Should airports be fined for bad weather disruptions?

The government has said it wants to introduce new powers to fine airports for disruption. Should airports be fined for failure of service?

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has told the Sunday Times it was unacceptable that BAA won't be punished for failure to provide service.

BA cancelled 2,000 flights over a six-day period and Heathrow airport was almost totally closed due to snow and ice. For many air travellers, that meant not just ruined travel plans, but a ruined Christmas holiday.

Do you think airports should be punished for disruptions? Will economic sanctions make them better prepared in the future?

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Reply 1

CatatonicStupor

15

Totally the opposite will happen if you fine airports. The problem with Heathrow is that they don't have the staff & equipment to deal with the snow. Compare it to Helsinki, who have extra winter staff who deal specifically with the clearing of runways, and you can see we're looking at it the wrong way. We assume it's ''freak'' weather, so we fine the airports and get on with it. It's snowed in the UK for many years, and seems to be becoming more and more of a regular thing. So, perhaps the answer is to force the UK to actually work on preparing itself and its transport links to cope with such weather, rather than taking away money because a few thousand people were stranded.

Reply 2

James4d

13

Yes, lets blame the airports for bad weather, that's logical.

All this will mean is airports will be more hesitant to close down due to bad weather- and this could be dangerous.

But it's British politics, you'd find more common sense in a children's playground.

Reply 3

ish90an

10

I would say the airlines who failed to provide their passengers with accommodation and helped fan the panic by relying on rumours and hearsay (from being at Heathrow last week, both BA and BMI were looking at people's iPhones for any flight info) are more to blame.

Reply 4

rylit91

3

Yeah, I mean if they can't clear the clouds and stop weather systems, then should they really be allowed to run such a service?

Reply 5

Rational Paradox

9

Its hardly their fault if the weather becomes bad, this is just ridiculous!

Reply 6

ish90an

10

People saying BAA cant control the weather are missing the point, while BAA can't control the weather they can ensure passengers know about delays and cancellations as early as possible, ensure people don't have to spend days in the airport by providing alternative accommodation and maybe be better prepared to deal with winter conditions.

Reply 7

JamesyB

12

The airports haven't done anything, it's the airlines that cancel the flights! If all the flights are cancelled then the airports close....

Reply 8

im so academic

15

Original post by Have Your Say

The government has said it wants to introduce new powers to fine airports for disruption. Should airports be fined for failure of service?

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has told the Sunday Times it was unacceptable that BAA won't be punished for failure to provide service.

BA cancelled 2,000 flights over a six-day period and Heathrow airport was almost totally closed due to snow and ice. For many air travellers, that meant not just ruined travel plans, but a ruined Christmas holiday.

Do you think airports should be punished for disruptions? Will economic sanctions make them better prepared in the future?

More...

What is this bull****?

So what are airports meant to do? Open and make the flights go ahead which could be detrimental to the welfare of the passengers on board?

Get a grip on reality.

Reply 9

Keckers

15

What I don't understand is that ice on runways doesn't actually pose any threat to aircraft at all. When a plane is on the runway all the power is delivered through the engines on the wings, not the wheels. This leads me to suspect that the issue isn't with the actual dynamics of flying but with staffing the airport.

However the problem is should the government intervene further with private transport companies?

Reply 10

Ari Ben Canaan

16

Original post by James4d

Yes, lets blame the airports for bad weather, that's logical.

All this will mean is airports will be more hesitant to close down due to bad weather- and this could be dangerous.

But it's British politics, you'd find more common sense in a children's playground.

I think we should be blaming airports for being inadequately prepared for such a scenario.

However, such conditions are a rarity in the South of England, correct me if I'm wrong.

Reply 11

username33685

11

What is with this attitude of giving up at the first sign of trouble? The fact is other countries are able to cope in far worse weather conditions so there is definitely something that CAN be done so avoid disruption to the transport network, its just that in our country the people in charge are either too incompetent/lazy to take responsibility.

Reply 12

Chris11

How the Scandinavian countries manage to deal with the snow every year?

Reply 13

Marsha2112

15

Guys, they only have to cancel because they don't clear the runway of snow or de-ice the planes. When I flew from Luton on the 17th & 21st, nothing was cancelled, because if they clean the runway then only a few planes are delayed. Heathrow has such an overcrowded schedule that taking 20 minutes out cancels about that number of planes. So yeah, they should be fined, because "bad weather" is easily solved - they're just more concerned about profit.

Reply 14

sandys1000

12

I don't think it's fair to fine airports for this. Perhaps enforce additional precautions, but I dont think that fines will serve any purpose.

Reply 15

llpokermuffinll

3

Original post by Have Your Say

The government has said it wants to introduce new powers to fine airports for disruption. Should airports be fined for failure of service?

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has told the Sunday Times it was unacceptable that BAA won't be punished for failure to provide service.

BA cancelled 2,000 flights over a six-day period and Heathrow airport was almost totally closed due to snow and ice. For many air travellers, that meant not just ruined travel plans, but a ruined Christmas holiday.

Do you think airports should be punished for disruptions? Will economic sanctions make them better prepared in the future?

More...

What? What sort of question is that?

That's like asking:

Should people be fined if they are living in a country that lost a football match against another?

Reply 16

mkb230

2

Yes they bloody well should, we've had to re schedule our holiday in March because of their incompetence.

Should airports be fined for bad weather disruptions?

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