CD Traveller » Gatwick Airport

Vietnam: The Time is Coming

fdepoligny — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 05:48:44 +0000

Kites on Phan Thiet Beach

On December 8th, the first Vietnam Airlines direct flight from Hanoi will land at Gatwick airport. The UK will be the 14th country served by Vietnam Airlines, and Gatwick will be its 27th destination abroad. This will be the first ever direct flight linking the UK and Vietnam.
Flying four times a week, two to Hanoi and two to Ho Chi Minh City, the plan is that this will rise to seven flights a week by 2014. The non-stop flights in Boeing 777’s will be timed to offer convenient onward connections within Vietnam, Indo-China and the sub-Mekong region. Vietnam Airlines’ route network covers 20 cities in Vietnam and offers easy connections to the main tourist places such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and many others, including Siem Reap in Cambodia which is the main airport for the fabulous Angkor Temples, the UNESCO listed heritage site.
Last year about 90,000 passengers flew between the U.K. and Vietnam an increase of 28 per cent over the previous year and with direct flights this can only grow. Not only will Britons have an easier way of exploring this increasingly important tourist destination, it is estimated that many of the estimated 40,000 Vietnamese people living in the UK will take avantage of this direct flight to visit their native country or to invite relatives and friends to visit us. On top of that about 7,000 students study here. And due to the increasing number of British investors looking to do business in Viet Nam, both governments see opportunity for growth.
But for us holidaymakers looking for an amazing holiday destination, Viet Nam is now really closer and offers wide range of possibilities as you might remember from previous stories in CD-Traveller about Vietnam. In the north, the quiet city of Hanoi with its lakes and temples, is quite close to the wonders of Along Bay. A cruise on an old wooden boat is something so romantic, and should be done at least once in everyone’s lifetime. For those looking to something more adventurous, a three day visit to the tribes north of Hanoi would give them more souvenirs than they can imagine.

cruise boats in Along Bay

In Central Viet Nam, two places not to be missed are Hue and Hoi Nan. Hue, the former royal capital with its forbidden city along the Perfumes River, is a mixture of ancient times and the French colonial period. Hoi An, on the sea, is a very old small town which has kept alive the spirit of peaceful, Vietnamese life. It makes you wonder whether it has changed at all since the first European visitors arrived two centuries ago. The crowded market, the scenery of small boats loading and unloading goods on the riverside, the smell of burning incense in temples are unforgettable.
Then the southern part of Vietnam should begin with a visit of Ho Chi Minh City, still called Saigon, which is a huge lively city. Trying to cross any street when being faced with, seemingly, thousands of bicycles and motorbikes heading straight for you is something you will never forget! Many monuments dating back up to one hundred years and belonging to the French period can be found around the former Catinat Street. This was the location for” The Quiet American” the famous novel written by Graham Greene when he was staying in Saigon in the early years 1950’s and subsequently filmed. From Ho Chi Minh City, a one or two day excursion lets you visit the famous Mekong Delta with its maze of thousands of islands and canals all bordered by luxuriant, green, tropical jungles. And to wrap up your holiday why not finish with a lazy stay at the best beaches in Vietnam, Na Trang or Phan Thiet.

a street in Hoi Han

Tour operators will be looking at the flights very seriously as they consider expanding their packages to include this area for the first time. French, Australians, New Zealanders and those from South East Asia have been visiting Vietnam in ever-increasing numbers over the last decade. Now we have an easier way of visiting there. And now we can taste authentic Vietnamese food in Vietnam as well.

words and images © Frederic Mouren de Poligny

Pot and Kettle

adrian — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 06:29:25 +0000

My apologies. This story is two-weeks old but I missed it. Mea culpa. A reader spotted a press release on the Ryanair website and it really is just too good not to share with you.
Ryanair has objected to how Gatwick Airport has billed its fees and therefore it complained to the CAA. They have ruled that the airport used discriminatory charging for check-in facilities in that all airlines are charged for check-in yet the majority of Ryanair passengers check-in online. Fair enough. Why should the airline, or in this case we passengers, be charged for a service it doesn’t use and will it mean that Ryanair will reduce its fees?
But then comes the high point.
Ryanair “welcomed” the fact that the airports charges “were not transparent” and noted that the airport had been given until April 2012 to “implement transparent and non-discriminatory charges.” Now Ryanair complaining about transparency is rich. It took a long time for it to agree to revamp its website to make it appear more transparent. It doesn’t explain why it charges (it’s so-called administration fee) per passenger for credit charge bookings despite having only to pay a much smaller single transaction amount to the credit card companies. It doesn’t explain why it charges €100 for a name change when it must cost nothing like that to handle.
It charges a EU261 levy of £2 to handle any compensation claims. Does this mean that if I don’t claim compensation during the year, I will have this refunded because that’s what transparency means? According to Ryanair if a service isn’t used, it should be paid for. So I can safely look forward to getting my money back. Or will they let me have my £2 back but charge me a £10 administration fee to have it returned?
And they complain about Gatwick. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

The Competition Commission and BAA

Editor — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 10:39:15 +0000

BAA

This morning the Competition Commission has ruled that BAA must sell off Stansted and either Glasgow or Edinburgh Airports. This follows from the decision of the Supreme Court to uphold the sale despite the attempts of BAA to say that the travel market had changed quite a bit since the original ruling was given. What will BAA do now? Sell and give in gracefully or try and find justification for continuing its fight?

The Commission will not make its final report until May or June so will BAA wait until then before making a decision? Forget for a moment that the Commission needs another two months for some reason and assume both airports will be sold, Stansted first according to the Commission.

The sale of Gatwick has been one of the best things that could have happened for passengers. For the first time in years there seems to be competition. And investment. Ray Melee, from the new owners at Gatwick said yesterday at the Passenger Terminal Expo that he wanted Gatwick to be the airport of choice instead of the feeder to Heathrow that it had virtually become when it was BAA owned. More importantly it wants to treat passengers as guests and become the first for passenger service. Already the new owners have cleared away the strange security system that could see you sent to one of two floors to go through the system in the south terminal. 19 new lanes will be introduced this year from May onwards including one for those requiring more assistance. Those with hand baggage and who are aware of having to take off jackets and carry laptops may even get their own speedy lane!

So passengers through Stansted and whichever airport in Scotland is sold off stand a good chance of being treated as paying customers instead of the mentality that often seemed to exist in the old days that airports would be great places if it wasn’t for those pesky passengers disrupting things. Now airlines need to realise what passengers have known for years in the south. Heathrow is not the airport of choice. The sooner they start switching flights (like North American ones for example) to Gatwick the better for the blood pressure of a lot of passengers!

The Future for BAA

adrian — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 09:16:42 +0000

This morning BAA announced its financial results for 2010. It made a loss but the chief executive calls this “robust” and confidently expects to present a “strong increase in profits” this year.
Now let’s get down to the important stuff. How is BAA going to treat its passengers in the future? Apparently on BBC Radio 4’s File on Four tonight, Colin Matthews – the Chief Executive – will say that Heathrow will double its fleet of snow clearing vehicles to more than 100. This is part of 3 strategies that were confirmed in BAA’s presentation, one of which is “Making Every Journey Better.” There is a long way to go before that is achieved since satisfaction levels are still stuck in the middle as compared to a group of competitors . It still has areas of passenger concern. The amount of baggage that is “misconnected” (what a lovely word meaning “fouled up”) hasn’t significantly been improved. Punctuality at Heathrow is no improvement on the previous year either. (The presentation doesn’t give figures for its other airports.) Heathrow is getting a wonderful new terminal 2 in a few years time and there will be a new baggage tunnel to help speed up luggage delivery.
Those of you outside London will be nodding off and no wonder. The report, the presentation and the press release hardly mentions BAA’s other airports. This is because one of their other strategies is to focus on Heathrow. It is almost as though they have accepted the decision by the Supreme Court not to allow them to appeal against the sell-off of a Scottish airport and Stansted. Except that it was only a fortnight ago that they launched their big plan for the future of Glasgow Airport. Could Edinburgh then will be the one they opt to sell as no master plan has been produced there yet? Edinburgh’s last master plan was in 2006 (as was Glasgow’s) so maybe one is imminent. Funny how their master plans are every 5 years – just like the old communist blocs’ plans and look what happened there! And what of the future of Southampton and Aberdeen airports?
From the passengers’ point of view what matters is service, a quick hassle-free move through the airport and that is it. Edinburgh is the only one of their airports to make it into the top 5 in Europe for customer service. And will that or any other airport other than Heathrow get a look-in at big improvements if the main focus is to be there? BAA lauds the fact that the net income from passengers from retail efforts is up by 12% to an average of £5.29 per passenger and the huge investment it is continuing to make. If the service isn’t there; if the satisfaction isn’t there then competition from Gatwick to its London base and from whichever airport it loses in Scotland might do more than anything else to improve the lot of the traveller going through its remaining airports.
Earlier, I asked how BAA intended to treat its passengers, one of it’s three key strategies. I still haven’t found that part in any of the documents

And the Snow Falls…And Falls

adrian — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 07:22:53 +0000

For the last week or so, there has been snowfall over much of the eastern side of the UK. It has been unrelenting in places with stories of the lowest temperatures since records began and the usual heroic tales of the ability of people to get to work. For the traveller, this has been trying and much is made of the fact that other countries are prepared so why aren’t we? Is this fair criticism?
By tomorrow morning Gatwick will have been closed for 3 days. Why should this happen to one of the most important airports in the world let alone this country? For a start it has one runway. So if snow falls, there will be delays whilst it is cleared. There is no alternative unlike other airports with two runways. Secondly the snow has hardly let up. But it was not only Gatwick that has been affected. Edinburgh, where they are more used to snow clearance has also been badly hit. But then abroad in Switzerland, Geneva had been closed for much of yesterday and this airport is a key airport delivering passengers to the ski-slopes. So they haven’t managed even with all their experience. Munich in Southern Germany has also been hit as has Berlin but both are about back to normal now. So it is not just us that has problems.
In the south east of England, we have a third rail power system which has a habit of causing problems when snow hits. This might be why Southern Railways has no service till 10am this morning. Southeastern has also been badly affected,But South Western who operate on the same system had no problems to speak off on their lines through eastern Surrey which has been badly affected by snow. Outside the south east, those railways with overhead cables have been affected in the past and East Coast, East Midlands, Nothern and First TransPennine have all had to alter the timetables to cope. The only “successful” operating rail system seems to be diesel which has rescued me from broken down electric times quite often in the past. Readers with more knowledge, please comment.
The M25 had 400 lorries parked on the Surrey section over night on Tuesday. The M20 is closed in part today and the M3 is supposedly down to one lane in each direction. In Barnsley, Sheffield and other parts of South Yorkshire, whole housing estates are cut off. No buses run. In the Borders, even where they are more used to it than us southerners, they have been problems getting around. What’s the betting that football fixtures on Saturday will be affected by an inability of fans to get to the stadia. So is it all due to lack of gritting? Again, readers with more knowledge please let us know. We are told there is more grit around than last winter. But isn’t grit useless if snow falls on top of it? Does grit only really function if it lies on the top?
Heathrow has these de-icing trucks that lay down a film that stops the runway icing for up to 24 hours and each costs £200,000. A few of those on the roads might be useful. But then policy seems to be to attend only to main roads. Most of us live on minor roads. The problem for us is getting to the roads that are gritted.
What’s the betting that everything will be put down to cost and that that this snow is exceptional? Except this is the third hard winter in a row!

Flights of fancy

Editor — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:05:30 +0000

There’s one thing you can guarantee in the wake of the attempted plane bombing above Detroit in December: we’re all going to spend a lot longer at airports. CD Traveller profiles the capital’s four main airports to see how they measure up

Gatwick
Opened in 1958, Gatwick is the UK’s second largest airport (and the eighth largest in Europe) so if you’re heading off on your hols, there’s a good chance you will be jetting out from good old Gatwick.
It’s a decision that makes sense: Heathrow may have hogged the headlines in recent years but it’s Gatwick that won – for the twelfth time – the best airport award at the prestigious 2009 Travel Weekly Globe Awards.
On the food front, there’s Apostrophe, Eat, Frankie and Benny’s, Garfunkels (don’t knock it – this one is pretty cool), the ubiquitous McDonalds and many more but why not start your holiday in style at swanky seafood bar Caviar House? Good retail therapy is another of Gatwick’s draws. Along with the usuals (that’s you Boots, Books etc and The Body Shop), there’s a Harrods, a Goldsmiths and – our favourite – an All Saints which sells some of the coolest clobber around for both guys and gals.

Heathrow
Heathrow is the daddy of airports boasting no fewer than five terminals. It’s the world’s busiest airport – more than 66.9 million people pass through the place every year – so the likelihood is that you’ll be starting your holiday at Heathrow.
Your destination will determine which terminal you depart from. In the past Terminal 1 has typically catered for domestic flights while Terminal 2 has been dedicated to European destinations, Terminal 3 for long haul passengers with most BA flights departing from Terminal 4. But it’s all change with the arrival of Terminal 5.
Designed by British ‘starchitect’ Richard Rogers, Heathrow’s new addition cost £4.3bn and took 18 years to design and 20,000 workers to build. We reckon ‘T5’ was worth the wait though…the 130ft high building is not only drop dead gorgeous (all marble floors and panoramic windows), but is home to 112 shops and restaurants – Gordan Ramsay Plane Food anyone? Much like Tom Hanks’ character in The Terminal, we could happily hole up in this airport.

Luton
Luton (or Lutonairport to give it its official name) has long been thought of as cheap and cheerful – not that this seems to bother the 10 million passengers who take to the skies from Luton each year.
Functional rather than fabulous, shopping stalwarts such as WH Smith, Dixons and Tie Rack all feature while food-wise the chain gang (Pret, Costa, Cafe Nero, Starbucks and so on) have all taken up a tenancy.
Still, while the restaurant and shop selection might be lousy, there are plenty of other reasons to love Luton. First up, Luton is ridiculously easy to get to – a must for jet setters – being close to both the M1 and M25. Furthermore on arrival passengers are able to drop off, pick up or park for free for up to 60 minutes – welcome news in these recessionary times. Finally, the 71 year old airport is the first in the country to introduce a car share scheme offering you the chance to meet fellow holidaymakers, do your bit for the environment and save money – meaning more moolah to spend on your hols.

Stansted
Designed in 1991 by Norma Foster, London Stansted is – despite its name – actually in Essex. A sleek and stylish airport, Stansted sees some 22.3 million strangers pass through every year making it the fastest growing major airport in Europe. Stansted employs an entire army of staff (11,600 to be precise) to make your airport experience a pleasant one and there are plans to create a further 13,800 jobs by 2030.
Regardless of whether you want to fly from Stansted to see the pyramids in Egypt or simply want to flop on a beach in St Lucia or the Seychelles, be sure to arrive early at the airport to bag some bargains: make-up junkies will love the Estee Lauder, Clarins and Clinique counters that jostle for your credit cards.
Shopped till you’ve dropped? Time to head for the departure gate. Spain is Stansted’s most popular destination while further afield Florida is a good option for anyone looking to lie on a sun lounger; Florida is, after all, America’s sunniest state.

“New” Gatwick

Editor — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:15:15 +0000

From today Gatwick is no longer run by BAA. Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), the owners of London City Airport, take over the running of the airport so what might be expected? In the short term, probably only cosmetic changes like signage, uniforms and names will alter. But what should happen in the longer term?

A problem with the old owners was that, by owning so many airports around London, competition was stifled so the first thing I should like to see is a wider net of destinations. Bring back more North American and Asia Pacific flights so there will be a true alternative to Heathrow and don’t let Gatwick drift into just being an airport for charter holiday flights and no-frills airlines.

GIP has already announced that they will do something about the long security lines that can occur. For an international airport the current situation is an embarrassment when people in the south terminal are directed upstairs to an overspill entrance. And in the north terminal the queues to get through security can stretch to the check-in desks. In fairness GIP has recognised this issue as a problem and has pledged to do something.

For visiting passengers, more signs in different languages would be a good idea. How BAA could have been so insular in thinking every passenger had a wide command of English stretches the imagination. There are more signs in foreign languages in the coffee shops than in the main terminals.

The day has begun inauspiciously. The Docklands Light Railway service, the main way of using public transport to get to London City Airport, is suspended due to engineering works today and over the weekend. And as I said earlier, London City is owned by GIP. Let’s hope this is just coincidence.

Gatwick Sold…to a Rival?

adrian — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:29:58 +0000

You will probably all be aware by now that Gatwick has been sold by the owners BAA to the owners of London City Airport, Global Infrastructure Partners. GIP paid about £1.5 billion which in normal times would be a bit of a bargain. Since it was virtually an enforced sale I suppose the other bidders, who included Manchester Airport Group, offered even less.
The Competition Commission had told BAA to sell Gatwick and Stansted in the South East in order to break the monopoly they had of London airports. Although BAA moved to sell Gatwick before that instruction came through, they are appealing against the ruling.
Easyjet has come out and said that Gatwick is still a monopoly by which I suppose they mean that it is all owned by one group but so far no-one seems to have pointed out that if it was wrong for one company to control all London airports, is it any better that one company should own two?
If I were the owners there are a few things I would consider to reassert Gatwick as an airport of choice rather than the second class treatment it seems to have had from BAA over the last few years. It could reintroduce transatlantic flights since regardless of what airlines believe, not all of us in the south east find it easy or desirable to get into the jumble that is Heathrow. It could introduce a helicopter service to link in with the British Airways all business class flights to New York and maybe other connections. Above all it needs to give Gatwick the attention it hasn’t had.

BAA Decides to Fight To Keep All It’s Airports

adrian — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:43:00 +0000

BAA has decided that it isn’t going to give up any of it’s airports without a fight. It seems that they have decided to waste more of their money pursuing this idea despite the fact that, to just about everyone else, it seems like a good idea to stimulate a bit of competition. Could it be because of the price since recent estimates seem to value Gatwick at a lot less than they do?
And yet it seems they have have thrown the towel in as well.
I had a letter from BAA World Points telling me that they would no longer be available from Gatwick (my preferred airport from which to fly) from the end of June. World Points is the BAA loyalty system which operates across all of their airports. You get points for booking car parking, spending money in the duty free and so on.
Now if BAA really planned a fight of it wouldn’t you have thought they would keep their loyalty system going? Doesn’t this one act alone tell you that they were prepared to let Gatwick at least go?
Or is this just a case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing.

Airport Signs are Scary

adrian — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 06:47:00 +0000

Unless you have been holidaying on the moon, you have probably noticed that there has been a bit of a general downturn in the economy. Doom mongers have almost been prophesising the end of life as we know it. (Although, to cheer you up slightly, houses are beginning to sell again in our village and some companies I know in marketing have noticed an upturn in the last two weeks)
Imagine then walking from the gate through the walkway to get onto a plane at Heathrow and seeing signs for HSBC. The bank is a heavy advertiser at airports in the south and even as you taxi to a stand you see their familiar logos. The current advertising has a rather fearful figure with the word underneath “scary.” Never has that word and banking seen more appropriate than at the moment. And they probably don’t even realise it.
Just like RBS. At Edinburgh airport, you walk down similar walkways to get onto your plane and the message next to their logo is “Make it happen” Well in many ways they did.
But I don’t want be reminded by advertising of what messes the banks have contributed. What’s the betting the next advertising from them is “We got it wrong; we’re sorry?”