Airport angst

They obviously wanted to separate ‘low-cost’ customers from the ‘posher’ end of the market.

Special Assistance provided is first class, but the admin side needs to take some lessons from Luton Airport – they need a dedicated area where we can check in and wait.

You have to wait, sometimes up to an hour, to go through security. There do not appear to be any toilets in the check-in area and my husband, who has Parkinsons and bladder problems, has to walk to the main building. Are there any plans
to do something about this?

Anne COLEMAN, Lot-et-Garonne

Connexion contacted the airport and received the following reply:

"First and foremost, we wish to thank you for your positive remarks on the courtesy of our service dedicated to assisting travellers with special needs, and we will pass on your comments.

As regards your experience going from check-in to the boarding area, we sincerely apologise for the impression you received, and wish to provide some clarifications.

As you rightly point out, the Billi terminal offers simplified services, allowing our travellers to benefit from a wider range of destinations. This space includes a specific welcome area for disabled passengers and toilets in the boarding area, which comply with regulations.

Disabled passengers are usually not required to queue in order to proceed through the security screening checkpoints. Nevertheless record passenger numbers this summer (+10%) resulted in greater density of passengers at departure times, which were also closer together on some days, due to air traffic requirements. In this event, our procedure is designed to exceptionally allow passengers with an imminent departure to use the disabled passengers’ lane. This is why you and your husband were faced with this situation, which happens rarely, and for which we do apologise.

Your comments are important to us, and we assure you that we will pay even greater attention to reducing waiting times for disabled passengers before going through security."