Using Leeds Bradford Airport Questions & Reviews

[lbaspotter]

@KARFA i feel for you. The is no point complaining on here as nowt will happen. We'll just go around in circles like the staff do in that terminal.

You'll either need to do it the old way by writing a letter and send it via the post addressed to the airports managerment. But far the easier option is to send them a nasty email, then you may get a reply.

Failing that post it on there public social media page, as they don't seem to like that either!

If they don't know, how are they meant to fix it!

Good luck

 

[lbaspotter]

It really is depressing, must be time of year!

Saying that I wish they would bloodly just knock the thing down and start again. I'd happily help and I'm sure other members on here would to!

 

[White Heather]

I have suggested to the airport director on several occasions (several different directors too) that in the long run, they would be better off knocking down the current terminal and building a new one. If they built the new one where the current two tiered car park is, then the lie of the land lends itself to a two level terminal like many larger airports, with arrivals on the upper level and departures below. Once the new terminal is built, the old one can be demolished and the apron extended. Imagine how many more stands would be available if all that area currently wasted by the current terminal was turned into parking area? It would, of course, cost a fortune, but if they did it right it would probably last for many years. There comes a time when trying to constantly resolve the problems of the current building becomes a pointless exercise. The proposals they have put forward will make a big difference admittedly (when they ever happen) but it remains a 2nd best option compared to a new build terminal.

 

[Aviador]

I haven't noted any difference in speed of scanning bags at LBA compared to other UK airports, and I don't see LBA does secondaries any more that others so I don't accept the equipment is somehow letting the side down - for reference MAN is the worst by a mile for doing secondaries btw. My experience at UK airports I would say is reasonably extensive.

The scanning machine at TPA seemed identical to LBA.....you walk in, turn sideways, hands over your head and out....but they had more of them.

Me trying to explain on here why security is different at different airports is probably like you trying to explain the football offside rule to me when I don't much care for football. You can have two identical makes of scanners, the software that runs on the machine can make all the difference.

In any which case, security procedures being different, staffing levels or poor layout of the terminal, LBA is first and foremost a business. New terminals and equipment to run in it will be very expensive. Unless things have changed since I last checked, LBA hire the majority of it's staff for the summer months on temporary contracts, many of them on zero hours contracts. At the end of the summer season, they're all gone. Very few staff are kept on permanent these days. So if you're wanting to get through the airport swiftly, one way or another you're going to have to pay for it.

 

[a300boy]

Slogan then is
cheap and cheerful but not so quick !

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Btw yet again the jetbridge on stand 8 is broken, has been for the last 2/3 weeks now.

And also the double doors opposite the information desk are now partially locked out so the inner on one side works and the outer on the other side works leading to passengers having to zig zag through the narrow space between the two sets of doors when entering the terminal. What must people think when they see this on arrival?

I think the doors are offset as detailed to cut down the cold air that blows over Special assistance wheel chair users waiting to be taken through security. We have certainly complainted in the past about how cold it is with both doors opening and when busy, basically remain open.
When you sit in a wheel chair for up to an hour with both doors opening its freezing cold, this desk is in the wrong place. I am sorry the doors set this way may look strange, but it is a great help to disabled people.
There is also a huge security risk for disabled persons in a slow security area. last time I went through LBA, it took over 25 minutes to process the first wheel chair of the two containing myself and my partner, our personal belongings were sent through immediately we got in to security and then just left on the belt all this time, open to any one to remove phones, wallets etc.
At virtually every other airport we have visited this year our belongings have been removed to a safe area until we were processed and then handed back to us. During our last LBA visit the guy trying to clear the belts was shouting out "Who do these trays belong too" as they were four and they blocked the whole run back to the x-ray machine. Nothing I could do, but he had drawn attention to the fact these belongings were unclaimed.
We have a disabled friend who had her hand bag removed form her tray at Luton, loosing her passport, cards and money, a great start to her holiday, cctv showed clearly who had taken, but nothing found on the person and no action taken by police.

 

[KARFA]

I think the doors are offset as detailed to cut down the cold air that blows over Special assistance wheel chair users waiting to be taken through security. We have certainly complainted in the past about how cold it is with both doors opening and when busy, basically remain open.
When you sit in a wheel chair for up to an hour with both doors opening its freezing cold, this desk is in the wrong place. I am sorry the doors set this way may look strange, but it is a great help to disabled people.

Thanks Tarn Spotter. I know why it is like this, the same was done last year. My point is a solution should be found because it looks utterly rubbish - of course there is another argument that the issue should have been obvious when choosing where to place the desk in the terminal as well.

The look it is very fitting for the airport's new slogan of "cheap and cheerful"

 

[paully]

doesnt suprise me, from what I`ve heard from many different sources the airport lounges are best avoided. Poor value for money. I wouldnt consider one of them. Glad you enjoyed the ride though

 

[Seasider]

My wife and I used the White Rose lounge outbound to Sydney, didn't have to pay as we were flying KLM Business and we both found it very enjoyable. We were sitting next to 2 lads who had paid to get in and they were very happy.
When I asked what was the difference between a Latte from the machine (self service) and one from the bar, the young lady said " but I will make it with love". Very nice comment to a nearly 70yr old!
Now that is what I call good customer service.

 

[White Heather]

I read today that they are now planning to open a 4th lounge, called Aero Club, at a cool £50 entry fee. I presume this one is going to be the best of the lot, and just for Mrs Offnt, it provides Prosecco (but not Champagne) at no cost. The article I saw found this decision odd given the life expectancy of this lounge is around 3 years provided the council approve the terminal extension. There again, it probably won't take that much to build it and it just might pay for itself in that 3 years.

 

[quik123]

I read today that they are now planning to open a 4th lounge, called Aero Club, at a cool £50 entry fee. I presume this one is going to be the best of the lot, and just for Mrs Offnt, it provides Prosecco (but not Champagne) at no cost. The article I saw found this decision odd given the life expectancy of this lounge is around 3 years provided the council approve the terminal extension. There again, it probably won't take that much to build it and it just might pay for itself in that 3 years.

Not a 4th lounge but a rebranding of the 1432 Runway Club.
All the lounges are about to be given a redecoration/makeover, and a change to the food offered in each.

 

[Len Fish]

I read today that they are now planning to open a 4th lounge, called Aero Club, at a cool £50 entry fee. I presume this one is going to be the best of the lot, and just for Mrs Offnt, it provides Prosecco (but not Champagne) at no cost. The article I saw found this decision odd given the life expectancy of this lounge is around 3 years provided the council approve the terminal extension. There again, it probably won't take that much to build it and it just might pay for itself in that 3 years.

Pay for itself? Not if Mrs. Offint keeps knocking back the free Prosecco!

 

[lbaspotter]

You won't have to buy that prosecco as you'll not need to travel to airport anymore
Seen as all flights will be stopped soon due to the Cronavirus killing everyone and ending the World as we know it.

 

[craigston_tom]

Having not flown, well on holiday, for a while, I jumped on the bandwagon and flew to Majorca last Wednesday for a week, returning today. The outbound flight was at 0930. Jet2 were very welcoming and well organised up in hall B. Passengers weren’t allowed to join the queuing system until their Spanish Travel QR code was seen, and their Negative test/ Double Vaxxed certificate. Randomly even though I had my boarding pass on the App, they were reprinting everyone’s boarding passes.

Security was actually a breeze. Got through in a matter of minutes, and I was pleasantly surprised not to be bellowed at by some power mad security officer! Couldn’t believe it though, Greggs was still shut!

Plenty of seats for everyone, even though there was a Faro, Palma, Amsterdam, Malta and Belfast all departing within an hour.

All I’ll mention of the outbound flight was that it was Full, Jet2 were fab. The inbound flight had 175 on it today, and we landed 10 minutes early.

We walked in from stand 12, and up the stairs to the arrivals corridor. It was a welcoming sight to see numerous Sanitizer stations at the bottom of the steps, however the steps themselves looked as if they hadn’t seen a mop for years. They are absolutely filthy. Totally different to Palma airport where you could smell the cleanliness, or least the cleaning products. I overheard a few people saying the place needs knocking down (well let’s hope s the new terminal starts soon).

Immigration itself was seamless, and considering we landed at 15:54 collected my checked in bag and was in the bus stop at 20 past 4, in time for the 16:30 A1 flyer service to Leeds. This didn’t show up, and the service at 17:00 didn’t either.
I asked a driver of another bus why the Leeds buses weren’t showing up, and he said complain in the terminal, we’re short of drivers. Really doesn’t leave a very good impression, nor is encouraging people to use public transport when 2 buses don’t show up. When a Not in Service bus turned up at 17:20, there must of been about 20 in the queue, others were seen heading off for taxis.

Overall though, still a nice friendly experience when using LBA, just the cleanliness and the bus not turning up, left a sour taste.

 

[Aviador]

I have just returned from a week in Tenerife. We flew out last Thursday on the Jet2 flight LS223. Departing from Leeds.

Here's my experience of LBA warts and all.

We arrived at the airport by taxi at around 12:50. Check-in was quick and we proceeded to security with no fuss after a quick pitstop at Greggs. We queued for security for about only about 15 minutes which we thought was very good and considerably better than what we had expected. We didn't use the Fastrack option not for want of trying but the LBA website wasn't functioning properly when we tried as it just kept throwing us off the booking system. In the end we were taken out of the normal queue to use the Fastrack security channel. I was then embarrassingly told to take off my hoody despite not wearing anything under my top. I did explain this to the security officer but he was somewhat abrupt with his response which was disappointing having done the job for many years. I didn't expect to be spoken to in the way. Other than that the security procedure was quick and we proceeded to the lounge. It was nice to see the In Motion and the Starbucks taking the former location of the lounge and we thought it made more sense locating the shopping here. The airport felt busy but not uncomfortably busy and it was noted that air-conditioning units had been installed in at least Greggs and Starbucks.
We boarded on-time through gate 9 down to the bottom of the ramp via the external walkway. The flight departed near enough on-time departing from runway 14. Jet2 were superb yet again.

My return, we departed Tenerife just slightly late but we made up time on our way home landing at LBA around 01:00 this morning. We disembarked via steps from probably stand 13 or 14 and walked into the terminal via the external walkway. We passed through immigration with no fuss and the bags were on the carrousel within an acceptable amount of time. The airport FIDS displayed belt three but the bags we brought to belt 2 in the end. Unknow staff advised us of the belt change as the belts started moving. We exited the arrivals hall. The signage for Arrow taxis now says "now on the terminal front" but we didn't notice the Arrow office until after we'd walked to the public pick-up and drop-off area. It wasn't immediately obvious to us but I don't know if we just mist a sign but in my defence it was around half one in the morning.

So what we learnt from our LBA experience was:

Despite the improved facilities and generally efficient business partner staff the airport terminal is woefully inadequate and only after experiencing new terminal facilities second to none at Tenerife does it make you realise how disappointing it is to have such poor facilities here at Leeds Bradford with no immediate sign of this changing. Although this has largely been taken out of LBA hands due to political infighting I can't see how Leeds as a city can continue to have such poor aviation facilities.

 

[Fat Phelan]

Hello everyone,

Loooong time lurker here, first time poster.

I had a question that the ground staff at LBA cant (or won't) answer. Maybe you knowledgeable people can.

I fly AMS-LBA on KL every month after connecting from the US and on arrival into LBA, we always park at stand 8 (or is it 9, the bigger one where the A310 used to park) and we never, ever use the jetbridge. Why is this? Same story with boarding. When I asked the ground staff why this was, they said "KLM dont like jetbridges". Hmmm, really?

In addition, not only do we not use the jetbridge that's sat right there (broken?), we are forced to wait for a bus to drive us to the arrivals door just round the corner. I could walk it in less than 2mins. There is an arrivals door right in front of gate 8/9! It takes longer to load the bus than it does to walk. What is the point of this? Again, asked the ground staff and they said it was "to do with KLM".

Spoke to the KL captain when I arrived last week and he was visibly annoyed this was the arrivals process for pax at LBA.

First world problems i know, but what's going on here? I'm genuinely interested if anyone knows why.

Thanks

 

[Aviador]

Welcome to Forums4airports @Fat Phelan it's good to have you with us and it's nice to see you posting for the first time.

As for your question, in all honesty I don't know the answer but I do know that in all the years I worked at LBA I know KLM have used the two air bridges at LBA in the past.

Unless the way the stand allocations have changed this is something which is decided by the airside operations, known as the Airside Safety Unit. If an aircraft is allocated a stand with an air bridge it needs somebody who is trained to operate it. An air bridge is basically a glorified cherry picker but a somewhat expensive one at that. Without somebody availiblle to operate an air bridge, disembarkation would need to be down steps.

There is one other caveat here though as some airports charge for the privilege of using them., Some airlines insist on using air bridges when available, while other airlines prefer to avoid them.

I know the two air bridges at Leeds are around 20 years old so there can be occasions when they need maintenance and for this reason they come with a significant operating cost to the airport.

 

[White Heather]

Hello everyone,

Loooong time lurker here, first time poster.

I had a question that the ground staff at LBA cant (or won't) answer. Maybe you knowledgeable people can.

I fly AMS-LBA on KL every month after connecting from the US and on arrival into LBA, we always park at stand 8 (or is it 9, the bigger one where the A310 used to park) and we never, ever use the jetbridge. Why is this? Same story with boarding. When I asked the ground staff why this was, they said "KLM dont like jetbridges". Hmmm, really?

In addition, not only do we not use the jetbridge that's sat right there (broken?), we are forced to wait for a bus to drive us to the arrivals door just round the corner. I could walk it in less than 2mins. There is an arrivals door right in front of gate 8/9! It takes longer to load the bus than it does to walk. What is the point of this? Again, asked the ground staff and they said it was "to do with KLM".

Spoke to the KL captain when I arrived last week and he was visibly annoyed this was the arrivals process for pax at LBA.

First world problems i know, but what's going on here? I'm genuinely interested if anyone knows why.

Thanks

The air-bridge isn't broken, and it's the airlines choice as to whether or not they use it. There is always a charge for doing so. KLM have clearly chosen not to bother. Ryanair are another that won't use the air bridges, yet Jet2 do.

As for being bussed round the corner instead of walking, this is a procedure required due to H&S. There are vehicles galore moving around at LBA, particularly in that area, and pax have to cross one of the airside roadways, with the risk of accident. This is made worse if the pax end up forming a queue to get into the terminal which then blocks the roadway. Neither the airport, nor airline, nor handling agent, Swissport, want to be sued by someone knocked down and injured (or worse) whilst walking from aircraft to terminal.

However, it's a bit rich the Captain being 'visibly annoyed' by this, since it's his employers decision not to use the air-bridge, and his employers contractors (Swissport) task to get pax from aircraft to terminal safely.

 

[KARFA]

Do you know for sure KLM have now changed and no longer pay to use the jetbridge? They did for years so this would be quite a change.

 

[White Heather]

Do you know for sure KLM have now changed and no longer pay to use the jetbridge? They did for years so this would be quite a change.

I certainly don't, and as you say, KLM used to use air-bridges. But the poster above suggests they are not now doing so based on their experiences recently. There are two to pick from and last I heard they were in working order. It may be of course that this is another symptom of Swissports problems, with no staff to operate it. That would explain Jet2 using them and KLM not.