Snow at Dublin

[atoutprix]

Thursday 5th february, I had planned a CRL-DUB-MAN-DUB-CRL.

FR 43 : CRL 0650 - DUB 0725
FR 548 : DUB 0945 - MAN 1040
FR 555 : MAN 1410 - DUB 1505
FR 46 : DUB 1640 - CRL 1915
(CRL : Brussels South Charleroi; DUB : Dublin; MAN : Manchester)

But it didn't work as planned - except for the first flight, that arrived at Colinstown 10 min early.

We boarded the flight to MAN at 10. It was raining, and cold. The captain wanted to de-ice before departing, he tols us it was "a security issue". The captains of the other RYR didn't think so, as we saw at least two other RYR leaving without havind de-iced. At 1045, it began to snow. I thought : if he doesn't fly when it's raining, he won't fly when it's snowing. We were already more than I hour late. They had reopened the front door, I asked and was allowed to leave the flight.

I took the bus 747 to downtown. It was snowing strongly, and until about 3 pm.
The snow had already melt in town, but was about 5 cm thick at Colinstown.
The departure hall was chock full of people, as the airport was closed and a lot of flights had been cancelled.
The queue to the Ryanair desk was snaking on half the departure hall - some 200 or 300 m long !
On the screens, my own flight of 1640 was cancelled around 1545 (a bit later, I was notified also by e-mail and by SMS on my mobile); the queue was moving really slowly, I thus went to a computer, as suggested by FR on the PA - there are a few in the arrival hall - and rebooked on the FR42 due to depart friday at 0800.
(I then went to the tourism office also in the arrival hall and booked a room at the "Premier Inn", 10 min away with the hotel shuttle bus - comfortable but not cheap : 90 euros).

At around 0630, I went to the RYR check-in desk in order to get an embarcation card (free, of course) and began the queue to the security control - 25 minutes long !
On the screen : FR 42 - 0800 - gate D64.
There was still snow on the ground, but not thick; the sun rose and shone.
FR42 was then delayed to 0850, with a change of gate to D66.
FR42 then again delayed to 1015 and another change of gate, to D75. That one is on the lower level, in a great square hall, noisy and full of people.
The crew for the CRL flight was there also : Captain, First Officer and cabin Crew. They departed to find the aircraft and board it, hoping to be able to depart soon.
Another delay to 1140 then to 1245; unpleasant surprise, at 1300 the flight vanished altogether from the screen !
We managed to corner a RYR dispatcher : she told us that an aircraft had first to depart in order to free a stand near the gate, then our aircraft would be towed up and we could board it ! But the refuelling had had to stop for two hours because of the ice on the ground ... And she managed to have our flight reset on the screens !
Flight delayed again until 1415 - and, at long last, our aircraft was towed to the gate and we boarded at 1430.
I want to give their names : Cpn Frédéric Van den Moer, F/O Christophe Holvoet, cabin chief Sean - as they were very kind and understanding our predicament and stress and tiredness.
The captain kept us well and honestly informed of the situation. He feared that the push-back would be late in coming, but fortunately, not that much - at 1515 we were on our way to take-off, thanks heaven ! And we had a pleasant flight to CRL - I have never seen so many drinks and food sold on a flight !
I don't think Ryanair is to blame for all those delays and cancellations; I think Dublin Airport Authority was completely inefficient in dealing with a few cm of snow, not yet cleared 24 hours after !

Ryanair's opinion :


06.02.09
Ryanair confirms DAA telling lies over Dublin Airport Closure

Ryanair, Dublin Airport’s largest airline, today (6 Feb) branded the DAA monopoly the “Keystone Cops” of airport management after their abject failure to keep Dublin Airport open on both Thursday and Friday this week.

The DAA should now answer the following questions –

Why did the DAA take 8 hours to clear the runway at Dublin on Thursday when any competent airport should have had the runway open in under 2 hours?

Why did the DAA fail to clear the ramps and aircraft parking areas of snow and ice during the night when they had over 8 hours last night to clear these areas yet the DAA did nothing?


Will the DAA now pay compensation to passengers and airlines for these cancellations and delays on Thursday and Friday, the vast majority of which were not due to adverse weather but due to the mismanagement and incompetence of the DAA monopoly?

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:

“The DAA are the Keystone Cops of airport management. They have repeatedly failed to keep Ireland’s gateway airport open. They mismanaged the clearing of the runway yesterday and failed again last night to clear the ramps and aircraft parking areas, which is causing multiple delays and cancellations today.

The DAA should stop telling lies when today’s cancellations and delays are not due to adverse weather but are in fact due to the mismanagement and incompetence of the DAA, either to clear the runway in 2 hours yesterday or to clear the ramps during the 8 hours available to them last night.”



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DUB departure hall, thursday at 3 pm :





Near pier D, friday circa 9 AM :




DAA hard at work to de-ice the apron :




At last ! Boarding EI-DPB to CRL ...

[amnesia]

My God, really sorry for your problems there... After this story I'm little afraid about my next week's circle. Thanks god it's south of Europe, but nothing is certain those days. One friend of mine was coming back to Dublin today. As I know the plane arrived at Wroc³aw airport at time, but don't know what about arriving in Dublin. It's really crazy that even 5cm of snow may freeze all activision in both, British and Irish Islands. And I'm not talking about present days, just in general of last years.

[ruinair]

A great tale and very well told. sadly we in Dublin have little or no experience in dealing with the snow that arrives every 5 or 10 years or so and so the whole country just grinds to a halt. i was in Tampere in Finland a few years ago with feet of snow everywhere and the airport was open and all flights were on time. we need to learn from the Finns!

[stevestrac]

Same over here at Stansted, only get snow every so often, local news reports were saying 18 years ago was the last time there was this much snow, that crippled Stansted last Monday. Sadly, I never made my Morocco trip due to work commitments, however, the rest of the party I would have been travelling with were stranded in Marseille, due to the snow at Stansted on the Monday. They finally managed to get on a flight on Wednesday morning.

I still think back to this picture I took back in Feb 2007 http://stretch282.fotopic.net/p39036312.html in Riga. The snow was deep but they managed to get the planes on the ground on-time in both directons. But then again, in Latvia they probably see this all the time during the winter and are geared up for it.

[Sean1982]

Hello,

I was the cabin chief on your flight from DUB to CRL last friday. I would like to thank you for your kind words, the whole crew had a long and tiring day that day and a lot of passengers were blaming us (the crew) for the delay. However if 1 passenger says thank you like you just did, that makes my day. I hope to see you soon on one of our flights.

Thanks a lot,
Sean