Clubhouse and Late Flights

VS15 was over 5.5 hours late departing LGW today and it got me thinking...as the LGW Clubhouse closes midday would they turf all the UC passengers out to fend for themselves in the main terminal or would keep it open until the flight was ready to board?

I don't know the answer to you question but this does start to show what appears to be a worrying trend as I was aware of the very late departure of the MCO flights last week (or was it the week before).

Paul

I notice that VS015 and VS016 are going to be very late today.
VS016 wont return here until 1pm tommorow now. ouch.
(this had better not happen when I fly next month)

Does anyone know what the incoming flight was and why the large delay?

Paul

I'm a bit worried about this. It does (as Paul states) seem to be becoming a trend. [V] Do Virgin give reasons for delays on any public websites or are the real reasons kept secret "for security"?

Lets the ops guys on here have a chance to read and I am sure one of them can shed light on the problem.

Paul

It is becoming more of a common occurence at LGW what with so many flights with little/no spare a/c the 747 at LGW are hard working with a couple of hours on the ground before turnaround and so any late arrival obviously has a knock on effect.

iwould have thought, pax and staff are going to be the only people that will know why the flight is delayed.

Its 3 hours late today, but yes, they are keeping the clubhouse open for us. The good news is ... they have not run out of champagne yet....

David

I was once stuck in JFK when the weather in the UK was really bad (a few years back) and the flights out of LHR were seriously delayed. We were original on the early evening departure from JFK but it ended up going about 4.30 am ! The CH was kept open the whole time, the staff were excellent, with food and drink flowing all night. Must say I felt sorry for the other passengers as the main terminal shops all closed down at midnight!

I may be being really cynical, but that was America. Who's to say that the same would happen in old Blighty? [:?]

[Decker]

Good question as the European Working Time Directive doubtless applies to the CH staff and an extra shift will not have been rostered.

Originally posted by Decker
European Working Time Directive

Not necessarily. It can be opted out of to some extent. All our staff are opted out (purely volunarily of course[}:)])

VS15 was over 5.5 hours late departing LGW today and it got me thinking...as the LGW Clubhouse closes midday would they turf all the UC passengers out to fend for themselves in the main terminal or would keep it open until the flight was ready to board?

we were delayed LGW-UVF for about 5.5 hours when the aircraft went tech. The clubhouse stayed open,most staff left but a few new faces arrived,only time I could have claimed off of the amex delayed departure insurance,but as we were so well looked after in the CH didn't need to buy anything.

Originally posted by Decker
Good question as the European Working Time Directive doubtless applies to the CH staff and an extra shift will not have been rostered.

The WTD works on an average over 17 weeks - a single extra shift can easily be recovered (if necessary). I appreciate that are daily limits, but the pay of CH staff id probably such that most would instantly opt for overtime.

Since delays are not unknown in the airline industry, I would suspect that all ground staff contracts allow for extra time worked when necessary.

Update as to what happened on the 10th.
Outbound VS15 that went at 18:03 was G-VTOP which was not on the arrivals list from anywhere on that day. Both inbounds from MCO to arrive on that day where on the deck before 8am.

On the 11th VTOP Arrived in from MCO as VS16 and turned around and departed again to MCO as VS15 (Late!).

The last movement fro VTOP prior to this was out to Havana as VS63 on the 8th.

Can anyone shed any more light on this.

Flight data from http://www.lhr-lgw.co.uk