#timehop 12 years ago

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On this day exactly 5 years ago I was up a hill with these crazy 2....and today I will be seeing them again!

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Nice pint. Not too sure of the name though!

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Unattended Luggage – Fine, Jail or Ban?

Following on from the “incident” at Luton Airport this week, the authorities have now confirmed exactly what we all thought at the time whilst standing in the car park for 4 hours – some idiot has left a bag unattended. The news read:-

Insp Dave Ford, of the Airport Policing Unit, said that despite the inconvenience, all passengers remained calm and understanding of the situation. “The situation came about because of the combination of suspicious items in the hand luggage, an inadequate explanation and the fact that the passenger who owned the bag also told officers he had left it unattended while he went elsewhere in the terminal.”

For the full news item go here:- http://www.london-luton.co.uk/en/news/1/325/airport-operations-resume.html

So the passenger could not explain what was in his bag and admitted to leaving it unattended. How stupid and selfish can you get?……and what punishment will be handed down?

Yes, the police handled the situation professionally
Yes, the airport staff where superb
Yes, the airlines were their usual “we know nothing but when we do we will delay telling you”

The fact remains that thousands of people had their trips, leisure or otherwise affected. The airlines lost millions of pounds. Hotels abroad lost out by not having customers there for the evening. Businesses such as ours and our customers lost out again. All because of this one act of incompetence. What will happen to him? Nothing, that’s what.

It happens every year. When are the airlines going to think about banning passengers as a deterrent to others. Perhaps a short sharp jail sentence might wake people up? Failing that why not publish his name and contact details so those who lost out can take appropriate action to recover their losses?

Any thoughts?

Luton Airport Security Alert #LDNLutonairport #easyjet

You probably read all about this event on yesterday's news. Unfortunately I was one of the unlucky ones who got stuck in this along with 7 of our customers who we were taking out to Germany to visit the Keuco factory. The same 7 who's flight was cancelled at the last minute in July - what are the chances of that!

Purpose of this blog is to examine the differences in customer service between Luton Airport and our chosen airline - easyJet.

This first picture was taken from the bus coming from the mid-term carpark at 14:05. As we approached the terminal you could see that something was wrong - thousands of people walking away from the building and police everywhere. Our bus was stopped and told to return to the car park. There was no point us getting off as everyone was being herded well away from the buildings.

Back at the car park it was obvious something was wrong. First confirmation came from our bus driver who informed us that this was going to be a long delay and that all incoming flights had been suspended. so that's 1-0 to luton Airport. Too hot to sit on the bus so we got out into the wonderful sunshine. Picture  is of the now closed roundabout at the entrance to the airport. The cars you see are not moving but have been parked in the hope that incident would be over soon. Some hope!

Water supplied by airport staff as the day was hot. So that's 2-0 Come on easyJet whats your news regarding all this? At 15:51 we all got a text from the airline informing us that the airport had been evacuated. Seriously! Nearly 2 hours after the event - pathetic.

All through the next couple of hours we were kept upto date by the bus driver and his walkie talkie. The bomb squad arrived, a robot was sent in, a controlled explosion was about to happen. Still no flights in and what a surprise nothing from easyJet. Sorry thats not quite true, if you needed to change your baby you could use their offices!

At 17:00 our ever informative bus driver said that we should all check with our airlines as to the status of our flights as he and his colleagues had been informed that most of the flights due out in the last hour and the next 3 hours were now cancelled. Oh yes check with easyJet, Precisely how I asked?

So mustering all the social media we had between us we scoured Twitter, Facebook, FlightAware, TripIt and even easyJet's own website and app. Luckily (unluckily) for those of on the 16:10 flight to Dortmund, the decision to cancel the flight was one of the first taken by easyJet at 17:05. Okay I will give you .5 of a point for this. News was relayed by their IOS app. Now 5-0.5 in my reckoning.

So back into the cars and the first to leave the airport. All the way down the road, around the roundabout an onto the M1 link road, cars were parked 2 deep. Good luck people but most of you are going no where.

Not a bad trip back up the M1 to Rushden and beyond. Quick stop at Waitrose to get some dinner and then home by 18:40.


And then at 20:07 an email from the airline

Booking reference: EN4LV1K
Dear SIMON THOMPSON
We are really sorry to inform you that your easyJet flight, 2175 to DTM on 08-SEP-14 has been cancelled. We understand that cancelling your flight will cause you inconvenience and we are very sorry when things don't run as scheduled.  

Pathetic, pathetic, incompetent and useless easyJet. In these situations, all your customers want is information, promptly, accurate and informative. Today you provided non of this.

Your disruption manager Gill L could use some training in the effective use of social media. You have all the customers details. In many cases mobile numbers. email addresses and login details from the app.

If you need any help in advising you how to improve customer service and relations, please let me know.

Partytime in Stanwick

Tonight, Mrs CT and I will be partying on down at The Old School Bistro in Stanwick. The subject of this gathering is yet another of the Stanwick gang reaching their half century. Much beer, glasses of fizz, and bad dancing to come.

Happy Birthday Mrs B xxx

You had only been a member of the forties club for two months when this was taken.

Mr Titmuss seems to be in some sort of pain in the background!