Flight departed early- T2

khc

Hi

Does anyone have any experiences with flights leaving early? I missed an Aer Lingus flight a few months ago when I was 10 minutes late to board because the oversized baggage point was unmanned and the DAA couldn't find someone to take my bag - in short after waiting around and realising that the bag was going to have to go to the gate with me, and being 10 minutes late because of this, the flight had departed 30 mins ahead of schedule. I had already checked in but it left anyway

I was just surprised because I've never had a bad experience with Aer Lingus, but it was my first time travelling through T2 which was like a ghost town as the last flights left. When I went to T1 to get the last Ryainair flight (I had no choice as I was connecting in London) the place was staffed and running as normal, they tool my oversized and I made the flight

Unfortunately none of this would have happened if I was earlier, but typically I got stuck in work and was cutting fine. Despite this though, I wasn't late enough to miss it had the oversized baggage area been staffed or the flight left at the scheduled time. Anyone else experience something similar, and is it up the the airlines discretion to leave ahead of schedule if all passengers aren't on board?

dudara

Better information to be had in Aviation methinks. Moved accordingly.

dudara

high ho

dudara wrote: »

Better information to be had in Aviation methinks. Moved accordingly.

dudara

Come again??!!

Jamie2k9

A flight would not leave 30 mins early. 5 - 10 yes. If all passengers are boarded and you are not at the gate at the time on your boarding card then the airline can close the gate and get a early deparure. It was the DAA fault not Aer Lingus.

eg if a flight is due to leave at 19.30 and passengers boarding cards say be at gate by 19.05. If the flight is boarded at 19.05 then the airline can close the gate as you were not there when you were told. They would of called you name once and if you dont come then closed the gate. Generally they don't close it until the departure but there in the right if they close it before the departure time.

khc

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

A flight would not leave 30 mins early. 5 - 10 yes. If all passengers are boarded and you are not at the gate at the time on your boarding card then the airline can close the gate and get a early deparure. It was the DAA fault not Aer Lingus.

eg if a flight is due to leave at 19.30 and passengers boarding cards say be at gate by 19.05. If the flight is boarded at 19.05 then the airline can close the gate as you were not there when you were told. They would of called you name once and if you dont come then closed the gate. Generally they don't close it until the departure but there in the right if they close it before the departure time.

I assumed it wasn't the fault of the Aer Lingus, and I was unsurprised that the gate was closed, but I was very surprised that the flight had left so early. This was confirmed by the Aer Lingus staff member, and also I could see there was no plane beyond the gate. At the same time, I was under the assumption that the DAA weren't responsible for the oversized baggage area as they didn't take my bag, just tried to find someone who would, and they were very nice and helpful, a few of them got involved. After I checked the Aviation Authority website to see if there was any information on flights that dept early and couldn't find anything so I thought I'd check here to see if anyone had a similar experience

Jamie2k9

sorry just read you first post wrong but there is nothing stopping flights departing early but as I say 5 - 10 mins would be the most any flight early departs.

IngazZagni

I strongly feel you are exaggerating the 30mins. Once the "gate closes" time has gone, you are late and they have every right to leave. It takes time to disconnect the air bridge. Also the departure time is technically the take-off time but more times than not they only push back at this time.

nag

Perhaps you're confusing the the departure time with the boarding time? There's usually at least 30mins between the two.

khc

nag wrote: »

Perhaps you're confusing the the departure time with the boarding time? There's usually at least 30mins between the two.

It was definitely the departure time - the gate closing time was 40 minutes prior so it appeared that the gate closed on time and the flight left within ten minutes. It had definitely departed, unless it was taxied nearby, because I could see directly out onto the runway and there was no plane at the gate. I used to work in travel and now I fly a lot for work so what really surprised me was that it's never happened to me or any passenger I've had travelling. The Aer Lingus rep was accommodating when I explained why I'd been delayed and offered to put me on a flight the next morning but it wouldn't have given me enough time for my early morning flight out of London so I had to buy a new Ryanair ticket.

L1011

I've been on a few EI flights that have left EIDW and EGKK early - but only because EVERYONE checked in was boarded.

Alicano

Aer Lingus flights to the U.K and Europe have a boarding time of -25mins before STD.
If the flight left 30mins before STD as you say then I would imagine a whole bunch of passengers standing around wondering what happened to their flight! Plus normal turnaround is 40mins between the inbound and outbound flight.
I think you were just late.Happens to everyone.

dannyirish06

a normal EI flight boards -25STD, sometimes 30, depending upon how long they have for turnaround. most turnarounds r 50mins, unless a crew break has to be scheduled in also.

What flight are u referring to and on what date????

I also know that the STD is the time that the aircraft is pushed off blocks, well thats the way it works at JFK with EI. We start boarding at 5pm for the 104, which has a scheduled departure of 5.45pm. It is possible to have the aircraft pushed off blocks in some cases up to 30 mins before STD which then registers as the aircraft having departed, however taxi time/delays have to be taken into consideration so inactual fact the aircraft was maybe actually "Airbourne" at 5.40pm or 5.45pm but will show on the flight information page as having departed at 5.25pm as this is when it "left blocks".


In regards to late passengers, we wait until -15 STD, then begin offloading the passengers for Y passengers and -10STD for J passengers.


I know shorthaul is also similar, that they will offload passengers 15mins b4 departure if they have bags and 10 minutes if they have no bags due to the fact the aircraft must keep to their timetable as every minute over schedule costs money.

In extreme circumstances we also try and get the flights out as early as possible, e.g thunderstorms forecast to arrive or snow but this is normally communicated to all passengers at check in to be at the gate ASAP. For the 5.45pm 104 departure, passengers are instructed to go through security at 4pm for boarding to commence at 5pm.

I really can't see them leaving without having paged u over the loudspeaker system as they would have had to offload you. If you web checked in and never seen an agent then they would have maybe assumed u were not travelling, but u say u had luggage so obviously you had seen an agent but as ur luggage maybe never got to Aer Lingus until the flight departed it is also possible that it was assumed u never dropped ur bags so they offloaded u and left if u were the only passenger they were waiting on but this is doubtful.

Tenger

Alicano wrote: »

Aer Lingus flights to the U.K and Europe have a boarding time of -25mins before STD.
If the flight left 30mins before STD as you say then I would imagine a whole bunch of passengers standing around wondering what happened to their flight! Plus normal turnaround is 40mins between the inbound and outbound flight......

This would be my thought too. My last flite with EI was about 10 days ago. We got to the gate at STD -40 and there was an aircraft just pushing back from our stand. 'Our' aircraft came onstand at -30, we started to board at -20.

In previous experiences with EI I have been at the gate at -30 and seen the cabin crew walking onboard. So not sure how they could depart 30 mins early in such a case.

What was the flite and the date this happened? We could look up flight24.com or similar to see the details ourselves

homerjay2005

i dont know why so many people are entertaining this, the person was late and thats it!

there is no such thing as departed early, there is a close time on the boarding card and once that is past, the airline can then leave. 99% of the time, they leave "late" as written on the card, but the flight will depart on time still.

khc

dannyirish06 wrote: »

a normal EI flight boards -25STD, sometimes 30, depending upon how long they have for turnaround. most turnarounds r 50mins, unless a crew break has to be scheduled in also.

What flight are u referring to and on what date????

I also know that the STD is the time that the aircraft is pushed off blocks, well thats the way it works at JFK with EI. We start boarding at 5pm for the 104, which has a scheduled departure of 5.45pm. It is possible to have the aircraft pushed off blocks in some cases up to 30 mins before STD which then registers as the aircraft having departed, however taxi time/delays have to be taken into consideration so inactual fact the aircraft was maybe actually "Airbourne" at 5.40pm or 5.45pm but will show on the flight information page as having departed at 5.25pm as this is when it "left blocks".


In regards to late passengers, we wait until -15 STD, then begin offloading the passengers for Y passengers and -10STD for J passengers.


I know shorthaul is also similar, that they will offload passengers 15mins b4 departure if they have bags and 10 minutes if they have no bags due to the fact the aircraft must keep to their timetable as every minute over schedule costs money.

In extreme circumstances we also try and get the flights out as early as possible, e.g thunderstorms forecast to arrive or snow but this is normally communicated to all passengers at check in to be at the gate ASAP. For the 5.45pm 104 departure, passengers are instructed to go through security at 4pm for boarding to commence at 5pm.

I really can't see them leaving without having paged u over the loudspeaker system as they would have had to offload you. If you web checked in and never seen an agent then they would have maybe assumed u were not travelling, but u say u had luggage so obviously you had seen an agent but as ur luggage maybe never got to Aer Lingus until the flight departed it is also possible that it was assumed u never dropped ur bags so they offloaded u and left if u were the only passenger they were waiting on but this is doubtful.

hey thanks for all the info! Flight was 186 on the 1st of April, departing 21.10 and arrive LHR at 22.25, according to the ADS-B data it arrived in LHR at 22.03. It had definitely left the gate (whether taxied or departed) by 20.40 (10 minutes after gate closed at 20.30) but noone else was left stranded - I know that because the only people around were cleaners! Perhaps there weren't a lot of people travelling that night - T2 itself was eerily quiet allround.

khc

homerjay2005 wrote: »

i dont know why so many people are entertaining this, the person was late and thats it!

there is no such thing as departed early, there is a close time on the boarding card and once that is past, the airline can then leave. 99% of the time, they leave "late" as written on the card, but the flight will depart on time still.

Entertaining what exactly? I'm a former travel consultant and now I travel for work, I obviously have an interest in travel and the new terminal in Dublin, where I am based. I had no intention to complain to either Aer Lingus or the DAA afterwards - in fact Aer Lingus were very helpful offering to put me on the next plane, and there were a few DAA staff trying to find someone to take the oversized baggage who were also helpful and nice. It was an unusual situation and I was wondering if it had happened to anyone else.

homerjay2005

khc wrote: »

Entertaining what exactly? I'm a former travel consultant and now I travel for work, I obviously have an interest in travel and the new terminal in Dublin, where I am based. I had no intention to complain to either Aer Lingus or the DAA afterwards - in fact Aer Lingus were very helpful offering to put me on the next plane, and there were a few DAA staff trying to find someone to take the oversized baggage who were also helpful and nice. It was an unusual situation and I was wondering if it had happened to anyone else.

it was not an unusual situation. you were late, and you missed your flight. it happens all the time. flights also leave "on time" all the time.

Milan Cobian

On Apr 1st, EI186 departed (i.e. commenced push back) at 2057 local and arrived in LHR at 2211.

Also the departure time is technically the take-off time but more times than not they only push back at this time.

No it's not, ever, technically or otherwise. Departure time is always the time push back is to commence.

Bessarion

EI-186 on April 1st:

Scheduled departure 2110, scheduled arrival 2225.

Actual pushback at 2057, on stand at LHR 2211.

No idea of why it did so. I assume they would have done so with all their pax checked in. Not sure why OP was checking in baggage with DAA rather than the EI desks.

lord lucan

Bessarion wrote: »

EI-186 on April 1st:

Scheduled departure 2110, scheduled arrival 2225.

Actual pushback at 2057, on stand at LHR 2211.

No idea of why it did so. I assume they would have done so with all their pax checked in. Not sure why OP was checking in baggage with DAA rather than the EI desks.

I can only assume that if the OP checked in online but hadn't managed to check a bag onto the flight that EI considered him a no show and gave the go ahead to push back early as everyone else had boarded. At that point they have no indication that you're in the building.

I think the OP tried to get his bag checked with EI but was having problems finding someone to do it hence asking someone from the DAA working in the check-in hall,or maybe just passing,to help.

castie

End of the day the cameras in the airport can prove whether you were trying to check your bag in prior or after checkin had closed.

If your telling the truth then take it further.

khc

Don't think Aer Lingus take oversized baggage - in Terminal 1 it's seperate to Aer Lingus, at the wall between the security areas because the airport take oversized for all airlines at the one point. Maybe that's what I did wrong - I should have given it to the Aer Lingus desk instead, I'll be sure to check next time I travel through T2 with anything excess again!

Didn't bother to pursue it because I didn't pay for the flights myself and Aer Lingus were totally sound about putting me on the next flight out, I was just curious is T2 is still at a teething stage or if it's always so quiet - flew through again yesterday (without oversized!) and was suprised again as to how quiet it was, so much more so that T1 and the other airline desks on the left side of the building were so empty of passengers checking in - maybe it's just a case of Ryanair having more traffic out of T1, I don't know.

lord lucan

khc wrote: »

Don't think Aer Lingus take oversized baggage - in Terminal 1 it's seperate to Aer Lingus, at the wall between the security areas because the airport take oversized for all airlines at the one point. Maybe that's what I did wrong - I should have given it to the Aer Lingus desk instead, I'll be sure to check next time I travel through T2 with anything excess again!

Didn't bother to pursue it because I didn't pay for the flights myself and Aer Lingus were totally sound about putting me on the next flight out, I was just curious is T2 is still at a teething stage or if it's always so quiet - flew through again yesterday (without oversized!) and was suprised again as to how quiet it was, so much more so that T1 and the other airline desks on the left side of the building were so empty of passengers checking in - maybe it's just a case of Ryanair having more traffic out of T1, I don't know.

T2 is always quiet in the evening. After 18.40 yesterday evening there were only 4 flights out,2 to LHR,1 to LGW and one to AUH. Pretty much normal,EI's last flight out was 21.10 to LHR.

The only check-in desks open at the far end of the hall would've been EY's,the rest are all US carriers with DL's being the last to close around lunchtime.

EI have an oversized baggage check-in in T2. It's beside the Gold Circle/Businesss Check-in near the lifts.:)

bkehoe

Did you actually make yourself known to an Aer Lingus checkin agent before heading off to one of the oversized baggage drop off points?
I always presumed that with oversized luggage that you first go to the airlines checkin desk so that they can check your boarding pass, ask the security questions about the bag and then tag it before sending you off to the oversized baggage area if they can't accept it at the desk.