Why do some airlines often seem to be running late?

Independent

9 hours ago

Q Are easyJet always late? I am recently back from a trip to Split in Croatia. I had an early-morning flight from Luton, returning to Gatwick in the late afternoon. Both were over an hour late. Is there a systemic problem with easyJet, or is there other stuff going on?
Robin S
A All the budget airlines are sharply focused on keeping to time. Their business model depends on using cabin crew and planes as intensively as possible – especially in summer, when demand is strongest.
I shall take each of your journeys in turn. Luton airport has never been busier. The home team, easyJet, is up against Ryanair, Wizz Air and, from this summer, Jet2. The first wave of flights begins soon after 5am, with the Split flight typically at 6.20am. Yet Luton does not have the same sclerotic pace first thing in the morning as Gatwick – partly because there is less incoming traffic, and also because there is not the same critical mass of aircraft trying to get on their way as the Sussex airport sees. On a 6.35am Ryanair flight from Luton to Vilnius recently, the plane arrived 25 minutes early in the Lithuanian capital.
I bet the delay stemmed from flow restrictions in airspace over Europe: the rate at which aircraft are cleared to fly through the complex skies. There are serious problems with staffing at a number of continental 'area control centres' – the operations that look after large swathes of sky. Between Luton and Split, the most direct route passes over France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy, with plenty of scope for congestion. Coming back, it may simply be that delays had built up during the day.
Even though airlines try to put in a bit of a firebreak in early afternoon where they can make up for earlier hold-ups, that is not always possible. Looking at Thursday's hardworking flight programme, the same Airbus A320 went from Gatwick to Split twice, with less than an hour between each take-off and landing, picking up delays along the way.
On occasions this summer, disruption will intensify as pressure on a rather creaky air-traffic control system intensifies. By the time we get to August, it may be that a delay of just an hour is seen as roughly on schedule.
Q We have a young family and are hoping to spend a week or two away in Germany this summer, travelling from Manchester – ideally to the Black Forest, and near a lake. What can you recommend?
Katherine S
A Germany is by far the most underrated nation in Europe for family holidays, and the Black Forest is an ideal playground. It is also easy to reach from Manchester: easyJet flies five times a week in summer (the 'missing days' are Wednesday and Saturday) to Basel. This is officially the 'EuroAirport' serving Switzerland, France and Germany. FlixBus connects the airport with Freiburg, with buses every hour or two taking just 55 minutes.
Freiburg is an excellent place to spend your first couple of days: smaller and calmer than many German cities, with an atmospheric old town dominated by the towering minster. The Vauban quarter, south of the centre, is worth exploring. During the postwar occupation of Germany, this was the site of a French army barracks. But, since 1993, it has transformed into a sustainable community full of good ideas.
The Black Forest – a beautiful, relatively low mountain range draped in woodland – extends east and north from Freiburg. Public transport is excellent throughout the Black Forest, and a 40-minute train ride will take you to Titisee. I suggest spending a good few days here, not least because of the Badeparadies Schwarzwald – a charmingly retro water park. You can swim in the lake, or just walk around it, and rent bikes for wider exploration.
You could simply retrace your steps to Basel airport, but I recommend you make the most of the opportunity to travel through the forest. Head north to the splendidly situated town of Triberg for mountain walks. Then continue by train to Baden Baden, perhaps the finest spa town in Europe – with good facilities for children, too. From here, you can take the train south to Basel, ideally spending a day in the Swiss city before flying home.
Q After the airlines put their prices up following the Eurostar shambles, I wonder when the government will look at rip-off dynamic pricing in the transport sector?
Name supplied
A Never, I hope. For context, yesterday, air fares between London and Paris soared to over £600 one-way as passengers whose Eurostar trains were cancelled tried to find alternative means to reach the French capital. The 'total chaos' – as Eurostar described it on social media – happened as a result of two tragedies involving people being struck by trains on high-speed lines in France, and the overnight theft of cable near Lille Europe station.
Yesterday I watched as the air fares rose and planes sold out for the short hop from London to Paris. I can understand the view that this is the unacceptable face of capitalism: exploiting misfortune to make extreme profits. Yet the airlines found themselves the custodians of what had suddenly become an extremely scarce resource: transport between the UK and French capitals.
They could have kept the price down to the normal £300 or so for a last-minute ticket (which is also roughly the usual Eurostar Premier fare). Were they to have done so, those tickets would have been snapped up immediately for less than the market would bear. I contend that there needs to be a mechanism for ensuring that people who are desperate to travel are able to do so. Those precious assets are allocated by price.
As I have mentioned before, I was on the wrong end of a Qatar Airways cancellation from Kathmandu last November. I needed to be back in the UK for family and professional reasons. With so many seats taken out of the market, it was almost impossible to fly from the Nepali capital. The only international flight with any seats available was with a budget airline to Bangkok. It cost over £700 for a three-hour hop – in the wrong direction. But I also knew that British Airways had plenty of seats from Bangkok back to Gatwick for £500.
Luckily, I had a credit card that took the strain and I made it back in time. Money well spent – which I imagine is the view of those high-spending passengers on the last flight to Paris yesterday evening.
Q My daughter is stuck in Doha on her way home from Bangkok. She doesn't seem to have the same rights over there, and I was wondering what Qatar Airways' obligations are?
Stuart White
A The inconsistency of UK (and EU) air passengers' rights legislation is glaringly apparent after the closure of Doha's airspace overnight on Monday, which wrecked the plans of tens of thousands of passengers. Those consumer protections work only for flights beginning in Europe, or on airlines based in the UK or EU.
Not yet left Britain? Passengers booked from UK airports on Qatar Airways flights via Doha to Asia, Australasia or Africa must be flown to their destination as soon as possible by any carrier that has seats available. That would mean, for example, transferring passengers booked from London to Perth via Doha to the Qantas nonstop. They must also be provided with a hotel and meals until they can be flown out.
Similar benefits apply to passengers who were stranded in Doha mid-journey from the UK. Someone flying from Edinburgh or Manchester who reached Doha before airspace closed can expect a hotel, meals, and an outbound flight on any airline, pronto.
But passengers in your daughter's position have no such rights. She is flying home from a non-European location, Bangkok via Doha, on a non-European airline, Qatar Airways. Unless national or regional rules specify otherwise, the airline can do what it likes. The situation is made more complicated by a shortage of seats. Widespread cancellations are reverberating through the airline's schedules, as well as on Qatar Airways' partner, British Airways. When normality is restored, passengers booked on cancelled flights go to the back of the queue, scrabbling for seats with thousands of others.
Last November, Qatar Airways cancelled my flight from Kathmandu via Doha to London and offered an alternative a week later, with no hotel accommodation. On that occasion, I took a refund and spent a further £1,300 on a flight home – ironically via Bangkok. Your daughter may wish to do something similar. Travel insurance may help with some out-of-pocket expenses and a modest payment for long delays, but it is no substitute for proper passengers' rights. I hope your daughter makes it home soon without too much additional stress and expense.