Bristol: TUI Airways Route News & Base Updates

[alphagolf]

BRS website showing 'gate closed'.

According to FR24 it is due to land just 12 mins late

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I've had the regular email from BRS with latest news and offers, one of which is £50 off TUI holidays until 20 July. I wonder if bookings are down a bit for the next few weeks or whether this is a general TUI initiative across its network to boost mid June to mid July, the period (except in Scotland) before the school holidays kick in.

 

[kraktoa]

I've had the regular email from BRS with latest news and offers, one of which is £50 off TUI holidays until 20 July. I wonder if bookings are down a bit for the next few weeks or whether this is a general TUI initiative across its network to boost mid June to mid July, the period (except in Scotland) before the school holidays kick in.

255 on Punta Cana so yes there are seats available.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

255 on Punta Cana so yes there are seats available.

Thanks for that.

I note that Punta Cana and Cape Verde are operating right through the summer from BRS with the 787, unlike Cancun and Orlando Sanford that take a break after this weekend until later in July. This has been the practice at BRS for a long time, including when the routes were operated by TUI B767s. I believe the aircraft are used in Scotland instead where the school summer holidays take place earlier than in England and Wales.

In summer 2019 Orlando Sanford will operate throughout the summer as will the Tuesday Cancun flight. The Saturday Cancun will take the usual break though.

 

[kraktoa]

Sandford went out this morning i presume with passengers so will be bringing them back next week?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Sandford went out this morning i presume with passengers so will be bringing them back next week?

Sanford has disappeared from the TUI timetable for June now that the last outbound for the month has gone so I can't check that there will be an inbound next week. The TUI timetable requires you to click on 'reverse airports' to establish the inbounds and as there is now no outbound in the timetable that's a non-starter.

I can check Cancun though because the last outbound for June is tomorrow. Reversing that shows inbounds on both 23 and 30 June, presumably to take account of those on 14-day holidays who are flying out tomorrow.

I imagine that Orlando will be something similar.

 

[superking]

My neighbour that was told over booked pax load. Some how or another there was a few pax booked on the computer and was counted on the plane as checked in. After a lot of panic by boarding staffa good old fashioned head count was done and someone looked at the computer system booked and checked in found a few pax were booked on the system. So all sorted out and they flew ok, as a few said on here TUI don't over book. TUI don't over book but the computer system had other ideas.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Cancun

TOM 644 gone non-stop today, or at least no MAN visit so it is to be hoped it will go non-stop, but via the northerly route - north-west Ireland, Newfoundland (where it currently is flying) and presumably down the eastern side of the USA.

 

[superking]

Cancun

TOM 644 gone non-stop today, or at least no MAN visit so it is to be hoped it will go non-stop, but via the northerly route - north-west Ireland, Newfoundland (where it currently is flying) and presumably down the eastern side of the USA.

It does that route when doing SFB as well. Its been doing CUN via the southern route which is about a hour and a bit quicker than the northern route.

 

[Aviador]

TUI UK unveils new self service bag drop at Bristol Airport

TUI the UK’s largest holiday brand, has unveiled its new self-service bag drop area at Bristol Airport.

The two-step self-service bag drop has been installed ahead of the busy period for TUI’s UK customers flying this summer and is easy to use. Firstly customers scan their boarding card at the kiosk and then put their suitcase on the scale. A luggage tag is produced for the customer to tag their luggage with. The next step is to take the tagged suitcase to the bag-drop area where it goes straight into the airport’s luggage system.

The new addition to TUI’s check-in at Bristol Airport will support up to nine flights per day during the peak summer months.

Customers can use any of the six bag drop kiosks at Bristol Airport when checking in their luggage which goes straight into the system. The easy to use self-service bag drops are already in operation at London Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester airports and approximately 7500 customers’ suitcases have been checked-in to date.

TUI UK’s Director of Operations Dawn Wilson, who attended the unveiling, said:

“We are delighted customers can benefit from the easy to use self-service bag drop at Bristol Airport. Customer feedback has been excellent and this is a step in the right direction to be delivering an effortless airport experience for all our customers flying with TUI. It is really simple to use and with the success of the self-service bag drops that are currently open, we will be looking to roll out more kiosks at other UK bases in the future.”

Paul Davies, Operations Director at Bristol Airport said:

“We are already receiving positive feedback from passengers using the self-service bag drop desks. The self-service bag drop puts passengers in control of their own hold baggage check-in procedure, reducing processing and queuing time when compared to the standard bag-drop system.”

 

[Aviador]

“We are already receiving positive feedback from passengers using the self-service bag drop desks. The self-service bag drop puts passengers in control of their own hold baggage check-in procedure, reducing processing and queuing time when compared to the standard bag-drop system.”

Interesting choice of words, "in control of their own hold baggage". In all honesty I'm disappointed airports are going further and further down the automation road. It's slack and anything but the customer service you expect. When booking a package holiday you expect everything to be taken care of by somebody else. You give somebody (a representative of the airline) your booking details along with your passport, you receive back your passport along with your boarding card, job done. Through security and you're on holiday. This kind of automation is the opposite to what TUI portrait it it's advertisements. The company's latest straplines are "We cross the ‘T’s, dot the ‘I’s and put ‘U’ in the middle" and "bring to life the idea that Tui takes care of you" - except when your starting your holiday!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

easyJet have been doing it at BRS for a while and I believe that Ryanair might too. It's symptomatic of today's society. A lot of banks no longer have customer-staff interaction at counters. Instead the customer is expected to do everything him/herself at terminals. The daft thing is there is still a number of staff on the the bank floor to assist those who aren't familiar with the technology. They might as well be behind the counter providing proper assistance and service.

 

[Aviador]

easyJet have been doing it at BRS for a while and I believe that Ryanair might too. It's symptomatic of today's society. A lot of banks no longer have customer-staff interaction at counters. Instead the customer is expected to do everything him/herself at terminals. The daft thing is there is still a number of staff on the the bank floor to assist those who aren't familiar with the technology. They might as well be behind the counter providing proper assistance and service.

Yes I am familiar with that. I tell them I want to speak to somebody behind a counter and if I wanted to use the online service i'd do it at home. The first bank to bring back full high street customer service will have me queuing at the door to move my account. I might be the only one there though.

 

[Jerry]

It's all about costs. It means they can employ less people for the same job. Plus with the check in process at most airports they tend not to be airline staff a lot of the time but handling agents staff that check you in.

 

[Aviador]

It's all about costs. It means they can employ less people for the same job. Plus with the check in process at most airports they tend not to be airline staff a lot of the time but handling agents staff that check you in.

Yes I know that but like I said, when you pay for a "package" it should be what you get. Check-in staff are generally paid minimum wage anyway so it's penny pinching to an extreme especially when the automated terminal probably costs nearly as much to purchase and operate. Anyway, rant over (@Bigman tin hat at the ready)

 

[rollo]

They way things are going we will soon be expected to load the aircraft and fly it I'm suprised a certain Irish man hasn't already thought of it, as for banks customers are a bit of a inconvenience if they deem to actually go into a branch.

 

[Severn]

It's not to do with costs, it's to do with check-in desk space at BRS. easyJet is a prime example of that, with the airport being able to squeeze them into a much smaller space than would have been needed if conventional check-in desks had been used.
In Summer 2018, TUI has gone from 3 to 4 based aircraft plus an extra two dreamliner flights per week. Given the extra aircraft based is a B738 I make that roughly an extra 3,000 extra passengers a week, which is is around 450 a day extra to check-in. On top of that, most of TUIs flights depart in two waves, morning and afternoon, so this is a large amount of extra passengers to cope with! Therefore TUI needs more check-in desks, but there just isn't available space at BRS in the current check-in halls, so moving to self-check machines is the logical next step.

Regarding these DIY hold-bag check-in machines, I've used them on numerous occasions, and certainly I find these to be more the norm in other countries including Australia. Personally I've found them easy to use and I don't mind using them at all. If they are anything like the easyJet ones at BRS, then I'm sure many passengers will feel the same!

 

[Jerry]

At Edinburgh they have self check in and self bag tagging machines and if i remember correctly they were for multiple airlines. I was flying with Flybe and the machines were usable by Flybe, Easyjet and Ryanair customers so it would be possible for Bristol to do the same thus saving more space.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Some TUI customers and some complete flights can't use the self bag drop machines, so there will always be traditional check-in desks open for TUI. There is a cost saving element, but as Severn says a big part of it is down to check-in space, along with moving with the times.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I used the Ryanair self-drop machines last week at BRS and at DUB today - simple to use. I've used easyJet's at BRS and elsewhere in the past too with similar ease. If a technophobe like me can manage I would have thought that most people ought to be able to cope.