Primera Air quits Birmingham International Airport with all short haul routes closing

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• Nigel the Pensioner says:

  5 Aug5 August 07:12

  What did I say… Primera Air as much of a dead duck as BHX! That’s why I know its 93 miles from my driveway to the car park barrier at the Sofitel LHR T5 and a leisurely and easy 1hr 20 min drive down the M40 – no longer than this.

  • Neil says:

    5 Aug5 August 08:37

    Quite a bold statement given the fact that the “Deadduck” airport of BHX was one of the fastest growing airport in the U.K. last year up 11.5% with circa 13million passengers!

    • Will says:

      5 Aug5 August 11:09

      Bhx is struggling under its growth.
      Rediculous security queues on the way out, overwhelmed passport queues on the way in (no biometric for some arrivals and staff that stand there talking and joking instead of marshalling the queue where biometrics do exist) and the cherry on top for me was having to wait 3 hours on the plane in the cold weather this year because there weren’t enough staff to wheel out steps to the aircraft and despite stopping at a gate for some reason the air bridges can’t be used.
      During this time I missed the last train and the lift that I then called ended up running up a huge parking bill because the airport were still enforcing pick up / drop off charges despite not being able to get people off aircraft that were sat at the gate.

      Stansted is infinitely better organised despite being very busy.

      • Lady London says:

        5 Aug5 August 11:37

        @Will where you had to wait 3 hours on the plane on arrival… So far as EU261 is concerned despite any landing announcements on the plane, you have not officially arrived until the front door is open AND the airbridge, or steps can be used.

        This is most definitely an EU261 claim that can’t be denied. I would urge you to go get your minimum of 250 euros under this. Your claim should be on the airline even though it seems it’s the airport’s fault. The 250 euros is payable per passenger. Give them 3 requests or 8 weeks (ideally at least the 3 requests) get their final no or non-response and go straight online to moneyclaim dot gov dot uk. Please inform us of the outcome on a future Bits post!

        When the airline has to pay out I am sure they will revert to BHX for compensation. You don’t have to worry about that. But if enough people claim off airlines and BHX has to reimburse the airlines I am sure the airport will rapidly decide providing timely landing facilties is something they need to remedy.

      • Lady London says:

        5 Aug5 August 17:03

        This is why Luton Airport should get their act together and start offering a quality environment and service.

        There’s a wall of money looking to fly with a bit of luxry on all sides of Luton particularly North and West ish that is not currently being served. Witness how much higher EZ prices get out of Luton, than other airports, at any peak period.

        Luton as it’s currently run is a wasted opportunity.

      • Will says:

        5 Aug5 August 23:08

        I’ll check my flight details vs what the scheduled arrival was. I had assumed they could duck it with weather as the excuse.

        Agree with Luton, another horrible experience arriving there when it’s busy.

• Keith says:

  5 Aug5 August 07:28

  And at least it is a safety video that doesn’t masquerade as some politically correct charity giving nonsense. After 20 years of paying attention to safety videos I purposely start reading my paper whenever the BA video comes on. Flying Start?! F*** O**

  • Callum says:

    5 Aug5 August 08:15

    Giving to charity is political correctness?

    I don’t think that phrase means what you think it does. Contrary to popular belief it doesn’t mean “something I don’t like”!

    And go you! Those executives who are watching our reactions to safety videos through hidden cameras will be devastated to not only see you reading the paper, but doing so purposefully! Stick it to the man!

  • Catalan says:

    5 Aug5 August 08:32

    @ Keith. You’re the very type of passenger that would hinder my escape in an emergency because you’d rather bury your head in a newspaper than focus on where the nearest exits are! How ridiculous and childish!

  • Matthew Fisher says:

    5 Aug5 August 09:52

    And I suspect that paper would be the Daily Mail.

    • Dan says:

      5 Aug5 August 11:11

      best comment of the day….

      • the real harry1 says:

        5 Aug5 August 12:57

        Come off it. FFers don’t need reminding of where the exits are & how to use a rubber ring every single flight.

        Boring as f***.

        Harry

      • patchy mcbest says:

        6 Aug6 August 02:02

        i think the opposite. i get bored of people pigeon-holing others without so much as knowing anything about them beyond a comment they don’t agree with. seems lame and immature.

        he makes a fair point – the safety video has nothing to do with charity so why pretend it is and include it within the segment. fly enough on ba to get annoyed by it too, as do many other non-DM readers.

  • Lady London says:

    5 Aug5 August 13:05

    +1. You’ve clearly seen the safety video enough to be fully aware of its safety content. I too am tired of such politically correct charity nonsense. Similar to the voluntary “carbon offset” surcharge box we are kindly offered to tick to pay that for British Airways!

    Good man if it’s the Daily Mail. Particularly the Saturday edition (has the best TV if they would only give you the Weekend magazine attached).

    • BJ says:

      5 Aug5 August 14:08

      @Lady London, unfortunately the airlines can deny anything they wish. I ended up with an overnight delay in LHR due to Finnair forgetting to check if the toilets were pumped out on an arriving aircraft. By the time EU261 claims went in the delay was caused by bad weather despite captain announcing on board it was due to toilets. By the time we left they rerouted on a longer flight path which they attributed to bad weather (go figure!). Their resistance to EU261 was unbelievable, I eventually gave up after about 2 years of haggling. My partner currently has a dispute with AF that has been going on for 6 months, they have paid 75% of fare difference for a business class to economy downgrade. The refund they calculated was little more than APD difference and they are refusing to budge despite their own published policy stating the refund should be 75% of fare paid which should be about £600. I know some get their EU261 compo easily enough but we should not take it for granted that we will.

      • Lady London says:

        5 Aug5 August 17:08

        @BJ This. If you don’t follow advice on here and just stop their games and go for moneyclaim dot gov dot uk then you’re missing a certain part of your anatomy.

        Of course airlines delay prevaricate ignore and lie. If you took notes and can state cabin announcements at the time, timing of doors opening at landing (does not count until stairs or airbridge are available for passengers to use), if you look up the websites that will tell you other flights were flying fine at the time you did etc. (just google) then you can and should put an end to the airline’s rubbish by stating all this on a moneyclaim and watch them fold.

        If you really can’t be bothered then just google eu261 claim and hand it to one of the companies that do the claim for you and take a % .

        Very disappointed BJ as you are so knowledgeable in other areas.

      • BJ says:

        5 Aug5 August 19:56

        @LadyLondon, sorry to disappoint you Ma’am, rest assured I am doing better this time 🙂 AF claim is heading in the direction you specified. The AY claim was some years ago before EU261 snowballed so they could probably afford the (wo)man hours to drag any disputes out in a way that is no longer possible due to the volume of claims. Still, I am happy to concede defeat to some Finn of the ‘fairer’ sex who clearly had me by some part of my anatomy, but I trust not the part that a respectable Lady would be referring to.

      • the real harry1 says:

        6 Aug6 August 17:50

        LL is right – the BA corporate instructions to the team in India are to prevaricate, lie, obfuscate and avoid ready payment – whenever anybody makes a claim of any legal entitlement on the old EC261. They will just lie and say extraordinary circs, no matter the circs. To be honest, Willie Walsh should get the the Booker Prize as his wit & invention far exceeds the beauty of Gorge Orwell’s 1984. When you feel like lying, lie. Willie Walsh invented the Trump fake news – he is the fakemeister incarnate. Just to remind you patsies, I got my full compo for F&B denied but paid for on Avios award trips – I had to grab Senor Cruz by the short & curlies but once I did that he squealed & paid up.

      • the real harry1 says:

        6 Aug6 August 17:53

        2 +2 = 5

        Willie Walsh said it.

• Tyra says:

  5 Aug5 August 07:40

  Air NZ used to be my favourite for safety videos but the Lego one has topped the list 🙂

• Neil says:

  5 Aug5 August 08:34

  Rob – your article also misses out that whilst Primera have cancelled all there short-haul flights from BHX, Primera have also cancelled 90% of their short-haul flights from STN on the same dates – STN to Malaga, Alicante, Palma all cancelled!

  The “Primera Air pulling out of BHX” statement appears to be a smokescreen for what is actually “Primera pulls out of all Uk – EU flights!”

  • Rob says:

    5 Aug5 August 09:54

    The Stansted changes have slipped under the radar of everyone, will take a look.

    • @mkcol says:

      6 Aug6 August 08:56

      Yet an ex-colleague of my husband who now works for Primera has told him that they can’t cope with current levels of recruitment & have 300 crew going through training currently.
      I struggle to believe this.

• Lee says:

  5 Aug5 August 08:38

  OT – SPG amex related
  I’ve been giving a retention offer when cancelling card with 1 additional Starpoint for 3 months. Just noticed since 1st Aug all base points have been multiplied by 3 which is new Starpoint/Marriott points. However, the additional Starpoint stays as 1 new Starpoint/Marriott point. Dose anyone know that was intention or just IT issue?

  • Andrew S says:

    5 Aug5 August 11:44

    Same here. Had an spg stay as well but that was the expected 3x, the retention bonus was only 1x. Still waiting on last month’s starpoints to make it to my spg account (left Amex spg card account around 14th July)

  • Ian M says:

    5 Aug5 August 13:05

    Hey yeah a few of us have had the same problem. I posted today about this with an update on the thread from a couple of days ago.

    I called Amex today about it. The lady added my missing bonus points manually (at least she said she would. They’re not showing yet). She said she would create a case so the IT staff could look into it and in the meantime if it happens again (which I’m sure it will) to call them and they’ll add the missing bonus points manually.

    • Russ says:

      5 Aug5 August 13:20

      The Amex/SPG opening a ‘special case’ spiel for missing points is getting old. I’ve now got a special case investigating my first special case!

      • Ian M says:

        5 Aug5 August 13:49

        Haha yeah some something tells me I will be making a lot of calls getting these points added manually

• Tom1 says:

  5 Aug5 August 08:48

  o/t Amex Plat hire Car Insurance
  I am trying to find the details in the T&Cs but can’t find it

  If I have a Supp Amex card – my wife is the main card holder – am I still covered if the hire car agreement is in my name, and my wife is not named?

  And I think I am right in saying for the car hire, it doesn’t have to be paid on an Amex card.
  Thanks

  • Tom1 says:

    5 Aug5 August 09:16

    Thanks – was just replying to say I found it when I saw your reply!
    Thanks Genghis

  • Bsuije says:

    5 Aug5 August 12:08

    Is the last bit about it not having to be paid on the Amex correct? My understanding has always been that it has to be paid on an Amex, albeit it doesn’t have to be the card that actually affords you the car insurance (I.e. I can pay with my SPG and I am still covered because I hold a Gold supp to my partner’s Plat).

    That being said, I do remember seeing a comment on here in the recent past that insurance still covers you if the car rental company does not take Amex and you are therefore forced to pay with another card.

    • Genghis says:

      5 Aug5 August 13:50

      What’s the source for your understanding? The T&Cs don’t say that?

    • Alan says:

      5 Aug5 August 16:45

      Nope, car hire cover has never had to be paid on an Amex – perhaps you’ve confused it with non-medical travel insurance benefits? Personally I still tend to put it on an Amex as easier for reimbursement in case of an issue.

  • the_real_a says:

    5 Aug5 August 13:58

    Your wife MUST be named on the rental agreement otherwise she is driving without the permission of the vehicle owner – which in most states is theft.

    • Lady London says:

      5 Aug5 August 17:11

      and you’re probably not covered by insurance if anything happens either if a person is driving that’s not named on the vehicle hire agreement.

    • Genghis says:

      5 Aug5 August 17:16

      I don’t think OP mentioned his wife would be driving

      • Tom1 says:

        5 Aug5 August 18:19

        Yes that’s right.
        She’s drinking, I’m driving.
        Thanks all

• Nick G says:

  5 Aug5 August 09:10

  Great my 5 year old is already singing the song….

• Gareth says:

  5 Aug5 August 09:36

  OT staying at a Hilton tonight booked via hotels.com due to 10 night reward voucher running out next week- is there any advantage to adding my honors number to booking when I check in? Thanks

  • Rob says:

    5 Aug5 August 09:46

    Probably not but does no harm.

  • Pangolin says:

    5 Aug5 August 11:36

    I’ve had benefits recognised (eg free breakfast) at various places when adding my HHonors number to OTA bookings, so worth doing although you obviously won’t get the points.

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