YOUR COMMENTS
QUEUE THE COMPLAINTS… Have you been to the US recently? There is always a long queue to get through US immigration despite the “pre-clearance” process of ESTA (“ePassport gates to open to more overseas visitors”,
buyingbusinesstravel.com). Forty- five minutes is nothing, but now there will be even longer queues at our ePassport gates as more people try to use the system, which to be honest is no quicker than presenting yourself in person to an immigration officer.
SteveM (via BBT website)
RUNWAY IS 30 YEARS TOO LATE (“Heathrow third runway ‘not enough’ to deal with demand”,
buyingbusinesstravel.com) A fourth runway? That could have been
achieved easily 30-plus years ago, had the short-sightedness of some been not allowed to fritter away space around the operational runways on hotels and Terminal 4. A layout not dissimilar to LAX could have
been achieved, giving two sets of closely spaced parallel runways. The new third runway would have become the fifth one. The legacy of minimising investment is proving very expensive. Both Gatwick and Stansted need
additional runways to give some resilience to the existing system, even with existing traffic. It does not need a long-term plan to see that; it is clearly obvious on any day with the most minimal disruption, when recovery to normal service takes the whole day, if it can be achieved at all. It is a clear indication of lack of capacity. Airlines bear some of the blame, chasing high-frequency, runway space-hungry schedules. As for getting to and from the airport,
decent transport links have been long overdue. Public transport plans have ignored serious transport to Heathrow. Progress since has been slow, with links to the south- east, south and west still not in place, and not due to be in place until the mid-2020s. Martin George Alder
EXTRA CARDIFF TO EDINBURGH FLIGHT? It would be wonderful if Flybe added another daily flight from Cardiff to Edinburgh (“Flybe adds fifth daily Edinburgh-LHR flight”,
buyingbusinesstravel.com BBTWEETS
@KEVINSIDWAR Filling out an expense report for a recent trip. All of the food expenses require the “business purpose” field to be filled out. Thinking of going with “keeps employed asset alive and functioning.” #CorporateAmerica #businesstips #businesstravel
@DODDSYOLDBOY We need to see a plan for how this extra funding will be used. You owe this to your taxpayer investors. Why not also link [rail fare] increases to performance – if the service improves, taxpayers pay, if it doesn’t government stumps up? #fair #transparency #railfares
@JANTALIPINSKI The absolute best thing about Brexit is that it has completely cured me of my imposter syndrome.
@COOPERATOR1 Well done to the audience member on [BBC Question
2019 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 151
TALK BACK
HAVE YOUR SAY AND SHARE YOUR VIEWS AT
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
buyingbusinesstravel.com). It takes under an hour to get from Cardiff to Edinburgh by plane, but on average ten hours by road. If there were a flight leaving 10am from Cardiff to Edinburgh, this would allow people to fly up and back to Cardiff on the same day. This would allow people in Wales to go shopping in Edinburgh and be back in Wales within a few hours.
Ann Wales
TACKLING RYANAIR The culture of Ryanair appears to always have been one that disregards passenger complaints (“CAA takes Ryanair to court over compensation denials”,
buyingbusinesstravel.com). It is time for the CAA to tackle this and clarify the law around what constitutes extraordinary circumstances. However, whatever the outcome, it is unlikely to bring about a change of culture within Ryanair while Mr O’Leary remains in charge.
Ian Hamer
Follow us on Twitter: @BBT_online, @matt_parsons & @mbdyson
Time] who pointed out the contrast between the eight-year freeze on road fuel duty and the large annual increases in rail fares – hardly the way to encourage green transport!
@HELENPIDD What if we all refuse to pay the [rail fare] increase and see what happens? It took me three hours and 15 minutes to travel 23 miles on Northern Rail yesterday.
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