BA Question - LHR T1

I wanted to post this here, as I thought it would get more views from people who may know the answer.

I got back from Milano last night into T1, although it was a 95 minute flight we ended up coming in 90 minutes after our scheduled time.

So far this year, 4 flights with BA, 1 x 3 Hour Delay, 1 x 1.5 Hour Delay and 2 x 1 Hour Delay.
So far this year with Virgin, 26 flights, no more than 2 x 15 minute delays.

My question is this.

We arrived on Stand at LHR T1 last night, while there was a Jetway, it was not used and they put the stairs at the back and bused us to the terminal. As there were many people who had connecting flights and had made their way to the front, they were unhappy and even more annoyed when the bus waited until it was full.

Why would an airline not use the Jetway ? I did ask the Flight Attendant at the back, but she said she did n't know.

Also, there was an empty stand next to us, with a jetway, that they could have used but did not. Also, this flight when departing on Monday was on a remote stand and we were bused to it.


{HighFlyer: Topic moved to BA forum}

All I can say is that I flew into T1 last week with BA, we got to the gate and had to wait around on the aircraft for 20 mins for somebody to turn up to drive the jetway up to our aircraft. The captain blamed BAA for this. [:(!]

When i went to Tel Aviv with El Al from T1 gate 52 i think the
business/first passengers had the jetty and we went down the stairs
then borded remotely.

Comeing back to the same gate we got off via stairs and had to go into the terminal the other way!

Doesent make sense to me either.

Interesting. You might have arrived on a domestic stand in which case there is no means of handling an international arrival and they have to coach you. I know BA do that all the time at both Heathrow and Gatwick [:(!]

Originally posted by ukcobra
I wanted to post this here, as I thought it would get more views from people who may know the answer.

I got back from Milano last night into T1, although it was a 95 minute flight we ended up coming in 90 minutes after our scheduled time.

So far this year, 4 flights with BA, 1 x 3 Hour Delay, 1 x 1.5 Hour Delay and 2 x 1 Hour Delay.
So far this year with Virgin, 26 flights, no more than 2 x 15 minute delays.

My question is this.

We arrived on Stand at LHR T1 last night, while there was a Jetway, it was not used and they put the stairs at the back and bused us to the terminal. As there were many people who had connecting flights and had made their way to the front, they were unhappy and even more annoyed when the bus waited until it was full.

Why would an airline not use the Jetway ? I did ask the Flight Attendant at the back, but she said she did n't know.

Also, there was an empty stand next to us, with a jetway, that they could have used but did not. Also, this flight when departing on Monday was on a remote stand and we were bused to it.


{HighFlyer: Topic moved to BA forum}

The International arrival at a Domestic gate does sound like a good possible cause, thanks for that, I had n't thought of that.

The BA desk on the outbound journey had a dig at BAA, as the outbound Milano flight had not been updated on the screen, they blamed BAA for that.

Originally posted by David_C_H_1
All I can say is that I flew into T1 last week with BA, we got to the gate and had to wait around on the aircraft for 20 mins for somebody to turn up to drive the jetway up to our aircraft. The captain blamed BAA for this. [:(!]

What a lot of claptrap! It's a BA ground agent who drives the jetway for a BA flight at LHR.

It's a widely known fact that BA don't have enough ground staff at Heathrow, especially dispatchers, and "waiting for paperwork" (i.e. for a dispatcher to become available and signoff on the loadsheet, etc.) accounts for many of the delays.

As far as the coaching, yes, it's likely that you were parked on a domestic stand as the aircraft was being switched to a domestic flight next, and ended up being coached in.

This also happens with BMI from time to time, when they switch an aircraft to domestic duties. Recently, we docked at the domestic side of T1, and I knew we were in for a coaching. What was surprising is that we disembarked via the jetway, from the L1 door as normal, and then once inside the gate room/lobby, was directed down some stairs to get on a bus to be coached over to the International Arrivals (underneath the Flight Connections Centre).

Mike