Is this acceptable? ( final call with aircraft 1 hour from airport )

BringBackMick

Ryanair have revolutionised air travel but that doesn't mean that absolves them of criticism

Frequently a final call means 50 to 100 pax on a air bridge and often with very young pax and babies at top of the queue

How long is it acceptable for this?

Yes experienced travellers know better than to look at the board as is all made up

But you feel for thr people ahead and sometimes you panic when you see a 'gate closed' when you know the inbound aircraft hasn't even landed

Who regulates this or is it a race to the bottom ?

Storm 10

Remember being at Bournemouth Airport and being called to the boarding gate the Ryanair had just left Dublin for Bournemouth we had to stand for nearly an hour, I showed one of the girls it's location made no difference we were the only flight going out.

Everlong1

Good post, never had to wait on an airbridge that long but have had experiences of air stewards at the gate telling everyone "we're about to start Boarding" and then you're standing there for a half hour while nobody moves.

Stovepipe

its stupid behaviour by ground staff as it depends on the aircraft arriving on stand, let alone at the airport, right on time.

Everlong1

Also had fun at Stansted recently when the Ryanair app told me what departure gate I was supposed to be going to. A solid hour before the departure board confirmed it. In the meantime I'm stuck in limbo not wanting to go to the gate I was told in the app in case it changed. Isn't technology wonderful.

duffman13

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119360564#Comment_119360564

Bournemouth, must be a common occurance there. Two young kids (under 3) tried to get me to queue for boarding and the flight from Dublin hadn't even landed in Dublin never mind departed. Ended out being 3 hours delayed and some people were standing through the gate for the entire time. It was a joke

Noxegon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058255206/is-this-acceptable-final-call-with-aircraft-1-hour-from-airport

An air bridge? You must have had the ultra luxury service :-)

I have to say I dislike flights that are declared "boarding" before the aircraft arrives, but the only thing that will stop that carry on is legislation.

kevinandrew

In most cases it works very well, Ryanair has an industry leading punctuality record which is all the more impressive considering the size of the airline.

It’s also a big factor in Ryanair’s ability to eliminate delay build up, they can recover a schedule very quickly with a slightly padded flight time and a rapid turn around. I was on a recent Luton-Kaunas flight, the inbound was well behind schedule so I settled in for a delay but boarding was called on time. I assumed an aircraft change as the inbound hadn’t even started its decent but after 30 minutes standing in a hot and crowded stairwell, we saw the delayed aircraft arrive on stand, deplane and give us the wave to begin physically boarding. We pushed back just after our scheduled departure time and landed a few minutes early in Kaunas.

What I expected to be a long delay turned into an early arrival. Standing in the stairwell for over 30 minutes wasn’t pleasant, nor did it feel particularly safe but by the time we landed it was long forgotten.

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119361066#Comment_119361066

"Boarding" before the aircraft arrives makes sense for the airline as it speeds up the turn around and aircraft don't make money on the ground, so there's less delays for the airline if all the passengers are ready to board as soon as the plane reaches it's stand and more flights per day per gate for the airport. But they should only start boarding when the aircraft is on final approach.

trellheim

in places like the old Murcia airport where its was pleasant waiting outside in the balmy evening air , this was nice. but in Dublin and other places there is no serious waiting place. In Dublin recently after a few delays they won't call it if its delayed too muchj

893bet

Is there an app or tracker you can use to see what plane you are supposed to be on and where it’s current location?

DoctorEdgeWild

Anything that gets me to my desired location, on time and under budget is fine by me.

Unfortunately not everyone knows how to be punctual so they have to cater for the lowest common denominator. The ones who will take every possible second available to be in the bar, the toilet, the shop, basically anywhere but the boarding gate.

Putting up 'Boarding' early helps the rest of us make our connections, meetings, jobs, holidays etc.

Strumms

I’ve been in this situation multiple times.

tired after a busy holiday, lots of walking, , few drinks the night before to find yourself corralled into a stairwell without air conditioning, for the guts of 30 minutes with no aircraft even on stand and them announcing last call.

SimpleDimple

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119361864#Comment_119361864

Flightradar24 has this functionality

bikeman1

Some airports take this piss with this, others do what I would do, get people down to the gate and ready to commence boarding.

Unfortunately, as has been mentioned, there are far too many idiots who are not there on time and ready to go. They'll be up in the bar, swanning around in the duty free, or in general wandering mode. Putting up boarding seems to get through to that cohort and they get moving and down to the gate.

Those of us who travel every month have a good gist of what stage the boarding is at. Most can check FR24 and see how the previous flight is doing, has it made it to the gate etc. and don't bother joining the queue until boarding has actually commenced to the aircraft.

john boye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119362925#Comment_119362925

Surely it has the opposite effect over time though? People will start to disregard NOW BOARDING notices on the screen if most of the time the plane is still half an hour away

kevinandrew

I don’t think most people would take the risk. Ryanair has managed to create a ‘first come, first serve’ environment at boarding even though everyone already has a seat. People still want to be front of the queue, whether it’s for guaranteed overhead bin space, a quicker experience finding their seat or just peace of mind. Very few passengers would ignore ‘boarding’ calls for fear of missing out, even if it means inevitably feeling stupid when they end up standing in a stairwell for 20+ minutes.

Noxegon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119361849#Comment_119361849

I think your first sentence is the key one here.

"It makes sense for the airline" is the driver of so much of the air travel experience these days.

With a small number of exceptions (such as the ME3) "It makes sense for the customer" isn't policy.

I may be getting old.

recode the site

I sit and sit and sit until the queue is well and truly moving.

Chris_5339762

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119362014#Comment_119362014

... but be careful, because a plane swap is possible at the hubs. Only trust FR24 on whether your flight will be delayed, or which plane you are following, after a bit of experience.

Edit: I'm typically one of the last 10 onto the flight as I only carry a backpack under the seat. I do do a small bit of queueing to stretch the legs before sitting for hours.

SimpleDimple

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119368317#Comment_119368317

Nice I didn’t know that! I more use it when the gate tells me my flight is delayed to check where the incoming flight is

Board Walker

I flew to Manchester from Shannon on a Saturday morning back in 2015, Boarding was announced before the aircraft had even established on the localiser and final call while on the G/S. We were all stood there inside the terminal looking out at no aircraft and everyone asking FR staff had we missed something or were we at the wrong gate

Jacovs

From a ground handling perspective, this is another reason why airlines do it (and not saying I agree or that its right).

If the boarding staff can get people scanned at the boarding gate then they know who are physically present, and more importantly, who isnt. This allows them to check if those who arent present have bags checked in, and if they do they can give the details to the ground handling team to locate the bags and keep them to 1 side, before they even start loading the bags.

Otherwise 99% people might be on board the aircraft, the 1% that isnt on board might have a bag or 2, and they might be the first bags loaded onto the aircraft, which means unloading all again to locate and unload those 1 or 2 bags. Delay for everyone.

Also gives the boarding staff time to sort out any issues that passengers might have, which sometimes only presents itself when the boarding pass is scanned at the gate.

Board Walker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119383519#Comment_119383519

Thing is, any time ive seen it..... no one has been scanned. We have all just been stood there in the que.

Multipass

Luton is terrible for this, you get herded like cattle into a corral at the bottom of stairs. They scan your boarding card to trap you in there, there are only a couple of seats, and no queue is possible, just a crush. I travel with just a small backpack for the sole reason of avoiding this kind of thing. I just sit somewhere with a view of the line and board last.

artanevilla

I'd imagine there's some sort of KPI tied to when the gate is opened, so that the managers can report back to the lads upstairs that boarding was commenced on time or early, even thought in reality it hadn't even started.

Jacovs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119452381#Comment_119452381

If its before the boarding gate then its on the passengers, they can see boarding hasnt started yet.

In Dublin especially I know Ryanair put final call to get passengers from the bars and shops to the gate, because it is such a long walk. If they put regular boarding first when they actually start boarding, you would get people waiting until final call is shown before moving to the gate, and then get to the gate too late and blame the airline. There is method to their madness, even if it means people missing 30 minutes of further eating/drinking/shopping.

Is that really worth missing a flight over?

The OP mentioned waiting on an airbridge, which is after the boarding gate, which is what I replied to.

Gaoth Laidir

It's really pathetic to see how many people start drinking before boarding a morning flight. We're really a country of alcoholics if we can't go on a flight without being tanked up beforehand. These people deserve to miss their flights.

Noxegon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119452514#Comment_119452514

My annual pint count generally remains within single figures, but I'm going to throw out a hard disagree here.

I have no problem whatsoever with someone having a drink to kick off their holiday. As long as what they do doesn't impact me, why would I care?

Hello 2D Person Below

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119452514#Comment_119452514

An airport pint is one of life's greatest pleasures.

artanevilla

Some people don't like to see others enjoy themselves doing something they have a weird self restriction on.