How bad are Aerlingus? How about an eleven hour delay!

therecklessone

PhoenixRising wrote:

Never heard of an auto-taxi. How does that work? Do ATC use the surface movement radar and controlled/sequenced taxiway lights?

Now you ask me that I've done some checking and from what I can tell they don't have an auto-taxi system. Can't remember who told me it, but it was a work colleague recently. Sorry for the bum steer.

The autoland will take the plane as far as rollout and stop on the runway if required. There's an interesting discussion here.

As for SMR at Heathrow, here is the system employed at the airport. Very impressive, especially the ability to track a/c movements from their SSR codes. Heathrow was also the first European airports to install the more reliable (and adaptable IIRC) MLS landing system, as an upgrade on their existing ILS details here.

therecklessone

Imposter wrote:

Yep, but this was 2001 iirc. Not exactly cutting edge to expect somewhere to have this technology now.

Cost is the deciding factor I'm afraid. Navigation aids and landing systems are horrendously expensive, so most airports will install as much as they deem necessary and no more. Hence the Cat IIIa at Dublin (and only on runway 28, not on 10 or 16) and the Cat IIIc at Heathrow.

blorg

therecklessone wrote:

Cost is the deciding factor I'm afraid. Navigation aids and landing systems are horrendously expensive, so most airports will install as much as they deem necessary and no more. Hence the Cat IIIa at Dublin (and only on runway 28, not on 10 or 16) and the Cat IIIc at Heathrow.

Had a very scary experience landing in Beauvais with Ryanair. When we arrive, captain announces that due to bad fog, we can't land immediately, but, and I quote, "don't worry, we have enough fuel to stay up here for 30 minutes." 40 minutes later, people are starting to look a bit nervous; the captain comes on and says "right, we're landing now." I'm skeptical that the fog had improved - I had snagged an over-wing seat and it was literally not possible to see the end of the wing. When we got down, the runway was lined with firetrucks and ambulances (their lights may have been a help navigation-wise?). Now Beauvais is ILS Cat I - IANAP but AFAIK Cat I would require greater visibility than the length of a wing to make a landing safely?

therecklessone

blorg wrote:

Now Beauvais is ILS Cat I - IANAP but AFAIK Cat I would require greater visibility than the length of a wing to make a landing safely?

Not a judgement now, but Cat 1 requires an RVR of 550m (decision height of 200ft).

If you're really interested in some enlightenment on it, go to www.pprune.org and ask there. Be advised they don't like Ryanair though...

dowlingm

From what I understand, the additional navigation equipment required for ORK to be classed Cat III would be difficult/impossible to install given the surrounding terrain. Thus the frequent diversions to Shannon.

Usually airlines have a bit of give and take (I imagine someone else at Milan has A32x tyres given the popularity of the type) but no doubt that's gone under Willie W. I did hear of Air Canada having to fly in a tyre to St. Lucia but having just returned from there I can say that's a fairly different airport!

secret_squirrel

Ok I've been doing a bit of noseing around with a friend who works in a/c maintenance.

Firstly the person who told the passengers that Aer Lingus dont carry spare tyres whilst the rest of the industry does was just plain wrong. (see below for reason)
Secondly when dealing with a puncture the whole left or right main landing gear is replaced - not a trivial job as Im sure you can imagine. The MLG assembly consists of dozens of major parts -its one of the most complex components of an aircraft.

Of course neither of the above explains why the Italian maintenance contractor for EI didnt have a MLG in stock. Although its possible that they didnt have one for that model of A320 - that A/C is very very young.

Malpensa is also a long standing EI destination so there's less excuse than maybe a newer destination.

dowlingm wrote:

no doubt that's gone under Willie W

The maintenance dept at aerlingus is the one section where no one is even allowed to apply for the current voluntary redundancy package, its not an area targetted for cost savings.

nlgbbbblth

I have neverever been on a flight that has departed on time

I'm 32 years old and go abroad at least twice a year

sliabh

I have been on over 50 Aer Lingus flights this year. I'd say about 80% leave on time. But they are over stating journey times (like most airlines these days) so they tend to arrive on time about 90% of the time.

I have had one 4 hour delay this year. But it was caused by an impressive thunderstorm in Munich. So impressive that it gave us the worst turbulence I have felt in a long time and the plane was still on the ground! There wasn't a punter aboard that disagreed with the pilot's decision to sit tight

99Dragons

Respectfully mate... in all candor and good will... you might try comparing the experience there you folks had with Tangu PRC... or Irkutsk Russia. Unbelievable queues... inchoate drone staffers... throngs of people anesthetized by their own inertia... Truly hair raising if you have any left after a few such ordeals. Not sure what the future may hold but at least no bare wires were hanging from the fuselage or about the cabins. Once fairly recently in PRC I seriously considered a dromedary as a viable exit route...

Praetorian

Just to let you all know, as far as I know, Aerlingus haven't responded to anyone regarding EI433 Milan to Dublin. Not even a written apology.

A Dub in Glasgo

My brother and his mate were over to Glasgow for the weekend and they missed their early morning flight on Saturday (06:45) from Dublin. Aer Lingus put them on the next available flight to Scotland (11:45 to Edinburgh) at no extra charge! I arranged a taxi to take them to Glasgow in time for the football (private hire taxi - £40).

A big well done to Aer Lingus

dmeehan

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

My brother and his mate were over to Glasgow for the weekend and they missed their early morning flight on Saturday (06:45) from Dublin. Aer Lingus put them on the next available flight to Scotland (11:45 to Edinburgh) at no extra charge! I arranged a taxi to take them to Glasgow in time for the football (private hire taxi - £40).

A big well done to Aer Lingus

When I was comming back from the states recently I missed my flight from Gate 90+ in heathrow. AerFungus put me on the next available flight, also for no extra charge

David Stewart

simu wrote:

- it seems very unlikely that the weather would improve much in the space of 20 minutes or so.

You'd be surprised. I was flying to Jersey in 1992. We managed to land alright but the flight immediately behind us had to turn back.

blorg

dmeehan wrote:

When I was comming back from the states recently I missed my flight from Gate 90+ in heathrow. AerFungus put me on the next available flight, also for no extra charge

Ryanair will charge you I think €50 for the privilege if you're in that situation. (Still better than making you buy a ticket at the current price I guess; Ryanair's same-day prices are extortionate, while Aer Lingus don’t seem to increase the price at all and do it purely on occupancy levels.)

secret_squirrel

blorg wrote:

Ryanair will charge you I think €50 for the privilege if you're in that situation. (Still better than making you buy a ticket at the current price I guess; Ryanair's same-day prices are extortionate, while Aer Lingus don’t seem to increase the price at all and do it purely on occupancy levels.)

Thats correct Ryan Air have a fares management system based soley on the time until departure - the fares getting higher as the day of departure approaches.

Aer Lingus have a more sophisticated system that takes into account days until departure, current occupancy levels, occupancy levels on similar flights, historical occupancy on the route etc etc etc.

Obviously seat sales and special offers can affect the above too.

sliabh

I was on the Aer Fungus Dublin-Munich flight today, and it arrived in 40 minutes early!

Not bad for a two and a half hour trip. Mind you my German lift was caught on the hop and I had to wait anyway.