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Aviation Discussion

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najaB

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One thing I think the Government is doing us a disservice over on this is that they aren't finding out what other countries are doing and only putting countries on one of the lists where there is a reciprocal arrangement, i.e. they will let us in without quarantine.
What? Accusing this government of incompetence? This government? Never!
 
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Chester1

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One thing I think the Government is doing us a disservice over on this is that they aren't finding out what other countries are doing and only putting countries on one of the lists where there is a reciprocal arrangement, i.e. they will let us in without quarantine.

I agree. One could argue it's everyone's personal responsibility to check the destination's restrictions but the UK government waving a 'green list' around in the media does give a somewhat misleading impression.

What? Accusing this government of incompetence? This government? Never!

I disagree. There is a huge benefit of one way green lists for people travelling for essential reasons. There is no point in making people quarantine in both directions if it is not necessary from a public health perspective. Incoming requirements shouldn't be a bargaining chip to obtain lower entry requirements for Brits.
 

najaB

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I disagree. There is a huge benefit of one way green lists for people travelling for essential reasons. There is no point in making people quarantine in both directions if it is not necessary from a public health perspective. Incoming requirements shouldn't be a bargaining chip to obtain lower entry requirements for Brits.
If the red/amber/green lists are only looked at in terms of public health I agree completely. However, that is not what they have been promoted as, nor how they are viewed by the majority of the public. The messaging has been "Green means go", which has resulted in more than one case of people turning up at the airport and being denied boarding because they haven't met the requirements of the destination country.

There really should have been four levels/colours - e.g. Green: travel in either direction without quarantine requirements, Yellow: Quarantine not required on return but may be restrictions on entry, Amber: Quarantine required on return, Red: Managed quarantine required on return.
 

Bald Rick

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There really should have been four levels/colours - e.g. Green: travel in either direction without quarantine requirements, Yellow: Quarantine not required on return but may be restrictions on entry, Amber: Quarantine required on return, Red: Managed quarantine required on return.

Given this is a rail forum, surely yellow and double yellow?
 

Scotrail314209

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It's good to see aviation getting busy again. I live underneath the flight path in/out of Glasgow Airport and the airspace has been noticeably busier over recent weeks.
 

Scotrail314209

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Will be even better if those BA planes littering the airfield could finally see some use again.

Theres not as many as there was in November.

The grassy verges at the other side of the runway contained rows of BA planes just sitting there. It looked messy.

I do wonder when the TUI and Jet2 737s sitting on stand will move again.
 

packermac

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One thing I think the Government is doing us a disservice over on this is that they aren't finding out what other countries are doing and only putting countries on one of the lists where there is a reciprocal arrangement, i.e. they will let us in without quarantine.
I thought the purpose of the list was so people knew where they had to quarantine or not on return to the UK. For example people do still "escape" from Australia at times, so it tells them what they have to do when they arrive here. Also a country may let you in for a legitimate business reason but not tourism, so there are just too many imponderables to make it a two way thing.
 

Chester1

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I thought the purpose of the list was so people knew where they had to quarantine or not on return to the UK. For example people do still "escape" from Australia at times, so it tells them what they have to do when they arrive here. Also a country may let you in for a legitimate business reason but not tourism, so there are just too many imponderables to make it a two way thing.

Exactly. I have little sympathy with people who don't check entry requirements. Our governments job is to explain what it is doing for arrivals, not what other countries are doing. There has been complaints about the amber list. Some people want more categories, some want two and some want a complete ban. There is no system that wouldn't be called stupid/incompetent/dangerous by a section of the population.
 

Butts

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At Edinburgh Airport flying to Belfast via London City.

Not allowed to put a Lap Top in with the Hold Baggage ?

Last week flew BA (as today) and it travelled in said area with no questions asked between Newcastle and LHR.

What is the actual policy or is it at the whim of check in staff ?
 

najaB

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Not allowed to put a Lap Top in with the Hold Baggage ?
Lithium ion batteries can cause fires. If it caught fire in the hold nobody would know until the fire had time to grow. In the cabin it would be pretty obvious (and simpler to deal with).
 
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TravelDream

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What is the actual policy or is it at the whim of check in staff ?

You are allowed to check Lithium-ion batteries in the hold of passenger aircraft, but it's complicated. As a rule, airlines would generally tell you not to put laptops in your checked luggage and to carry them on. Fires in the cabin are considered less dangerous than those the hold.
The CAA says (Copied from their site):

Carry onCheckedOn one's personAirline approval required
Portable electronic devices containing lithium ion batteries exceeding a Watt-hour rating of 100 Wh but not exceeding 160 Wh when carried for personal use.

Batteries and cells must be of a type which meets the requirements of each test in the UN Manual of Tests and Criteria, Part III, subsection 38.3.

It may be necessary to contact the battery manufacturer prior to travel to confirm they have complied with the requirements.

Should be carried as carry-on baggage.
YesYes
N/A
No



To add what someone put above, I think you'd be foolish to put a laptop in the hold anyway. There's too much chance of it getting stolen or damaged.
 

najaB

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To add to the above, it's not always immediately obvious that there's a problem with the battery. Case in point, my work laptop started to have an issue where the mouse cursor would move by itself. Thought it was a bit odd, but didn't do anything about it for a week or so. Then, as it started to happen more I took a look at the laptop itself - note that I normally keep it plugged in to a USB docking station on my desk:
20200723_093729.jpg.

Took it back into the office post-haste and the IT guy took the battery out:
20200724_111349.jpg

Keep in mind, other than the random mouse movement this laptop portable bomb was working perfectly and it and I had just made a return trip to the USA a few weeks earlier! I shudder to think what would have happened if it had been in the hold and we'd hit a bit of turbulence out over the north Atlantic.
 

packermac

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Apart from the theft risk the potential for damage as hold baggage is immense.
I have done baggage loading during strike breaking so I have seen how things are on the ramp.
 

TravelDream

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To add to the above, it's not always immediately obvious that there's a problem with the battery. Case in point, my work laptop started to have an issue where the mouse cursor would move by itself. Thought it was a bit odd, but didn't do anything about it for a week or so. Then, as it started to happen more I took a look at the laptop itself - note that I normally keep it plugged in to a USB docking station on my desk:

Keep in mind, other than the random mouse movement this laptop portable bomb was working perfectly and it and I had just made a return trip to the USA a few weeks earlier! I shudder to think what would have happened if it had been in the hold and we'd hit a bit of turbulence out over the north Atlantic.

That happened to my old MacBook too. The cursor would randomly move by itself and then the trackpad stopped working all together. I took it apart and was a bit scared. The battery had bulges all over and had started to pry the case apart.

You also occasionally see stuff in the news about phones exploding. https://www.howtogeek.com/425488/why-do-phones-explode-and-how-to-prevent-it/

Lithium-ion can be quite dangerous because of thermal runaway.
 

Butts

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Anyone know why BA Cityflyer Aircraft have not got The Royal Mail Logo on unlike other BA Planes ?
 

Butts

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These BA Embraers are superb one from EDI to LCY and another from LCY to BHD.

Only 3 Rows of Business Class on the Belfast Embraer but The Glenlivet was on "free flow"

If you get Row 2 C/D on a BA Embraer you could practically lie down in the space between the Seats and the Bulkhead. There is no row 1C/D it's been stripped out."

The only annoying factor is the peasants from cattle encroaching through the curtain to access our toilet. Should send them to the back of the plane. It's fantastic you had one steward looking after 6 people on the Belfast Leg at the front.

Less then an hour to Belfast from London City imagine how long it would take on snail rail / ship !!!

I would say LCY should have a BA Lounge the size it has grown to.
 

najaB

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I would say LCY should have a BA Lounge the size it has grown to.
The idea behind LCY is that you shouldn't have time to use a lounge - it's straight from your office in Canary Warf to the departure area.
These BA Embraers are superb one from EDI to LCY and another from LCY to BHD
I take it you were burning up (or accruing) miles?
 
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.....I would say LCY should have a BA Lounge the size it has grown to.

Who knows?
There may have been plans for one in the extended terminal.

The LCY terminal was due to be quadrupled in size, as part of the current development plan, with most of the passenger areas being transferred into the new building.
However, building work was suspended last year, due to the uncertainties over a post covid recovery.
The apron expansion, that provides 8 more parking stands and the new parallel taxiway, which were both part of the same development plan, were already well underway and have since been completed.



z
 

Bletchleyite

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The idea behind LCY is that you shouldn't have time to use a lounge - it's straight from your office in Canary Warf to the departure area.

It was when there were only 10 gates, but since then (COVID aside) it's been way too busy and slow to get through to use it like that, sadly.
 

najaB

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It was when there were only 10 gates, but since then (COVID aside) it's been way too busy and slow to get through to use it like that, sadly.
Ah, okay. I'll bow to your more up to date knowledge, I've only flow out of there once about eight years ago. I try to avoid domestic flights as much as I can so my London trips are either by train or coach, when I have flown between Scotland and London it's always been a connecting flight through LHR or LGW.
 

Butts

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The idea behind LCY is that you shouldn't have time to use a lounge - it's straight from your office in Canary Warf to the departure area.

I take it you were burning up (or accruing) miles?

The latter - 160 for the whole trip.

There were plenty of (closed) Coffee Shops so I'm sure there's room for a Lounge.

It's a joy to see an Airport festooned with BA Embraers, I didn't realise they had so many.

It was when there were only 10 gates, but since then (COVID aside) it's been way too busy and slow to get through to use it like that, sadly.

It certainly wasn't busy yesterday, a joy to be in - far better than LHR.
 

najaB

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It's a joy to see an Airport festooned with BA Embraers, I didn't realise they had so many.
BA City Flyer has about 25 give or take, not sure if mainline has any.

Edit: It's 23 with one more on order, and no mainline doesn't have any.
 

Aictos

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Anyone used Vueling? As I understand it, they're a low cost airline owned by the IAG group but never used them so just wondered what views of them were?

As to LCY, I like it because of the Embraers - would be nice if KLM CityHopper served Luton but that's unlikely mores the pity.
 

Bletchleyite

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The latter - 160 for the whole trip.

There were plenty of (closed) Coffee Shops so I'm sure there's room for a Lounge.

It's a joy to see an Airport festooned with BA Embraers, I didn't realise they had so many.



It certainly wasn't busy yesterday, a joy to be in - far better than LHR.

In less viral circumstances it is heaving. You can sometimes not even get a seat. If it will return to its former usage levels it will need a new terminal.
 
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