggage stretching all around the ‘snake’ and along the floor of the terminal half way to the main entrance. That did not alleviate our already crotchety mood but to our delight the queue moved fairly swiftly and we were through the process within 20 minutes which, if anyone had seen the size of the queue, would have been cause for congratulation, surprise and relief. It seems that many people have become used to the self-drop system.

We went upstairs and were through the reasonably busy security area in another ten minutes - they seemed to have most of the security stations opened.

From this experience the airport and airline handle the busy morning peak extremely well.

We are not big breakfast eaters so purchased a snack that I consumed whilst standing on the open air terrace at the east end of the terminal. After that I joined Mrs TLY sitting inside the terminal waiting for our gate number to be shown on the flight information display (BRS does not make routine flight announcements). There is no view of the apron or runway from inside the terminal apart from a limited one from the open air terrace.

Sometime before 7 our gate number appeared and we found that we were to reach our aircraft via the central pier on one of the Cobus 3000 buses that took us to our A319 parked on the eastern apron near the old terminal building amongst a number of fellow Orange Airbuses. Boarding was quick and efficient into what appeared to be a full aircraft so that we were in good time for a prompt departure.

It was not to be. An announcement from the captain told us that because of air traffic problems in France we would be taking a longer route than usual and the need for more fuel to be loaded would delay our departure. In less than half an hour after our scheduled push-back time we were on the move to the westerly runway (27) which requires only a short taxi to reach. We took to the air at 0805 and as we took off I noticed a number of other easyJet aircraft still on stand - we were supposed to be nearly the last scheduled easyJet departure in the first batch of 17. I learned later that we fared better than some others that had longer delays courtesy of the French air traffic control difficulties.

The runway 27 departure took us initially towards the Severn estuary followed by a 180-degree right turn to the east. Weather conditions were clear and in almost no time I could see Heathrow below us. We seemed to head out over Kent but the cloud thickened and the view of the ground was lost. Perhaps we avoided France (flying instead over Belgium and the edge of Germany). I don’t know because the captain made no announcements after we took off, not even at the end of the flight, and provided no details of the longer route that we were to take. The next location I recognised was above the railway marshalling yards outside Lausanne near the shore of Lake Geneva.

A few minutes over the lake took us into GVA where we landed around 1040 local time (scheduled arrival time 1015 local) after a flight of about one hour 35 minutes which wasn’t actually more than about 10-15 minutes longer than the ‘normal’ BRS-GVA route that often leaves the English shore in the region of Brighton/Worthing in Sussex.

The flight was ‘typical’ easyJet: efficient and professional. We made no onboard purchases.

We left the aircraft at GVA via an airbridge but there was only one which was attached to the front of the aircraft; we were sitting near the rear. As usual at GVA there was a long walk to the baggage reclaim but at least we didn’t have to wait too long to be re-united with our suitcases as the unloaders had plenty of time to shift the bags during our walk from the aircraft. We were landside just over half an hour after landing which wasn't too and at all.

In Switzerland (briefly)

GVA has a subterranean railway station that has frequent mainline trains. The rail journey to Grindelwald took just over three and a half hours and involved two changes of train - at Bern and Interlaken Ost (East).

Our week was spent travelling around on the various public transport systems, mainly rail, sometimes lake steamers, to get us to the various cable cars, gondolas, funiculars and cog/rack mountain railways that adorn the Bernese Oberland so effectively.

Inbound (to England)

We departed Grindelwald by train in the early afternoon of Sunday 8 September and reached GVA in plenty of time to catch our evening (2130 departure) easyJet flight back to BRS. We could not check in our suitcases until three hours before the flight’s scheduled departure time so sat outside the airport terminal in the fresh air for half an hour.

easyJet has its own area at the far end (ie from the railway station) of the long main terminal building. GVA is not as big an easyJet base as BRS but is a bigger airport physically and in annual passenger numbers (nearly 18 mppa last year).

Around 1830 (ie three hours before departure) we made our way to the easyJet area and were allowed to check in our suitcases. Surprisingly this was done via the ‘old fashioned’ method with agents at desks doing the work. It was odd because GVA was one of the first airports we used for self bag-dropping about eight years ago and it was with easyJet then. Quite why they have returned to the older system I have no idea.

We went upstairs to security which was quick and efficient. The long airside departure area - with very few eateries considering the airport’s size - was thronged with travellers awaiting their flights on a busy Sunday evening. I quickly noticed that most departures (of all airlines) were showing delays, some of a few minutes and others up to an hour. We had eaten on the train and snacked outside the terminal whilst waiting for the bag drop to open so we made no purchases in the departure area.

It was possible to see a good portion of the runway and apron from our seat although the view was partly obscured by a mesh over the terminal windows. The airport was busy with arriving and departing aircraft one of which was an Emirates B777 that landed and taxied across our view.

The flight information displays indicated the gate number of flights 90 minutes before departure, except for most of the time they didn’t. Ours was supposed to display at 2000 hours but by 2015 hours there was still nothing shown. Shortly afterwards the indication altered to ‘gate number displayed at 2035 hours’ which suggested to me that our flight would not miss out on the delayed departures affecting most of the other flights.

At 2040 the gate number appeared, and as expected, it involved a long trek along an underground passage in which the travellators weren’t working. Some of the GVA departure gates are housed in curious structures, something like overgrown, round garden summer houses. Ours was one, and we were initially shown as a gate 33 departure but later altered to 32. Both gates were in our summer house along with two others, all spaced at intervals around three sides of the circular structure.

The flights departing through the respective four gates were us, another easyJet, a Swiss and a BA. Seating is at a premium but, worse, space inside the structure is so limited that queues for the various flights tend to merge into one homogenous group. It’s very easy to be standing next to someone queuing for another flight. It’s not the first time that we’ve encountered the summer houses. We find GVA to be one of the less user-friendly airports, not just because of these departure areas (not every flight departs through them by any means).

By now our departure time had been altered from 2130 to 2210 on the departure boards.

Eventually our queue began to move, but agonisingly slowly. The reason soon became clear - boarding was via a single airbridge at the front of the aircraft. After about ten minutes we reached the front door of the aircraft and there we remained for a couple of minutes. I said to one of the cabin staff standing inside the door how ridiculous it was to board everyone via one airbridge. She readily agreed with a ‘but what can I do?” shrug of her shoulders. I also asked her if the aircraft had picked up delays on earlier flights and she replied that they had to change the actual aircraft. I didn’t ask her why. Perhaps they used the spare that we have been told is based at BRS, assuming it’s a 319.

We then moved slowly down the aisle to our seats at the back but progress was continually hampered by people trying to force what in many cases were clearly oversized cabin bags into the overhead bins. Some were also putting coats into the bins. When we eventually reached our seats we put our small cabin bags on the floor under the seats in front.

A passenger sitting in front of us was incensed that his obviously oversized cabin bag had been removed to the hold, as apparently were a number of others on what was a near-full A319.

I don’t understand how so many people were allowed to bring on board bags that were obviously bigger than easyJet’s permitted maximum dimensions.

We finally started to move - there was no push-back - and taxied to the runway. We took off at 2225 hours local time and landed on runway 27 at BRS at 2250 BST (scheduled arrival time was 2210 hours BST), a flight time of about one hour 25 minutes. The flight was uneventful and we purchased a couple of very small plastic bottles of white wine to while away the journey.

After landing, we taxied to a point on the eastern apron very near to where we had boarded our outbound aircraft. The Cobus 3000s failed to materialise at our remote stand for about ten minutes so we were left waiting on the aircraft. When we finally got inside the terminal we found that immigration was not the bulging mass of passengers we had anticipated despite several other flights landing in the half hour before ours. In fact, the new e-gates worked like a dream - quicker than the previous ones. That and the fact that more and more people have become used to them probably explained the lack of congestion at the gates.

The wait for the Cobus 3000s was cancelled out timewise by our suitcases being on the carousel awaiting us when we entered the baggage reclaim hall.

We reached the taxi office outside the terminal just over half an hour after landing which was no cause for complaint. We had to wait about ten minutes for our Arrow taxi but, given the queue outside the taxi office, that was entirely acceptable.

Summary

1. BRS was not the nightmare in the morning rush that we had expected.

2. Both flights were standard easyJet offerings with which we have always been happy.

3. GVA is still not one of our favourite airports to pass through, although its convenience and rail links outweigh its passenger experience shortcomings.

4. Although we picked up delays both outbound and inbound it has since become clear that people must have worked hard behind the scenes to keep the delays to a minimum in view of the various difficulties they encountered. Full marks to them.

5. Overall, both flights and airport arrangements were very satisfactory and, as we suspected would be the case, there was nothing that might put us off similar journeys in the future, whether with easyJet or anyone else.

6. Despite the comment in para 5, please sort out the oversized cabin bags situation, easyJet.

 

[superking]

Glad you had a good holiday. The travel there and back makes a holiday or it dosent make a good holiday. Glad to see you back and a good report.

 

[Jerry]

A passenger sitting in front of us was incensed that his obviously oversized cabin bag had been removed to the hold, as apparently were a number of others on what was a near-full A319.

He's lucky he wasn't flying with Flybe or it would've cost him £50!

I don’t understand how so many people were allowed to bring on board bags that were obviously bigger than easyJet’s permitted maximum dimensions.

When I flew with them from Edinburgh to Bristol the baggage didn't seem to be policed resulting in delays and a lot of gate checked bags and miffed customers.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

He's lucky he wasn't flying with Flybe or it would've cost him £50!


When I flew with them from Edinburgh to Bristol the baggage didn't seem to be policed resulting in delays and a lot of gate checked bags and miffed customers.

It's often been a bone of contention with us, but given the delay and ridiculous method of boarding that magnified the situation at GVA last Sunday, it was brought into sharp focus.

We deliberately left a cabin bag at home last week because it was just an inch longer than easyJet's regulations permit. Some of the cabin bags we see carried on easyJet flights are half as big again as that. The suitcases we checked in weren't much bigger.

 

[Jerry]

It's often been a bone of contention with us, but given the delay and ridiculous method of boarding that magnified the situation at GVA last Sunday, it was brought into sharp focus.

We deliberately left a cabin bag at home last week because it was just an inch longer than easyJet's regulations permit. Some of the cabin bags we see carried on easyJet flights are half as big again as that. The suitcases we checked in weren't much bigger.

You have to wonder how much its effecting their turnarounds. I've seen a lot on Twitter lately complaining about how unreliable they're becoming. But if course if they clamp down and become draconian like Flybe they might end up with worse PR than before.

 

[Marko1]

I returned into Bristol earlier this afternoon from Reykjavík and I have to say the process through the airport was flawless. By the time we passed through passport control our hold luggage was on the carousel. The airport was busy with a number of easyjet, Ryanair and tui arrivals. We don’t fly so much these days but I have to say flying from Bristol is so much easier than heading up the M4 to London . Incidentally the flight home today was full with a significant numbers of Icelanders heading for breaks in the West Country region. Is there potential for a return to a summer service as well ?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I returned into Bristol earlier this afternoon from Reykjavík and I have to say the process through the airport was flawless. By the time we passed through passport control our hold luggage was on the carousel. The airport was busy with a number of easyjet, Ryanair and tui arrivals. We don’t fly so much these days but I have to say flying from Bristol is so much easier than heading up the M4 to London . Incidentally the flight home today was full with a significant numbers of Icelanders heading for breaks in the West Country region. Is there potential for a return to a summer service as well ?

I'm glad you enjoyed everything, Marko. We've had two flight from and to BRS this year (Glasgow and Geneva) and we have another one in early December (Lanzarote). As with you, everything went pretty smoothly.

The Icelanders might be coming to the West Country for a bit of winter sun. Somerset might be too hot for them in summer.😆

 

[Jerry]

and we have another one in early December (Lanzarote).

Just curious in who you are flying with?

I've had 2 flights from Bristol this year to both have been decent experiences. Looking forward to more flights next year!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Just curious in who you are flying with?

TUI

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Bristol -Arrecife-Bristol with TUI Airways

Outbound to Arrecife

Although we have used Thomson Holidays and their airline Britannia Airways for inclusive-tour holidays on numerous occasions beginning over 40 years ago, the last time we used an actual TUI aircraft (a forerunner of TUI Airways actually, Thomsonfly) was 13 years ago with a B757 operating from BRS to Salzburg and back. We’ve been on TUI holidays several times since then but the carrier has been easyJet and for one holiday a Brussels Airlines ARJ85.

Our last charter flight was four years ago with Thomas Cook from BRS to Fuerteventura and return on that now extinct airline’s A321s.

Scheduled departure time for this flight was 0940 on the first Thursday in December this year. An Arrow taxi picked us up promptly at the arranged time of 0700 and we were inside the airport terminal 25 minutes later. Early December is never the busiest period of the year and the airport was relatively quiet. There were only around 25 departures listed before we were due to go and three or four of these had been cancelled because of French industrial action that involved air traffic traffic controllers.

We had printed boarding cards but TUI still used an agent-operated check-in and baggage drop for our flight. This was quickly accomplished and we went upstairs to the departure area with security being an absolute breeze with no queues.

Breakfast is not a big meal for us so we purchased snacks and ate them near the door leading out onto the open-air terrace which affords a partial view of the apron and runway. I don’t know if it opens in winter but didn’t bother to find out given the chilly morning. I didn’t see anyone else on the terrace.

At 0855 our gate number appeared on the FIDs. It was gate 15 which is near the far end of the western walkway, 400 metres away. We actually enjoy the chance of a stroll before being strapped into an aircraft seat for a few hours so the gate being used was not an unwelcome burden for us by any means.

Boarding the aircraft parked outside the gate was quick and efficient although BRS has no air bridges. We were on a TUI Airways Boeing 737-800. I’m not a recorder of aircraft registrations but I recall that ours was G-FD something or other. I did remember the registration of our 737-800 on the return journey. We were in seats 28 E and F. Our captain gave us a thorough introduction to the journey telling us that the French ATC industrial action would lead to a longer route than normal to avoid French airspace.

We pushed back a few minutes after our scheduled departure time, and after a short taxi we found ourselves lifted from runway 27 at exactly 1000. Initial routing was the usual one from 27 towards the Severn estuary after which we turned left and flew past Exeter then along the south Devon coast in the vicinity of Dawlish Warren. Cloud began to interfere with our view and what appeared to be Bodmin Moor was the last thing we saw before the cloud enveloped everything below us. We had been told we would be leaving the UK in the vicinity of Lands End but our aircraft was not equipped with a rolling map display.

The ground came back into view over what I took to be the extreme north-west corner of Spain. In the past Canary Islands journeys have often taken us across the Brest Peninsula and Bay of Biscay arriving over Spain further to the west than this flight above the Cantabrian Mountains.

For a few minutes we lost sight of the ground before the cloud miraculously melted away just in time to give us a marvellous view of Porto, one of Bristol’s twin cities. The next major viewpoint was Portugal’s beautiful capital city, laid out before us in striking sunlit relief. We didn’t see a lot after that until we arrived to the east of Lanzarote’s northern coast. We turned right across the sea onto finals for runway 03 through showers of quite heavy rain. We landed at 1340 (scheduled arrival was 1335) after a flight time of three hours 40 minutes.

There were several other TUI Boeing 737-800s parked on the apron as there were Jet2 aircraft. These two airlines formed the bulk of the parked aircraft but easyJet, Ryanair and others were also on the apron but in lesser numbers.

The flight which seemed completely full was entirely acceptable. We only bought a tea and a hot chocolate drink from a professional if not over-friendly cabin crew. TUI no longer provides inflight meals on the trips but does offer a substantial food and drinks selection for purchase. The first officer appeared to be very enthusiastic and kept us informed of the flight’s progress through regular en-route bulletins.

The seats were perfectly adequate. There were no seat backs for storage in the usual sense, just rigid plastic containers positioned near the top of the seat in front.

We exited via an airbridge and arrival at the immigration booth was met with the most cursory glance at our passports. There were no egates in use, if there are any. Baggage appeared quite quickly on the carousel and after a moderate walk we were soon landslide and directed to the TUI coach that would take us to our hotel. That involved another five-minute walk.

It was all very efficient and we were arriving at out Costa Teguise hotel just over an hour after landing.

Inbound to Bristol

We returned home exactly a week later. Our coach from the hotel dropped us at Arrecife Airport shortly before 1230 for our 1450 departure to Bristol. The bag drop was via manned desks of which there were about eight dealing with all TUI flights - at least half a dozen scheduled in the next couple of hours or so. We were checked in and bag-dropped within ten minutes and security was a fairly quick and efficient operation.

We then made our way into the departure section of the terminal that has a number of refreshment areas and a good selection of seating.We didn’t bother buying anything to eat or drink as we had brought some snacks with us. I wandered to the far end of the departure area and went out onto the open terrace. As at BRS the terrace has a limited view of the apron and runway but unlike BRS smoking is permitted. It wasn’t crowded so it was easy to find somewhere unaffected by the tobacco smoke.

Again most of the arriving, departing and parked aircraft were TUI and Jet2 along with the Binter ATR island-hoppers. I also noted an Air Europe Boeing 737-800, an Iberia Express Airbus together with an easyJet and a Ryanair. I only remained on the terrace for about 15 minutes. I noticed that all landing aircraft except the Binters were escorted to their stand by follow-me vehicles, as we were when we landed the previous week.

Our flight was called three quarters of an hour before the scheduled 1450 departure time. The procedure was efficient although this time our aircraft was parked remotely and we were taken to it by Cobus 3000 buses.

I did remember the registration which was G-TAWJ. Unlike the outbound aircraft this one was equipped with a rolling digital map and more conventional seat back pockets. We were again in seats 28E and F and although the aircraft seemed pretty full there were a couple of empty rows right at the back.

Before take-off the captain gave us an introduction to the flight, or at least I think he did because his microphone was out of the Norman Collier* workshop and only about every third word was recognisable - the same thing happened later in the flight. It seemed though that he was telling us that the French were still at it and as a result our flight would take longer.

We taxied to runway 03 and lifted off at 1506. Once we had flown past Arrecife town we were in the clouds and saw little of the ground until we were on final approach to BRS. We bought a couple of small bottles of Sauvignon Blanc and some tea and hot chocolate, the wine to be consumed later with some nibbles we had with us. The flight was uneventful apart from some minor turbulence from time to time in the first two hours of the journey.

The digital map indicated strong adverse winds for much of the flight and, coupled with the detour to miss French air space, it meant that we had been flying for four hours and two minutes when we touched down on BRS’s runway 27 at 1908 (scheduled arrival time was 1845). The map showed that once we had left Lanzarote the entire journey was flown over the sea to the west of Portugal and northern Spain, and we eventually gained a cruising height of 38,000 feet reached in stages throughout the first half of the journey. We made landfall near Lands End and flew overhead Plymouth to reach what is usually the way in to BRS via the Exeter area.

The quality of the flight and service was on a par with the outbound - entirely acceptable.

We again parked at the western end of the apron from where we had left a week ago. This meant another 400-metre walk to immigration and baggage reclaim, not that we were complaining about it. This is the second time we used the ‘new’ egates at BRS and walked straight through (the previous egates seemed sluggish in comparison). The airport wasn’t that busy when we came in - only six or seven other flights were shown on the carousel indicators along the western walkway, with only a couple being international along with ours. Our baggage arrived on the carousel about 25 minutes after our aircraft came on stand.

Our Arrow airport taxi was immediately available (we’d pre-booked) and we were home which is nine miles from the airport just over an hour after landing - in time to brave the heavy rain and walk to our local polling station to vote in the general election.

All in all a good all round experience, and even the blasted French air traffic controllers didn’t really interfere with our progress in any significant way.

* the late Norman Collier was a tv and radio comedian who was known for his dodgy microphone routine

 

[Seasider]

I remember it well!