Post by Thames Gateway on Nov 16, 2014 11:05:14 GMT
Something that seems not to happen (or there is little visibility of) at Southend is connecting traffic at the airport, with SEN being used to catch a second onward flight. I have seen plenty of LHR tagged bags at the airport with people connecting to/from long-haul flights - I do feel rather sorry for these people as they probably did not realise how difficult it is to get to/from Southend with a heavy suitcase by public transport from Heathrow, and were probably just chasing the cheapest onward flight from a London airport.
We see airport and Flybe encouragement to connect at Dublin to onward destination, but what if I wanted to use SEN to connect through to another destination - is it possible to remain airside at SEN if I have an onward flight connect to? My impression from the design is no, I would have to go landside into the terminal and then through ticket check & security screening again to get into the Departure Lounge for the second leg. Has the airport thought about any future to ease connecting passengers onto their next flights, or are there any plans to?
For instance, if I wanted to go from Groningen to Rennes, there is a potentially useful connection on the evening flight, but this allows only 30 minutes for the connection at Southend, which I don't think many would want to risk (allowing for slight delays and going through UKBA and security again at Southend), although some might chance it.
Flybe does not have the possibility of doing Groningen- Rennes on its web-site, unless you book separate flights, and same for most of the SEN permutations. The only connecting function they have that I have seen is for Dublin to Rennes (and v.v.), and these all seem to have a connecting time of nearly 2 hours at Southend. Is there an industry standard (minimum time allowed for connection) that they are following for these flights, or is it down to the airline what they facilitate on their website by way of connecting flights' timings?
As for Air France, it does not even have London Southend listed as a destination in its own right, it only pops up when you search for LON airports. I have not been able to get Rennes or Caen to any other Flybe destination via SEN using their site, even though the timings are often better than via CDG or LHR, but maybe I am doing it wrong.
We see airport and Flybe encouragement to connect at Dublin to onward destination, but what if I wanted to use SEN to connect through to another destination - is it possible to remain airside at SEN if I have an onward flight connect to? My impression from the design is no, I would have to go landside into the terminal and then through ticket check & security screening again to get into the Departure Lounge for the second leg. Has the airport thought about any future to ease connecting passengers onto their next flights, or are there any plans to?
For instance, if I wanted to go from Groningen to Rennes, there is a potentially useful connection on the evening flight, but this allows only 30 minutes for the connection at Southend, which I don't think many would want to risk (allowing for slight delays and going through UKBA and security again at Southend), although some might chance it.
Flybe does not have the possibility of doing Groningen- Rennes on its web-site, unless you book separate flights, and same for most of the SEN permutations. The only connecting function they have that I have seen is for Dublin to Rennes (and v.v.), and these all seem to have a connecting time of nearly 2 hours at Southend. Is there an industry standard (minimum time allowed for connection) that they are following for these flights, or is it down to the airline what they facilitate on their website by way of connecting flights' timings?
As for Air France, it does not even have London Southend listed as a destination in its own right, it only pops up when you search for LON airports. I have not been able to get Rennes or Caen to any other Flybe destination via SEN using their site, even though the timings are often better than via CDG or LHR, but maybe I am doing it wrong.