Final Call

ninebeanrows

How do airlines get away with repeatedly lying to their customers?

Ive seen ‘final call’ posted when the plane hasnt even touched down.

For non regulars this can cause panic and anxiety.

How can this he fixed?

How can the lies be accepted as the norm?

kippy

Sleety_Rain wrote: »

How do airlines get away with repeatedly lying to their customers?

Ive seen ‘final call’ posted when the plane hasnt even touched down.

For non regulars this can cause panic and anxiety.

How can this he fixed?

How can the lies be accepted as the norm?

Blame people - a lot of people are idiots.

Makes sense for the airline to have all flying passengers in the "holding area" well before boarding to keep things moving.

Locker10a

I agree it’s annoying, but it’s their way of keeping people on the move on time.
In recently had to organised a meal for a group of friends/family, there was about 13/14 invited, so I called the restaurant the day before and asked for a table of 10 to be set, I messaged everyone going and told them the reservation was for 7pm sharp, I actually booked it for 7:30, and you know what, it work perfectly! I know my friends/family and I knew they wouldn’t all be ontime and some would drop out.
This is essentially airlines doing the same thing.

Noxegon

If we're on to polemics, why do we tolerate such incredibly one-sided contracts from airlines?

If a passenger is one minute late for the flight, they lose every penny they paid. Surely the logical extension of that is that airlines should compensate passengers when a flight is one minute late too?

Just in case anyone thinks I'm being serious...

goingnowhere

This is typically Ryanair, back in the era of free seating it was madness

Over in Aer Lingus land, we have a long standing joke in the lounge that 'Go to gate' means have another drink

Credit Checker Moose

Final call means wander over to the gate.

Larbre34

Sleety_Rain wrote: »

How do airlines get away with repeatedly lying to their customers?

Ive seen ‘final call’ posted when the plane hasnt even touched down.

For non regulars this can cause panic and anxiety.

How can this he fixed?

How can the lies be accepted as the norm?

Cos the screen is too small for, 'the boarding gate is open but they are now doing mobility impaired and infants and will then will be boarding by seat row from the back so could be 10 mins before they get to you, so yes by all means join the queue in WH Smiths but be careful you might have to jog a bit if you get hung up in there.

Just take a bit of personal responsibility and get your backside to check-in and on to the gate in good time and let everyone else worry about themselves, then there'll be less anxiety, pinkie promise.

L1011

Its not "airlines", its "airline" basically. Ryanair put it up when the flight opens to try scare people out of the bars.

Strumms

I’d rather it was done to encourage the knuckle draggers out of bars and away from the shops so they can board on time and we can depart on time... it happened to me before where we were missing a couple of passengers, flight went late and just before baggage could be located and offloaded the two twats showed up, big grins thinking it’s all hilarious and obviously enjoying the attention... i was heading to Manchester for a gig that evening and had a race on to get there after slot was missed...

john boye

L1011 wrote: »

Its not "airlines", its "airline" basically. Ryanair put it up when the flight opens to try scare people out of the bars.

And then boarding "begins" or rather you go and stand in the stairway/purgatory for another 10 minutes.

Donegal Storm

Had this happen in Montpellier a few weeks ago, was enjoying a beer in the outdoor sun lounge when our flight was called to proceed through passport check, gulped down my pint and went through only to be told 5 minutes later that our flight was delayed by 2 hours! Had to endure two hours in a cramped cattle pen with people stuck sitting on the floor when we could have just as easily sat where we were

ninebeanrows

Lots of good responses here- and i agree with most.

I just feel sorry for the people running towards a ‘final call’ gate hyperventilating and always feels uneasy even thought i know whats going on.

I think its very disingenuous and it is not just Ryanair who do this- Aerlingus do too.

It is bizarre we just accept being lied to by airlines?

Who knows what else they lie about?

View Profile

Are the screens not controlled by the DAA?
I imagine the system is fairly automated. Anything up to 50 mins before flight will be "Go to Gate." From 50 mins to 30 mins is "Boarding". 30 -20 mins is "Final Call" and under 20 mins is "Gate Closing".

Strumms

The thing is some gates might be a 15 minute walk minimum from some of the shops and bars/restaurants... certainly the furthest gates in T2 and Pier D/A would be and more time too with people loading up trolleys again, needing the bathroom etc...so anything done to enable careless fûckwits with zero concept of time or the space around them to get to the gate with a bit of time to spare is appropriate. This enables the aircraft to push on time, meet its slot and people who planned to be somewhere for xxxx time to actually get there, on time...

CardinalJ

I flew Ryanair from La Rochelle last week. The plane was 20 minutes away when they started boarding and they invited "people with young children" to go through the gate. Was 28 degrees outside and they stood in a queue in the sun and exhausts of another plane for maybe 30 minutes.

I accept it saves time, but it's not right. They also did final call when the inbound plane wasn't disembarking yet.

Strumms

Sleety_Rain wrote: »

Lots of good responses here- and i agree with most.

I just feel sorry for the people running towards a ‘final call’ gate hyperventilating and always feels uneasy even thought i know whats going on.

I think its very disingenuous and it is not just Ryanair who do this- Aerlingus do too.

It is bizarre we just accept being lied to by airlines?

Who knows what else they lie about?

It’s not the airlines fault that it’s happening. All they are trying to do is ensure that the aircraft leaves on time so that the ‘right thinking’ passengers who present themselves for boarding on time get to where they are going, on time.

People may have connections in other airports that could mean a significant delay in Dublin might mean at best they are stressed running through another airport later trying to get to their destination for an important connection, meeting, funeral, family event, whatever... don’t blame the airlines, blame the people whom for every flight there are always a couple it seems who try and fûck it up for people trying to get to their destination ON TIME.

MarkY91

In Manila airport, I almost blacked out with stress in the immigration queue, I eventually skilled 30 or so people apologising as I made my way through them. I then sprinted for a good 10 minutes to my gate thinking it was closed, just to find out that they're all sitting down in the holding area for another 10/15 mins or so.

****ing ridiculous carry on. The screens made it out that my gate was closing at X time and it was like 2 minutes past X time during my run.

Locker10a

Strumms wrote: »

The thing is some gates might be a 15 minute walk minimum from some of the shops and bars/restaurants... certainly the furthest gates in T2 and Pier D/A would be and more time too with people loading up trolleys again, needing the bathroom etc...so anything done to enable careless fûckwits with zero concept of time or the space around them to get to the gate with a bit of time to spare is appropriate. This enables the aircraft to push on time, meet its slot and people who planned to be somewhere for xxxx time to actually get there, on time...

That’s fair enough and I agree, but there’s no way “boarding” should commence before the aircraft is even on stand!

Stovepipe

I had that experience with Ryanair in Italy. The Italian ground staff announced that the aircraft now on stand (directly behind the desk) was being made ready and would we all line up to have our boarding cards checked? I was in a group of five men nearest the desk and I pointed out to the nearest of the two Italian ladies that there was no aircraft behind her. She looked around, said "oh!" and her colleague immediately fled down the pier! The first lady stayed there and began frantically tapping keys and the aircraft appeared about ten minutes later and we boarded half an hour later. The other lady never reappeared.
You should regard whats on the screens as an adjustable work of fiction.

regards
Stovepipe

Sleety_Rain

Sleety_Rain wrote: »

How do airlines get away with repeatedly lying to their customers?

Ive seen ‘final call’ posted when the plane hasnt even touched down.

For non regulars this can cause panic and anxiety.

How can this he fixed?

How can the lies be accepted as the norm?

Was waiting on a flight back from Newcastle maybe 6 years ago. Got to the main hall and the screens all said the (Ryanair) flight was delayed by 1hr or so. Everybody went about their business getting food and grabbing a good seat at the bar etc. There was a youth soccer team all wearing matching tracksuits and the managers told them to have a look around, but to behave themselves and be back within 45 mins.

About half an hour later, which was fairly close to the original departure time, a call went out over the speakers....."last call, all passengers on flight XXX to Dublin, please make your way to the gate as the plane will be departing immediately."

Cue a mad scramble to get to the gate. I had to help an old couple with their bags, the poor manager nearly had a stroke trying to round up the young lads. We get there, and there's a couple of Ryanair staff scanning boarding passes at a makeshift desk that leads into a small waiting area. No shops, no water, no toilets, nowhere near enough seats and once you're scanned you cannot return back to the main departures hall. Most importantly, no plane. All Ryanair staff disappeared after about 10 mins and an airport policeman showed up.

There was absolute murder. We were there for about another 50 mins or so. The young lads all were dying to go to the toilet and the manager ended up telling them to go in the giant plant pots in the corners. The police fella said he was gonna arrest the manager for telling them this. He was saved cos some gimp on a separate stag decided he was going to go back to the bar for a pint. Copper stopped him and asked to see his boarding pass. He proceeded to chew it up and spit it out onto the floor in front of him and was lagged, missed the flight.

Absolute carnage, and all because Ryanair pulled a fast one because they hadn't enough staff to cover for their own delayed flight.

Strumms

Locker10a wrote: »

That’s fair enough and I agree, but there’s no way “boarding” should commence before the aircraft is even on stand!

Well there should be a call to ‘assemble for boarding’ then. 30 minutes before departure..that gives the folks lost deep in the retail jungle an opportunity to shift their arsès and remember why they actually came to the airport in the first place. Also don’t forget the priority Q need to be boarded first.

BeardySi

Flew squeezyjet from Stansted recently, the flight was show as Boarding 10mins before the inbound flight landed (didn't stop there being a queue of people right down the hall though). It's not just Ryanair...

I know why they do it, but it's bloody annoying. And surely its counterproductive as once people know that the board is a work of fiction they'll ignore them and just work to the time on their boarding pass anyway and the airline are back to square one...

BigMoose

With Ryanair it doesn't matter where the plane is, once everyone is passed the gate and it closes they wont let you through if you're late... Although yes, I guess once everyone knows the "final call" doesn't mean "run or you miss it" folk wont speed up on seeing it.