Perpignan and Carcassonne airports.
Posted: Mon 15 Dec 2014 16:04
Perpignan and Carcassonne airports. I am meeting this week with Dimitri, Development Manager at these two airports. He would be very interested to know what your expectations are for these local airports, so that they can improve service, routes, facilities etc. Any comments to pass on?
Any opinion goes, no matter how small, as the more we stress that there are many, many people involved, the more likely the airport is to take some aspects of our views into consideration.
The following is from the P-O Life Face Book page, but I have moved it here as Dimitri looks in on the forum.
Bryan Houde
Reliable, quick and inexpensive transport from the center of town to the airport. A city bus that stops all over town is insufficient. An inexpensive shuttle bus (perhaps like the little ones used to go to the train station and back) dedicated to serving the airport would be perfect. It could stop at the train station and a couple of bus stops in the center then head directly out to the Perpi airport. Carcassonne has a direct bus service that is fairly quick, however they need to accept other forms of payment than just cash (and be able to give change) as many visitors, especially those from non-euro-zone countries don't have euros on them when they arrive and those that do don't usually have small bills.
Marian Thornley would love to see more flights from Perpignan to the UK, especially London airports, also the shuttle bus as above would be good, thanks Kate!
Patricia Beheyt New destinations, urgently ! Germany for ex., Cologne for ex. And indeed shuttle busses that may even go further than Perpi center but do the coastline...
Ryanair etc could sponsor as they are tourist operators.
Every big city has its shuttle service with only a few stops and only 40 minutes drive at the maximum. People would easily pay 10-15€ instead of a taxi that costs a fortune from Rivesaltes to Argelès for ex. Fill up a shuttle bus with 20 people and it's a win-win situation...
Useful argument to get subsidies: job and business creation
Martin Bailey We've found Carcassonne airport to be brilliant. More flights to East Midlands, Manchester and Sheffield please.
Anne Stewart The Stansted flight currently departs too early in the morning to make us want to use it. Better time going from Perpignan though.
Tom Dickson Airport organised car-sharing taxis... This taxi will be going to Toulouse Gare Matabiau in 30 mins for €125. How many sharers do we have? Can we fill it?
Sue Faulkner Anne we took a friend to Perpignan this morning to catch the Stansted flight at 12 25. That is not early. If I could get a flight to Bristol from Perpignan, Beziers, Girona or Carcassonne I wouldn't care what time of the day or night it left.
Tom Dickson Is EJ Toulouse - Bristol not all year-round? I know it's not every day, and Tls is an hour beyond Carcassonne, but I'm surprised to hear the West Country is such a problem.
Sue Faulkner We can do Toulouse/Bristol or Barcelona/Bristol. 2 to 2 1/2 hours and 1 1/2 that side. Not much fun.
Kalba Meadows Agree with Anne about the timing of the Stansted-Perpignan flight - 06.30 is really not viable unless you overnight at the airport.
Isobel Campbell Here in Scotland we have no direct flights to Perpignan summer or winter. Any time any day would be perfect.
Evelyn Mc Loughlin Stansted/Perpignan flight way too early. We commute from Shannon airport in Ireland and now must overnight in London as flight from Shannon doesn't arrive in Stansted until 8am. Ryanair would fill more seats on Stansted/Perpignan if flight left few hours later.
Patrick Knoo RTM-PGN or AMS-PGN but cheaper than RTM/AMS-GRO.
Evelyn Mc Loughlin Direct flight Shannon/Perpignan would be nice
Emma Webber Love the early morning flights from stansted as we get to have a full day in the PO. Would like more flights to and from London all year to Perpignan.
Jane Roberts Let Ryan air into Perpignan. We fly Southampton to Perpignan but it is only Flybe and they are expensive, so we usually go Bournemouth to Carcassonne and drive down, have also gone Bournemouth to Toulouse, and Limouge !!! These are all Ryan air routes. . . .and year round would be great. . . . . thanks for asking. Hope you get somewhere with the comments and suggestions.
Kate Nuth Would love flights to Gatwick London which would enable access to the south as during the winter months the only possibility is Easyjet Toulouse - Gatwick or Carcassonne - Bournemouth in summer with Ryan Air
Michelewis Tristram Hello
Easy answer to the airport problem, but difficult to implement;
Scrap Perpignan, Carcassonne and Beziers airports and build a decent sized airport near Narbonne. Ideally situated between Montpellier Toulouse and Gerone it would better serve the three departments 66 11 and 34.
Start the ball rolling.
Sue Faulkner If Hop went to CDG instead of Orly it could well be helpful as Flybe fly to Exeter from CDG.
Julie Pearce Cardiff Airport is actively looking for new routes. Cardiff / Perp would be great ! Would suit a lot of rugby fans for both for USAP / Catalan Dragons and Wales v France games and a growing number of Catalonians on both sides of the border to travel in and out of Wales /Catalonia.
Cardiff is such a fantastic city now with so much on offer----as does the 66 region and beyond.
Patricia Beheyt I think what should be communicated is that Perpignan should try to extend and become as important as Girona not only attracting 'low cost' visitors. Perpignan has the advantage to be a French airport, next to Spain but still in France... I think that should be an asset and I don't want to offend the Spanish but France still doesn't have that 'etquette' of mass tourism. Plus, expanding may be useful to counterbalance the camping site phenomenon the Côte Vermeille has lived on for so many years but now is the victim of it...
Caroline Papworth Would love some flights from north of England to Perpignan. Leeds/Bradford or Manchester would be fantastic! It would also be useful for rugby fans as Leeds/Bradford is centre of Yorkshire rugby belt. We fly to Girona in summer as do many others who reside at least part-time in P-O but are having to fly to Barcelona in winter. Lots of cheap airport long-stay parking at Perpignan would also be good.
Peter Spencer (regular ) flights to the south of UK - Bournemouth, Gatwick.... improved pick up point(s), better parking, can't comment on terminal until they have finished the work but if you can get a heads up as to what they are doing and let us all know that would be good. oh and only partially joking...an exit on and off the motorway...whoever set up the existing fiasco needs their bumps felt...they were obviously incapable of planning too far ahead when the road went in ('78 I think)...p.s.London City might also be an option
Céline Peniston-Bird Love the perp-stanstead route. Super in the summer but maybe slightly more sociable hours in the winter, even if it's still only twice a week it's workable but it's blinking early to fly with kids.
But I think we are spoilt for choice here so no complaints here
Ann Hirst perpignan to the north of England please.
Sue Faulkner I have no complaints with travelling to Beziers or Girona both of which can be driven in around 1 hr 15 mins but both routes stopped flying on 5th November. I have never flown from Carcassonne but assume it is about the same distance. All perfectly acceptable no matter what time just would like a flight in winter from one or other.
Cheryl Stone Flights to Northern airports would be good, any time!
Teresa Wennberg Perpignan + Carcasonne open to Ryanair or Norwegian. More flights to Paris. Merry Xmas to you!
Sue Charnley Perp to East Mids and Manchester would be useful
Susan Wager Birmingham please!
Sue Faulkner Tough job to please us all
Ian Terrell Stabalise regular year round daily Perpignan to Stansted.
Leigh Foster Gatwick please, year round!
Ian Terrell Match cafe and shop opening hours to flights please.
Emma Bridgen Flights to the west Country would be great and the north please. Happy Christmas
Clare Gallaway North of England - no flights from PPGN in winter except to Stansted. Last time the trip Manchester took me 10 hours via STND. I'm not going to UK for xmas and my friends and family can't easily get to visit for the next few months.
Andrew Prosser stability for the future , people from uk are far less likely to buy in the region if there are no regular flights throughout the year...
Clare Gallaway Ryanair PPGN to MCR or BHM in winter. Could the airport managers be reminded that London does not = the UK and that many people have homes down here and bring visitors - but are bringing them less and less as there are no direct flights
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Andrew Prosser for us doing holiday lets ... saturday to saturday flights form uk would massively improve the amount of brits coming over ,,, and also increase the bookings at the campsites as most of the big ones are saturday to saturday for keycamps or eurocamps
Sue Faulkner Perpignan to Birmingham would suit me too throughout the whole year as it would enable me to visit my daughter in Kidderminster. I agree with Clare and Andrew totally the UK does not begin and end with the London area. Having regular flights to all parts of the UK could increase tourism immensely as well as being used by business people.
Clare Gallaway Someone should spell these things out very clearly to the airport managers. Most of my UK based neighbours are not from SE..... And the MCR - GRN flight now off till March alas was always full of mates to and fro from le 66 to UK. Those people eat, shop, and hire cars in Spain, and so le 66 is losing all that business. Blinkered they are here......
Geraldine Watson I would love clear/integrated information about public transport to and from the airport.
Clare Gallaway The previous airport manager gave a statement (it was in Lindep) saying PPGN was not interested in Britanniques because they had deserted in favour of the Aude. !!!!! Daft or what.
Valerie McLellan Leeds or Newcastle to Perps all year please. those of us from the North East struggle and we are the heartland of RugbyAllez les Dragons
Teresa Mc Caffrey say hello to Dimitri from me...he's one of my past pupils...and as usual would love a flight from Perpignan to Belfast (!) ....but think that will never happen!!
Clare Gallaway Yes. Rugby should be mentioned forcefully. BMi Baby used to fly them. What happens now?
Clare Gallaway I d just like to say that local French friends also think the airport is nul.........
Kate Hareng Please keep the comments coming. I will copy and paste them all into a doc and leave it with him to chew over. I will be going back to Leeds next week, and my only flying option is from Barcelona with Jet 2 at a cost of over 400 euros each return. Northern England is so badly served in winter from this region, and yet I'd have thought demand would be reasonably high.
Geraldine Watson Reading all the rugby loving comments, how about the clubs organising rugby special charter flights, departing from suitable local UK airports?
Sue Faulkner I am not sure how that would benefit the local expats and their friends and family.
Geraldine Watson Sue Faulkner, no not directly, but the more the airport is used, the more likely it is to stay open which benefits us all. Also when rugby visitors see what a great area it is, they will want to come back.
Sue Faulkner Kate you should have done Carcassonne to Dublin then Dublin to Leeds. Hassle I know but a lot cheaper.
George Hazell If he acts on everyones idea,s Perpignan would have more flights than Gatwick lol could you ask him for a flight to Scotland, anywhere in Scotland not that fussy lol
Clare Gallaway There's no danger of the airport closing I have always understood
Clare Gallaway PM if you want to know why because I'm not sure about the truth of it
Sue Faulkner Gerona do Glasgow but that means money leaving France's pocket
George Hazell Only in winter Sue which wont bother me after January but the flight time when picking folk up is pants, but would rather have that than nothing.
Patrick Knoo Having incoming flights at GRO connect to trains to PGN would also be nice. Now the train always leaves just when I land, and the next one is 3 hours later.
Clare Gallaway Quite true Patrick Knoo I found that ....or the last train to Ppgnn in the evening leaves before you can get there from the flight
Clare Gallaway These miseries have left me with no choice but to spend three hours on a Spanish lunch or alternatively being met by friend and having a jaunt down there in the way back.......all the money and spends pouring into Spain and not into France
Sue Charnley http://www.lindependant.fr/.../la-frequentation-de-l...
La fréquentation de l'aéroport de Gérone s'effondre au niveau de l'avant-Ryanair
Surely the time is right for Perpignan to expand, with the downturn at Girona reported here
Clare Gallaway C'est vrai Gérard Raynal Auteur mais toujours il y a des voyageurs .....comme moi......
Angie Pedlar South of England to Perpignan Please. Stansted to Perpignan is not bad but then those from the south have M3 and M25 delights to cope with. Just a couple of flights a week from Bournemouth maybe?
Erika Rogers Flights to and from Gatwick would be great please - Stanstead is such a pain to get to from SE England
Jan Letchford Any flight to the North east of England would be lovely can't fly to Newcastle or Teeside at all from round here.
Elaine Black As said earlier please have a scottish service to Perpignan!
Sue Holmes Something going to the Midlands would be good absolutely nothing in the winter at Girona or Perpignan.Would use France but options limited. Had last flight into Manchester in November and then had to get Bristol to Toulouse, bus to station change at Narbonne and train to Argeles a real mare !, surely enough expats to fill a flight and return once a week during the winter
Helen Ging Winter service Dublin - Perpignan please!
Eileen Morter How about a service to the South of UK.. eg... Bournemouth,Bristol, Southampton?
Sue Faulkner There is Carcassonne to Dublin in the winter. Carcassonne is only 1 hr 30mins from Argeles.
Rosie Cowper-Beale Birmingham airport has a fantastic free tram shuttle to the railway station where you can go north, south, east or west. It was a dream when the Perps-Brum route was open. Manchester would be good too.... the south-east is relatively well-served but most midlanders, northerners and Scots have to fly to Spain. Don't the French want to open their doors to a whole new market?
Dulcie Williams manchester to perpignan please
Anne Stewart We flew Beziers to Luton in November which was a good alternative to Perpignan
Pearson Brown I flew to Stansted this morning and the plane was far from full. Maybe we should concentrate on holding on to what we have got?
Dulcie Williams its a long drive to stanstead for us, and expensive to park. we simply wouldn't do it
Pearson Brown in relation to a blind old bloke like me, there is no room to put on my belt coat together with collecting my wallet, phone, tablet etc. i found it quite upsetting with other passengers bashing into me and, in some cases touching my stuff. You full-sighted people can probably cope fine but I need space or help.
Kalba Meadows I think, Pearson Brown, that holding on to what we've got is it in a nutshell ... Living 50% of the time in the Ariège if I do fly (which is rare) I usually fly from Toulouse, which is well served but its passengers are largely business passengers, in the winter at least; most people (British and French) are flying on day returns, for meetings. We simply don't have that level of passenger trade here. I know we'd all like flights that are convenient for us, but in the real world of business and profit it's just not going to happen - I've flown on winter flights from Carcassonne and they've been half empty. I'm flying to Stansted from Perps in January and I'm willing to bet it'll be no different. I think it's great that the airport has asked for feedback but honestly, I think we need to stay in the real world here!
Flora Lawrence Watson North of England...... Newcastle or Leeds to perpignan would be a great decision for all..... Customer and airport.
Clare Gallaway I ve ditched a flight to Stansted because I can't face the travelling and the expense once you get there. If there was just ONE destination north of London from Ppgnn it would help us all.
Clare Gallaway Rosie Cowper-Beale - agree with your point. Hang on to what we've got? Sorry - I don't understand the sentiment or the reasoning behind that statement. At all. It doesn't make sense. A lot of us are saying that Stansted is not very useful for us and we'd like a flight to somewhere else in UK, because in UK travel (and airport parking) is ridiculously expensive and onerous. I honestly don't think the airport management have a clue about the geography or situation of UK. If the Stansted flight is half empty, it could be because people don't go at all (me) or drive or maybe train even. Doesn't mean a flight to somewhere north would be empty.
Clare Gallaway I have lots of friends and family who don't have enough time off work to come for a week or spend the whole day at each end getting to and from an airport - so they don't come, they used to when they could just take a weekend.
Rose Coulter Will Dimitri be getting in touch with Michael O'Leary or the other airlines?
Clare Gallaway The major problem over the last several years has been ppgnns refusal to negotiate with said people, but having said that, the GRN lot have been led a right dance on this topic, sabre-rattling, we will withdraw all our flights, will they/won't they, etc etc ......
Clare Gallaway M o'L held out for huge governmental contributions from the regional govt I gather ....France wouldn't have any of it.....
Clare Gallaway OK, we have a regional airport, it operates at half cock most of the time. If you fly in the morning they never have any croissants left at the caf. The service there is utterly slow and reluctant. The resto is pathetic. There aren't enough seats in the departure lounge, the indoor toilets have been out of action all the summer. A small cosy airport is lovely .....apart from the lack of flights and the miserable eating facilities.
Clare Gallaway I don't imagine it would be all that difficult to think a little more about the comfort of travellers.
Clare Gallaway Well..... hanging on ??
Clare Gallaway CCSNNE par contre has pleasant eating facilities but the last time I was there there was almost nowhere to sit, the shop was outside, .....hardly a good place to wait for delayed flights.
Clare Gallaway Unfortunately the new TGV side of PPGN station has gone the same way - no brasserie, no toilets, no comfortable seats - do these transport managers EVER travel themselves, preferably alone and with a suitcase, to discover what passengers actually need??
Clare Gallaway The getting to and fro has got so dire that I now get friends to drive me either to or fro and wait around ...
George Hazell I wouldn't mind no croissants, no seating, just need a loo as long as they had flights to where most people want them
Nick Dawson The 3 most important things for airports are Flights, Flights and Flights, but God help them with Michael O'Leary to negotiate with.
Clare Gallaway Well why bother to advertise croissants when you are always told they've run out.....it's this kind of half cock that infuriates me.....
Céline Peniston-Bird Maybe the answer is: perp does a year round (maybe in winter, a twice a week, cut back service) to stanstead and carcassonne do the same to a northern airport (or vise versa!). Preferably at a sensible time.
Clare Gallaway Yes Nick Dawson I know I know I said that about M O'L in an earlier post.
Clare Gallaway Well that roughly is what happens with CCSn and Ppgnn at mo and they are both RYR so I daresay that's a considered strategy on his part
George Hazell I prefer GRN to CCSN but PPGN would be better.
Clare Gallaway So do I George Hazell I think CCSn is more prone to fog, delays, etc
Clare Gallaway Plus GRN is an airport with food, shops, etc.........and hotels nearby
Polly Cannie It's probably my fault and I missed loads of notices.....but there was a city bus strike in Perpignan today and we were stranded at the Gare Routiere with no taxis either! could Dimitri (a) post a notice on the airport website if there's a bus strike so we know to make alternative arrangements and (b) bring pressure to bear on the bus company to re-route the No7 airport "shuttle" so it goes via the Gare TGV/Gare Routiere to save passengers having to change buses at FNAC/La Catalogne?
Clare Gallaway Agree Sue Faulkner up to a point but why have surly staff and half the stuff....and it depends on flight time, how long you are waiting there and if you have a longish trip in.
Clare Gallaway I don't agree about luxury, at travel terminals there should be food and drink facilities, otherwise we are going backwards, and if we have them they might as well be decent as awful.......
Clare Gallaway I can't believe that the toilets were being rebuilt at the absolute peak time where scores of travellers had to queue outside - ridiculous
Nick Dawson ... in the context of no planes other than to Stansted, everything else pales into insignificance. Planes first, polish the service second once a revenue stream has been established. Not that that can be relied on with O'Leary for longer than 5 minutes even if he has signed a 5 year contract!
Clare Gallaway Well there are cafe staff ...they just need to serve more quickly and pleasantly.... They are dire
Nick Dawson Has anyone spoken to EasyJet ?
Lyn Hamilton Yes more comfortable facilities would be appreciated. Ideal would be flights to other airports.
George Hazell Get better service from the vending machines Clare lol
Clare Gallaway The customs people and gendarmes with dogs etc are much more charming than the cafe women......
George Hazell Right Kate Hareng what you need to tell him is we want Terminal 5 but without the delays
Clare Gallaway You're right George but how awful, that is the way everything s going
Marie Jenkins Flights from Perpignan to the North of England, Liverpool or Manchester would be brilliant and would boost tourism for Perpignan, with the large amount of fans that fly out here to watch their teams play against Catalan Dragons. At the moment fans have to fly into Spain (Gerona) and consequently stay there, traveling by coach on match day to see the game. Lots of lost renenue, which could be spent in Perpignan.
Of course it would be beneficial to northerners that reside here too! Of course!
Clare Gallaway The demise of the tabac was sad
Nick Dawson BmiBaby used to fly the rugby season too do just that, and they were great.
Marie Jenkins Wish they still did it Nick
Nick Dawson Me too.
Clare Gallaway Exactly as Marie Marie Jenkins says ......I have said that over and over again, I have had two letters in this topic published in LIndep ....but interestingly the one sentence where I wrote that all this business is going to Spain was cut out by the Editor!!!!!!! So, didn't they want the Courrier de Lecteurs to reveal this startling fact to French readers, or what????
Lyn Hamilton And flight to Edinburgh! Yes dream on....
Marie Jenkins They just don't seem to grasp the fact they should capitalise on such opportunities!
Clare Clare Gallaway.
Clare Gallaway No...blinkered...last twice I travelled via GRN it involved eating out and hotel, multiply that by number of passengers, plenty of revenue not getting to France
Marie Jenkins It doesn't make sense!
Sue Holmes I said just that to Easyjet staff at Toulouse please fly out of Perpignan
Anna Walmsley Flights to Manchester and Leeds Bradford would be great. Having to fly from Bcn this Xmas as no flights whatsoever from elsewhere
Phil Harris What an amazing response. Seems to boil down to (i) the Ryanair Stansted/Perpignan is fine for those who can get to Stansted reasonably easily, but (ii) we really need another all-year-round route to Perpignan from a central (Birmingham? East Midlands?) or northern (Leeds Bradford? Manchester?) airport for those - including rugby supporters in the north of England - for whom Stansted is really difficult to get to. Is that too much to ask of Ryanair? Could negotiations explore this?
Rose Coulter I would still question whether Dimitri, who will note or will listen to our concerns, will be able to take on the powers that Flybe, Ryanair, Easyjet, BA etc have. They will not operate unless they can guarantee a certain number of seats being sold regularly to cover their costs. We must also consider that Ryanair does deals with airports and tries to get out of paying the local wages, taxes, charges etc. he should to local airport staff. As to the staff in the cafe, I have spoken to the lady in charge many times in French and she has always had a chat to me. Can't say the same about a local immobilier who said that all the English in our village want to live in walking distance of a bar.
Eliane Durant-alford Great to have the opportunity for feedback ! As previously said, keeping flights going to Perpignan in the winter would be brilliant, even better with more civilised flying time/days . Advertising locally may help to inform pleople locally that those flights exist.
Thanks Kate !
Andrew Prosser Stansted is a pain to get to , always traffic jams on the m25 and so you have to allow so much extra time , if you travel by car and public transport costs far more than the flights .... Thats if you can get an earlier enough train to get the early flight .... Luton is far better . Much easier to get to ,,, from time of landing to exiting the airport ,, luton wins hands down everytime , ... We are perpignan area ,, but we try to use the girona luton flight when its available ,,, because door to door time to my family address in north london is far less ... I was flying back and forth every 2/3 weeks for 3 yrs and for bussiness user door to door time is very important ,,, the passport queues at stansted are ridiculous , then the fight to get into london ,,,,
Luton - perpignan would be much better ,,, much easier by car and by train
Anne Stewart Although Luton can be busy in summer we have stopped flying to Stansted as it is so much easier to use Luton. Much better train and motorway connections.
Sue Faulkner No London airport is easy if you dont live in that area. We need to get to Devon.
Sue Holmes Our friends from Tavistock used Bristol Girona, but in the winter into Toulouse isnt funny still a hike to get to Argeles
Clare Gallaway And the N of E. French people have no idea why Stansted is awful for us because they don't know about the cost and inconvenience of travelling in UK. I would happily pay twice as much for a direct flight as it would still be cheaper than Stansted plus travel.
Clare Gallaway Can only go from our own experiences.....
Margaret Stewart Fisher If you're talking to the airport development manager, he probably has more influence over the airports than the routes. I'd like to see easier access to both airports - Carcassonne is not easy to find, nor to leave!!! & we simply don't understand why, given the 68 million recently spent, there is neither an autoroute nor a direct rocade exit for Perps. Facilities at Perps are grim! - why no café, not even minimal duty-free & not enough seats? Perhaps the building at Perps may be addressing these? It will be interesting to see your report.
Kalba Meadows Am I right that Perps and Carcassonne airports are now part of the same company? If so then maybe they need to work together in planning flights, especially in the winter. For example: flights to somewhere in the UK Midlands/north from one, and to Stansted from the other - with dedicated shuttle services from the other airport to link specifically with that flight. What we can't expect is more flights overall - economically that just won't happen - so it's about a different way of thinking.
Kalba Meadows PS For anyone who doesn't know, you can buy Stansted Express tickets online for only 8 pounds if you buy a month in advance.
Jan Letchford DEcent signage for directions to Carcassonne airport would be good with the airport name the same on all signs!! The name changes at some points very confusing for folk. I followed the little plane symbol but was not sure I was heading the right way as the name went from Carcassonne to something beginning with M I think.
Margaret Stewart Fisher Absolutely agree Jan Letchford - my plane was diverted from Perps & my husband was VERY fed up by the time he found it; then we couldn't find the way back to the autoroute either!
Sue Faulkner UK Midlands/North from one Stansted from the other and those from the South and South West from where?
Clare Gallaway Duty free at PPN. Yes it was sad to lose the little shop, I was even more sad than most because it disappeared taking with it 200 euros of my cards which they had offered to sell.
Clare Gallaway Poor Kate and poor Dimitri........ easier to mark a thesis than wade through this lot! Summary: More info, more and better signage, services more appealing, destinations reconsidered for passengers across UK, and .....if poss......More flights ESP in winter.
Nick Dawson Without the flights none of the soft and fluffy stuff will happen as it all costs money, which comes from passengers who get on flights. That is why the shops and cafés are struggling and closing. It's all about flights and passenger numbers whether or not that's Dmitri's province.
Clare Gallaway Service with a smile and decent toilets is a sine qua non
Clare Gallaway It's a vicious circle of course, either spiralling downwards or spiralling upwards
Clare Gallaway Not quite all about money.... there are other variables, the airport resto in Ppgnn has always been rubbish, and / or shut, so I only ate there once, par contre CCSn has a good resto, I believe people came there from locality, and I have always eaten there with the person who drove me there........
Rachel Treloar Arriving in Perpignan I would get excited if there were great pictures of the region making me proud to live here and/or want to visit those places especially if I was a tourist and get me excited about the fact that I had chosen to come on holiday to dept 66. A tourist office (even a mini one) or some area (interactive in someway) to promote places to do, stay, buses, trains and answer any questions in at least two languages. Signs for the bus service, hire car etc and for the baggage claim area to be closed off to the public. I also think that any shop in their selling food or drinks (cafe/resto or bar or whatever you call it) should be promoting and selling the produce produced by dept 66 first and foremost. I also would like to see an area where you can pull up and collect or drop someone off without having to go into the car park. Oh and the toilets to be nicer and on a level where you don't have to lug your suitcase down and back up again and for the toilets to be big enough that you can fit your suitcase in the cubicle with you when you go to the loo!
Jan Letchford Kate Hareng I bet you wish you'd never asked!!! Your email must be absolutely filled up with all this and your printer will need more ink if you print this all off!
Patrick Knoo Rachel Treloar A good example of this kind of decoration is Malta Intl. Airport (replicas of historical/heritage items) and Bordeaux-Merignac Airport (decoration referring to wine, and even a small decorative vineyard).
Rachel Treloar I think you will find that Sud de France would probably provide all the photo's/posters etc or one of the magazines like Terre doc or Terre catalan maybe. The toilets will cost money I agree! Selling wines etc of the region in the cafe is what a cafe does it just needs to have strick guidlines as part of its contract so that doesn't cost the aiport anything just the consumer. A quick parking area right next to the airport arrival depart - I would pay 50 centimes just to be able to do that.
Nick Dawson ... and the deal isn't with the consumer, it's with the airline, so whatever they do to make the airport better won't directly attract more flights and, sadly, whether or not the toilets are clean or on the ground floor will not affect whether we turn up for a flight that suits us.
Susan Wager What we need to be doing is extolling the wonders of Birmingham, Manchester etc to all our French friends and neighbours!
Jonathan Hesford I think the key to the whole problem is developing a unified tourism strategy for the region. That means the campsites, hotelliers, transport companies, tour operators, ski stations and tourism department of Conseil General and Sud de France all coming up with a plan to make the region more attractive to visitors year round and making sure that once they decide to come here, they can get here easily and comfortably.
Things Perpignan airport could do to help that are a navette to the rail station for every flight. Buses to the major coastal resorts in the summer and to the ski-stations in the winter. However these need to be well advertised to holiday-makers well before they plan their trips.
Tourist information should be improved covering private and public sectors. The shopping and restaurantation need t be improved too. The airport cannot make any money out of its users if they would rather bring a sandwich and a flask of coffee than use the facilities. They should both have an emphasis on Catalan and Roussillon food and drink. The fact that the café only sells wine from the Cotes du RHONE is ridiculous, for example.
Seating is pretty uncomfortable, especially after security. Nobody would want to spend more than the minimum amount of time there.
In many ways it's a great little airport that is very efficient in terms of flow. Very fast security and baggage handling, good short-term parking. well signposted, close to the city. But in other respects its a poor welcome to the region.
Rose Coulter Also need to find enough people (156) to fill a regular flight to the North of England.
Sue Faulkner I must admit I have to agree with what Rachel says about promoting the area and someone there to do it. I very rarely use a restaurant in any airport, maybe Costas or the like for a coffee. Beziers has no restaurant. Sufficient seating is good in any airport as are clean, accessible toilets. Flights should be the main priority of any airport in my opinion. With everything else to follow.
Rachel Treloar Aircon in the waiting area after you get shunted through security. Nice seats too
Nick Dawson Sue and Rose, I think you have it. It's all about pound notes. Get that right and everything else works out.
Rachel Treloar Look at Girona - I always buy coffee, drinks, magazines spending money, money, money
Patrick Knoo What apparently lacks is an integrated approach on how to promote the area.
Nick Dawson The money comes from passengers benefiting from "corporate" deals between Michael O'Leary.and the local government of Gerona and Perpignan. One of those two pays more and has more flights, but even so, look at what is happening. Girona is financially crippled because Ryanair is moving over to Barcelona. It's a nightmare business model. Our experience on the ground has little or no bearing on it.
Rachel Treloar Just a question but which is Perpignan's busiest flight and constantly brings in people to the region. My guess it is the AIRfrance Paris to Perpignan flight so what are they - french business or french tourists - if business then maybe an area where business people are happy to sit because they have wifi and buy coffee/drinks etc will mean the bar would make money and be happy to be open for the other flights that aren't so busy.
Angie Pedlar Surely easier flights from Britain would bring more tourists to the area and therefore better for tourist areas and camping and hoteliers and shops in general. At the moment it is too complicated for many to get to this region now Girona is being abandoned by Ryanair.
Binary Riot I find it ridiculous that there isn't public transport from/to airport on sundays.. and shuttlebus would be handy too
Jonathan Hesford All these suggestions of more flights from more regional UK airports is going to lead nowhere. It may suit the person who wants to make that flight a couple of times a year but it is no interest to an airline, otherwise they would be doing it.
The airports can help encourage the opening or frequency of routes but as a few people have said. Budget airlines require money from the airport/local governments involved they do not make money from 25€ tickets.
Without the means of making money from its visitors, Perpignan airport is not going to pay Ryanair or Easyjet millions to put bums on seats. Barcelona airport is a shopping centre. It makes its money from rents and uses that to fund cheap flights. Those visitors also spend money in the city of Barcelona, or on travel to other places in Catalunya and their tourist euro gets converted into tax.
John Davis The major problem for us is the hopeless links from Perpignan airport to the rest of civilisation. Rubbish bus that doesn't even go to Gare Routiere and no train in spite of the railway running a 100 m or so away. I really don't know if the airport gives a damn about their passengers - that's the impression they give.
Rose Coulter Price for a one-way flight Perpignan to Stansted at end of January is 17.64 euros. Thank goodness for flights like that.
Clare Gallaway IMHO saying it's all about bums on seats and €€€ is pretty reductionist and not the whole story . There are ways of improving which don't cost much and there are details which swing people whether to come here or to go somewhere else where it is easier and more pleasant.
Clare Gallaway 17 e to Stansted, er yes and another 60£ and 6 hours on the train get anywhere else, I'd happily pay 100 each way if it went where I would like to go
Clare Gallaway Personally I don't feel obliged to be thankful for anything. It is business and we are consumers, that's the bottom line. They do what they want and we'd like them to do more of what we want,
Sue Faulkner I would pay 100/200€ if it got me to where I wanted to go. I have looked into flying into Stansted but I have no desire to drive around London or to spend 6/7 hours on a coach.
Clare Gallaway But this part of the world is not always good at being welcoming. Difficult transport connections from airport to elsewhere makes a short holiday a pain in the neck and will put folks off coming here regularly
Ian Terrell Sorry, John Davis, I thought Perpignan Gare Routiere was at the Gare (and the navette was always waiting)? Long shall it be.
John Davis I thought the navette had stopped running and it's now only the no.7 Rivesaltes to Cabestany available which doesn't necessarily coincide with UK flights and stops only at place Catalonia not the Gare.
Wally N Stewart A direct link to the Gare and morning commuter flights to London would be my suggestion.
Polly Cannie Have just written a thesis for Kate to put on the website about how go transfer to and from the city centre and the airport by local buses. It's cheap and pretty straightforward - except when you get caught out by a bus drivers' strike as we did yesterday; see my (very much) earlier post...
Lisa Boils have used perpignan airport twice this year, hadn' t been there for 2 years. Not much has changed apart from loads of building work going on( have no idea what they are doing). Queued up to go through the search thing with grumpy workers who couldn't even get a smile out of themselves, and this was in the morning so scary to think what they would be like in the afternoon! got through to where you sit and ended up sitting on the floor as no chairs, used toilets which were not exactly clean . Then had to queued up to get on flight and even they were not the happiest of souls while they checked the passports. on arriving back into perpignan, windy as hell but we all had to queue up outside and freeze while they very slowly ( snails pace) checked passports and still no smile. Sorry but at least at stansted airport i got a smile and have a nice trip by workers there, much better customer service and politeness there!
Lisa Boils also on arrival in uk you can find out how to get somewhere very easily, not sure that is even possible at perpignan, i am fluent in french but have no idea how to get to perpignan from the airport by bus
Clare Gallaway I so agree about the lack of smile and the grubby toilets. WHY???? How can Spain welcome cheerfully and provide plentiful clean toilets with paper and doors that lock, what is wrong with here that they can't do that?
Clare Gallaway I'm sorry I do not agree with all those, mainly men, in fact, who think that €€€ is the only determining factor. Travellers should be offered pleasant services. If they are not they can easily go somewhere where they do get a 21 century welcome, as offered in many other countries around the world.
Clare Gallaway Enough plastic chairs is nothing to do with the airlines and is hardly going to break the bank, er is it? I too object to sitting on the floor, which I have often had to do. It's daft.
Sue Jackson Improved facilities once you have gone through security. A small cafe, nicer seating so it does not feel like a holding pen. Maybe some restaurant facilities at the airport
Lisa Boils when i went a couple of weeks ago there were a couple of youngsters doing a survey about the facilities at the airport , not sure they will ever change much to be honest. They need to get people who can at least try and smile, they have got cushy jobs and should be happy . not exactly sressful at perpignan airport. I would have thought that it would be more stressful at stansted but they still manage to be polite and smile. Also the queueing outside to wait for your passport to be checked is like being in the old ages
Jonathan Hesford A lot of this discussion has been about what we want.
I ask what would be prepared to pay more for? 50c to 1€ to pickup visitors easily would be mine. I think the free 15 minute parking is a bit silly. It makes no money and obviously costs something.
Perpignan Airport shares a lot of its problems with the whole French socialist/economic dichotomy. It has to figure out how to make that work.
Jonathan Hesford A friend just said something very important, for its tourism and its transport. "This region is a photographers paradise". Something to work on...
Sue Holmes I agree with that , why we came here wasnt it, to enjoy whats on offer.
Clare Gallaway Yes it is widely believed that the socialist outlook has partially been to blame for the non-development of the airport
Clare Gallaway So there is VISA photojournalism festival which is now proposed to be yearlong. Will this bring airport business....
Margaret Stewart Fisher I doubt that Clare Gallaway: no international flights & nothing much from Paris. The train seems to be where investment's heading at present
Clare Gallaway I don't think so either but I mentioned this in reply to points made by Sue Holmes and Jonathan Hesford (much earlier). I thought there are plenty of Paris flights, 4 a day but I gather they cost a fortune, also arrive at Orly.
Clare Gallaway Train..... The TGV terminal is pants. The 'customer service' in the guichet rarely know about delays or platforms - they just tell you to look at the board. There is no café or toilets. That is, there are both but a huge trek into the failed Centro del Mon and the toilet is not in a safe location for women alone. The train fares are not that inviting either.
Clare Gallaway Sorry, off-thread. But I would dearly love to know when 'progress' stops going backwards.
Jonathan Hesford Sorry to go off-track but the TGV terminal seems OK to me. OK, the shopping centre hasn't taken off but it was built to coincide with the recession. They could not predict that. There is a very nice café in the building. The TGV to Paris is great, as is the one to Barcelona. I think the problem with the fares is that they look expensive compared to Ryanair at 17€ but I thought people understood that that fare is subsidised by airports and public sector funds. The trains are relatively cheaper than they were 20 years ago.
We have to think positively to improve things.
Clare Gallaway We do indeed but sorry the TGV terminal is not OK for lone woman travellers. The toilets (small and grubby) are down an escalator hidden round a dark corner next to the carpark entrance and when I have gone there, struggling with a suitcase, there are men hanging round outside. The cafe .....er, a chain.? Is also a way away and not near the departure point? Or is there one I haven't noticed. And there are few seats.
Clare Gallaway I took the TGV recently and found it pleasant, but there was no WiFi .....we even have that on the 192 to Stockport.
Clare Gallaway In general I'm a very positive type of person but there are some things not to be put up with and I won't stop mentioning poor facilities because that's the only way to make people aware of them. Whether it will change or not is another matter.
Clare Gallaway I don't think the fares look expensive - they *are* expensive. I once found a single to Paris for under 100 and that was with senior reduction, usually it's up in the top hundred or into 200 +++ ...... That makes a return trip, plus of course, the bits and bobs at each end, pretty pricey.
Clare Gallaway I'm surprised at the comment about train fares, 15 years ago I used air france to fly to Paris and then train down to PPGN, it worked out about 110 £ including the flight and the train for one way. Was reasonable. I don't so much care about 17 ee fares.
Any opinion goes, no matter how small, as the more we stress that there are many, many people involved, the more likely the airport is to take some aspects of our views into consideration.
The following is from the P-O Life Face Book page, but I have moved it here as Dimitri looks in on the forum.
Bryan Houde
Reliable, quick and inexpensive transport from the center of town to the airport. A city bus that stops all over town is insufficient. An inexpensive shuttle bus (perhaps like the little ones used to go to the train station and back) dedicated to serving the airport would be perfect. It could stop at the train station and a couple of bus stops in the center then head directly out to the Perpi airport. Carcassonne has a direct bus service that is fairly quick, however they need to accept other forms of payment than just cash (and be able to give change) as many visitors, especially those from non-euro-zone countries don't have euros on them when they arrive and those that do don't usually have small bills.
Marian Thornley would love to see more flights from Perpignan to the UK, especially London airports, also the shuttle bus as above would be good, thanks Kate!
Patricia Beheyt New destinations, urgently ! Germany for ex., Cologne for ex. And indeed shuttle busses that may even go further than Perpi center but do the coastline...
Ryanair etc could sponsor as they are tourist operators.
Every big city has its shuttle service with only a few stops and only 40 minutes drive at the maximum. People would easily pay 10-15€ instead of a taxi that costs a fortune from Rivesaltes to Argelès for ex. Fill up a shuttle bus with 20 people and it's a win-win situation...
Useful argument to get subsidies: job and business creation
Martin Bailey We've found Carcassonne airport to be brilliant. More flights to East Midlands, Manchester and Sheffield please.
Anne Stewart The Stansted flight currently departs too early in the morning to make us want to use it. Better time going from Perpignan though.
Tom Dickson Airport organised car-sharing taxis... This taxi will be going to Toulouse Gare Matabiau in 30 mins for €125. How many sharers do we have? Can we fill it?
Sue Faulkner Anne we took a friend to Perpignan this morning to catch the Stansted flight at 12 25. That is not early. If I could get a flight to Bristol from Perpignan, Beziers, Girona or Carcassonne I wouldn't care what time of the day or night it left.
Tom Dickson Is EJ Toulouse - Bristol not all year-round? I know it's not every day, and Tls is an hour beyond Carcassonne, but I'm surprised to hear the West Country is such a problem.
Sue Faulkner We can do Toulouse/Bristol or Barcelona/Bristol. 2 to 2 1/2 hours and 1 1/2 that side. Not much fun.
Kalba Meadows Agree with Anne about the timing of the Stansted-Perpignan flight - 06.30 is really not viable unless you overnight at the airport.
Isobel Campbell Here in Scotland we have no direct flights to Perpignan summer or winter. Any time any day would be perfect.
Evelyn Mc Loughlin Stansted/Perpignan flight way too early. We commute from Shannon airport in Ireland and now must overnight in London as flight from Shannon doesn't arrive in Stansted until 8am. Ryanair would fill more seats on Stansted/Perpignan if flight left few hours later.
Patrick Knoo RTM-PGN or AMS-PGN but cheaper than RTM/AMS-GRO.
Evelyn Mc Loughlin Direct flight Shannon/Perpignan would be nice
Emma Webber Love the early morning flights from stansted as we get to have a full day in the PO. Would like more flights to and from London all year to Perpignan.
Jane Roberts Let Ryan air into Perpignan. We fly Southampton to Perpignan but it is only Flybe and they are expensive, so we usually go Bournemouth to Carcassonne and drive down, have also gone Bournemouth to Toulouse, and Limouge !!! These are all Ryan air routes. . . .and year round would be great. . . . . thanks for asking. Hope you get somewhere with the comments and suggestions.
Kate Nuth Would love flights to Gatwick London which would enable access to the south as during the winter months the only possibility is Easyjet Toulouse - Gatwick or Carcassonne - Bournemouth in summer with Ryan Air
Michelewis Tristram Hello
Easy answer to the airport problem, but difficult to implement;
Scrap Perpignan, Carcassonne and Beziers airports and build a decent sized airport near Narbonne. Ideally situated between Montpellier Toulouse and Gerone it would better serve the three departments 66 11 and 34.
Start the ball rolling.
Sue Faulkner If Hop went to CDG instead of Orly it could well be helpful as Flybe fly to Exeter from CDG.
Julie Pearce Cardiff Airport is actively looking for new routes. Cardiff / Perp would be great ! Would suit a lot of rugby fans for both for USAP / Catalan Dragons and Wales v France games and a growing number of Catalonians on both sides of the border to travel in and out of Wales /Catalonia.
Cardiff is such a fantastic city now with so much on offer----as does the 66 region and beyond.
Patricia Beheyt I think what should be communicated is that Perpignan should try to extend and become as important as Girona not only attracting 'low cost' visitors. Perpignan has the advantage to be a French airport, next to Spain but still in France... I think that should be an asset and I don't want to offend the Spanish but France still doesn't have that 'etquette' of mass tourism. Plus, expanding may be useful to counterbalance the camping site phenomenon the Côte Vermeille has lived on for so many years but now is the victim of it...
Caroline Papworth Would love some flights from north of England to Perpignan. Leeds/Bradford or Manchester would be fantastic! It would also be useful for rugby fans as Leeds/Bradford is centre of Yorkshire rugby belt. We fly to Girona in summer as do many others who reside at least part-time in P-O but are having to fly to Barcelona in winter. Lots of cheap airport long-stay parking at Perpignan would also be good.
Peter Spencer (regular ) flights to the south of UK - Bournemouth, Gatwick.... improved pick up point(s), better parking, can't comment on terminal until they have finished the work but if you can get a heads up as to what they are doing and let us all know that would be good. oh and only partially joking...an exit on and off the motorway...whoever set up the existing fiasco needs their bumps felt...they were obviously incapable of planning too far ahead when the road went in ('78 I think)...p.s.London City might also be an option
Céline Peniston-Bird Love the perp-stanstead route. Super in the summer but maybe slightly more sociable hours in the winter, even if it's still only twice a week it's workable but it's blinking early to fly with kids.
But I think we are spoilt for choice here so no complaints here
Ann Hirst perpignan to the north of England please.
Sue Faulkner I have no complaints with travelling to Beziers or Girona both of which can be driven in around 1 hr 15 mins but both routes stopped flying on 5th November. I have never flown from Carcassonne but assume it is about the same distance. All perfectly acceptable no matter what time just would like a flight in winter from one or other.
Cheryl Stone Flights to Northern airports would be good, any time!
Teresa Wennberg Perpignan + Carcasonne open to Ryanair or Norwegian. More flights to Paris. Merry Xmas to you!
Sue Charnley Perp to East Mids and Manchester would be useful
Susan Wager Birmingham please!
Sue Faulkner Tough job to please us all
Ian Terrell Stabalise regular year round daily Perpignan to Stansted.
Leigh Foster Gatwick please, year round!
Ian Terrell Match cafe and shop opening hours to flights please.
Emma Bridgen Flights to the west Country would be great and the north please. Happy Christmas
Clare Gallaway North of England - no flights from PPGN in winter except to Stansted. Last time the trip Manchester took me 10 hours via STND. I'm not going to UK for xmas and my friends and family can't easily get to visit for the next few months.
Andrew Prosser stability for the future , people from uk are far less likely to buy in the region if there are no regular flights throughout the year...
Clare Gallaway Ryanair PPGN to MCR or BHM in winter. Could the airport managers be reminded that London does not = the UK and that many people have homes down here and bring visitors - but are bringing them less and less as there are no direct flights
2
Andrew Prosser for us doing holiday lets ... saturday to saturday flights form uk would massively improve the amount of brits coming over ,,, and also increase the bookings at the campsites as most of the big ones are saturday to saturday for keycamps or eurocamps
Sue Faulkner Perpignan to Birmingham would suit me too throughout the whole year as it would enable me to visit my daughter in Kidderminster. I agree with Clare and Andrew totally the UK does not begin and end with the London area. Having regular flights to all parts of the UK could increase tourism immensely as well as being used by business people.
Clare Gallaway Someone should spell these things out very clearly to the airport managers. Most of my UK based neighbours are not from SE..... And the MCR - GRN flight now off till March alas was always full of mates to and fro from le 66 to UK. Those people eat, shop, and hire cars in Spain, and so le 66 is losing all that business. Blinkered they are here......
Geraldine Watson I would love clear/integrated information about public transport to and from the airport.
Clare Gallaway The previous airport manager gave a statement (it was in Lindep) saying PPGN was not interested in Britanniques because they had deserted in favour of the Aude. !!!!! Daft or what.
Valerie McLellan Leeds or Newcastle to Perps all year please. those of us from the North East struggle and we are the heartland of RugbyAllez les Dragons
Teresa Mc Caffrey say hello to Dimitri from me...he's one of my past pupils...and as usual would love a flight from Perpignan to Belfast (!) ....but think that will never happen!!
Clare Gallaway Yes. Rugby should be mentioned forcefully. BMi Baby used to fly them. What happens now?
Clare Gallaway I d just like to say that local French friends also think the airport is nul.........
Kate Hareng Please keep the comments coming. I will copy and paste them all into a doc and leave it with him to chew over. I will be going back to Leeds next week, and my only flying option is from Barcelona with Jet 2 at a cost of over 400 euros each return. Northern England is so badly served in winter from this region, and yet I'd have thought demand would be reasonably high.
Geraldine Watson Reading all the rugby loving comments, how about the clubs organising rugby special charter flights, departing from suitable local UK airports?
Sue Faulkner I am not sure how that would benefit the local expats and their friends and family.
Geraldine Watson Sue Faulkner, no not directly, but the more the airport is used, the more likely it is to stay open which benefits us all. Also when rugby visitors see what a great area it is, they will want to come back.
Sue Faulkner Kate you should have done Carcassonne to Dublin then Dublin to Leeds. Hassle I know but a lot cheaper.
George Hazell If he acts on everyones idea,s Perpignan would have more flights than Gatwick lol could you ask him for a flight to Scotland, anywhere in Scotland not that fussy lol
Clare Gallaway There's no danger of the airport closing I have always understood
Clare Gallaway PM if you want to know why because I'm not sure about the truth of it
Sue Faulkner Gerona do Glasgow but that means money leaving France's pocket
George Hazell Only in winter Sue which wont bother me after January but the flight time when picking folk up is pants, but would rather have that than nothing.
Patrick Knoo Having incoming flights at GRO connect to trains to PGN would also be nice. Now the train always leaves just when I land, and the next one is 3 hours later.
Clare Gallaway Quite true Patrick Knoo I found that ....or the last train to Ppgnn in the evening leaves before you can get there from the flight
Clare Gallaway These miseries have left me with no choice but to spend three hours on a Spanish lunch or alternatively being met by friend and having a jaunt down there in the way back.......all the money and spends pouring into Spain and not into France
Sue Charnley http://www.lindependant.fr/.../la-frequentation-de-l...
La fréquentation de l'aéroport de Gérone s'effondre au niveau de l'avant-Ryanair
Surely the time is right for Perpignan to expand, with the downturn at Girona reported here
Clare Gallaway C'est vrai Gérard Raynal Auteur mais toujours il y a des voyageurs .....comme moi......
Angie Pedlar South of England to Perpignan Please. Stansted to Perpignan is not bad but then those from the south have M3 and M25 delights to cope with. Just a couple of flights a week from Bournemouth maybe?
Erika Rogers Flights to and from Gatwick would be great please - Stanstead is such a pain to get to from SE England
Jan Letchford Any flight to the North east of England would be lovely can't fly to Newcastle or Teeside at all from round here.
Elaine Black As said earlier please have a scottish service to Perpignan!
Sue Holmes Something going to the Midlands would be good absolutely nothing in the winter at Girona or Perpignan.Would use France but options limited. Had last flight into Manchester in November and then had to get Bristol to Toulouse, bus to station change at Narbonne and train to Argeles a real mare !, surely enough expats to fill a flight and return once a week during the winter
Helen Ging Winter service Dublin - Perpignan please!
Eileen Morter How about a service to the South of UK.. eg... Bournemouth,Bristol, Southampton?
Sue Faulkner There is Carcassonne to Dublin in the winter. Carcassonne is only 1 hr 30mins from Argeles.
Rosie Cowper-Beale Birmingham airport has a fantastic free tram shuttle to the railway station where you can go north, south, east or west. It was a dream when the Perps-Brum route was open. Manchester would be good too.... the south-east is relatively well-served but most midlanders, northerners and Scots have to fly to Spain. Don't the French want to open their doors to a whole new market?
Dulcie Williams manchester to perpignan please
Anne Stewart We flew Beziers to Luton in November which was a good alternative to Perpignan
Pearson Brown I flew to Stansted this morning and the plane was far from full. Maybe we should concentrate on holding on to what we have got?
Dulcie Williams its a long drive to stanstead for us, and expensive to park. we simply wouldn't do it
Pearson Brown in relation to a blind old bloke like me, there is no room to put on my belt coat together with collecting my wallet, phone, tablet etc. i found it quite upsetting with other passengers bashing into me and, in some cases touching my stuff. You full-sighted people can probably cope fine but I need space or help.
Kalba Meadows I think, Pearson Brown, that holding on to what we've got is it in a nutshell ... Living 50% of the time in the Ariège if I do fly (which is rare) I usually fly from Toulouse, which is well served but its passengers are largely business passengers, in the winter at least; most people (British and French) are flying on day returns, for meetings. We simply don't have that level of passenger trade here. I know we'd all like flights that are convenient for us, but in the real world of business and profit it's just not going to happen - I've flown on winter flights from Carcassonne and they've been half empty. I'm flying to Stansted from Perps in January and I'm willing to bet it'll be no different. I think it's great that the airport has asked for feedback but honestly, I think we need to stay in the real world here!
Flora Lawrence Watson North of England...... Newcastle or Leeds to perpignan would be a great decision for all..... Customer and airport.
Clare Gallaway I ve ditched a flight to Stansted because I can't face the travelling and the expense once you get there. If there was just ONE destination north of London from Ppgnn it would help us all.
Clare Gallaway Rosie Cowper-Beale - agree with your point. Hang on to what we've got? Sorry - I don't understand the sentiment or the reasoning behind that statement. At all. It doesn't make sense. A lot of us are saying that Stansted is not very useful for us and we'd like a flight to somewhere else in UK, because in UK travel (and airport parking) is ridiculously expensive and onerous. I honestly don't think the airport management have a clue about the geography or situation of UK. If the Stansted flight is half empty, it could be because people don't go at all (me) or drive or maybe train even. Doesn't mean a flight to somewhere north would be empty.
Clare Gallaway I have lots of friends and family who don't have enough time off work to come for a week or spend the whole day at each end getting to and from an airport - so they don't come, they used to when they could just take a weekend.
Rose Coulter Will Dimitri be getting in touch with Michael O'Leary or the other airlines?
Clare Gallaway The major problem over the last several years has been ppgnns refusal to negotiate with said people, but having said that, the GRN lot have been led a right dance on this topic, sabre-rattling, we will withdraw all our flights, will they/won't they, etc etc ......
Clare Gallaway M o'L held out for huge governmental contributions from the regional govt I gather ....France wouldn't have any of it.....
Clare Gallaway OK, we have a regional airport, it operates at half cock most of the time. If you fly in the morning they never have any croissants left at the caf. The service there is utterly slow and reluctant. The resto is pathetic. There aren't enough seats in the departure lounge, the indoor toilets have been out of action all the summer. A small cosy airport is lovely .....apart from the lack of flights and the miserable eating facilities.
Clare Gallaway I don't imagine it would be all that difficult to think a little more about the comfort of travellers.
Clare Gallaway Well..... hanging on ??
Clare Gallaway CCSNNE par contre has pleasant eating facilities but the last time I was there there was almost nowhere to sit, the shop was outside, .....hardly a good place to wait for delayed flights.
Clare Gallaway Unfortunately the new TGV side of PPGN station has gone the same way - no brasserie, no toilets, no comfortable seats - do these transport managers EVER travel themselves, preferably alone and with a suitcase, to discover what passengers actually need??
Clare Gallaway The getting to and fro has got so dire that I now get friends to drive me either to or fro and wait around ...
George Hazell I wouldn't mind no croissants, no seating, just need a loo as long as they had flights to where most people want them
Nick Dawson The 3 most important things for airports are Flights, Flights and Flights, but God help them with Michael O'Leary to negotiate with.
Clare Gallaway Well why bother to advertise croissants when you are always told they've run out.....it's this kind of half cock that infuriates me.....
Céline Peniston-Bird Maybe the answer is: perp does a year round (maybe in winter, a twice a week, cut back service) to stanstead and carcassonne do the same to a northern airport (or vise versa!). Preferably at a sensible time.
Clare Gallaway Yes Nick Dawson I know I know I said that about M O'L in an earlier post.
Clare Gallaway Well that roughly is what happens with CCSn and Ppgnn at mo and they are both RYR so I daresay that's a considered strategy on his part
George Hazell I prefer GRN to CCSN but PPGN would be better.
Clare Gallaway So do I George Hazell I think CCSn is more prone to fog, delays, etc
Clare Gallaway Plus GRN is an airport with food, shops, etc.........and hotels nearby
Polly Cannie It's probably my fault and I missed loads of notices.....but there was a city bus strike in Perpignan today and we were stranded at the Gare Routiere with no taxis either! could Dimitri (a) post a notice on the airport website if there's a bus strike so we know to make alternative arrangements and (b) bring pressure to bear on the bus company to re-route the No7 airport "shuttle" so it goes via the Gare TGV/Gare Routiere to save passengers having to change buses at FNAC/La Catalogne?
Clare Gallaway Agree Sue Faulkner up to a point but why have surly staff and half the stuff....and it depends on flight time, how long you are waiting there and if you have a longish trip in.
Clare Gallaway I don't agree about luxury, at travel terminals there should be food and drink facilities, otherwise we are going backwards, and if we have them they might as well be decent as awful.......
Clare Gallaway I can't believe that the toilets were being rebuilt at the absolute peak time where scores of travellers had to queue outside - ridiculous
Nick Dawson ... in the context of no planes other than to Stansted, everything else pales into insignificance. Planes first, polish the service second once a revenue stream has been established. Not that that can be relied on with O'Leary for longer than 5 minutes even if he has signed a 5 year contract!
Clare Gallaway Well there are cafe staff ...they just need to serve more quickly and pleasantly.... They are dire
Nick Dawson Has anyone spoken to EasyJet ?
Lyn Hamilton Yes more comfortable facilities would be appreciated. Ideal would be flights to other airports.
George Hazell Get better service from the vending machines Clare lol
Clare Gallaway The customs people and gendarmes with dogs etc are much more charming than the cafe women......
George Hazell Right Kate Hareng what you need to tell him is we want Terminal 5 but without the delays
Clare Gallaway You're right George but how awful, that is the way everything s going
Marie Jenkins Flights from Perpignan to the North of England, Liverpool or Manchester would be brilliant and would boost tourism for Perpignan, with the large amount of fans that fly out here to watch their teams play against Catalan Dragons. At the moment fans have to fly into Spain (Gerona) and consequently stay there, traveling by coach on match day to see the game. Lots of lost renenue, which could be spent in Perpignan.
Of course it would be beneficial to northerners that reside here too! Of course!
Clare Gallaway The demise of the tabac was sad
Nick Dawson BmiBaby used to fly the rugby season too do just that, and they were great.
Marie Jenkins Wish they still did it Nick
Nick Dawson Me too.
Clare Gallaway Exactly as Marie Marie Jenkins says ......I have said that over and over again, I have had two letters in this topic published in LIndep ....but interestingly the one sentence where I wrote that all this business is going to Spain was cut out by the Editor!!!!!!! So, didn't they want the Courrier de Lecteurs to reveal this startling fact to French readers, or what????
Lyn Hamilton And flight to Edinburgh! Yes dream on....
Marie Jenkins They just don't seem to grasp the fact they should capitalise on such opportunities!
Clare Clare Gallaway.
Clare Gallaway No...blinkered...last twice I travelled via GRN it involved eating out and hotel, multiply that by number of passengers, plenty of revenue not getting to France
Marie Jenkins It doesn't make sense!
Sue Holmes I said just that to Easyjet staff at Toulouse please fly out of Perpignan
Anna Walmsley Flights to Manchester and Leeds Bradford would be great. Having to fly from Bcn this Xmas as no flights whatsoever from elsewhere
Phil Harris What an amazing response. Seems to boil down to (i) the Ryanair Stansted/Perpignan is fine for those who can get to Stansted reasonably easily, but (ii) we really need another all-year-round route to Perpignan from a central (Birmingham? East Midlands?) or northern (Leeds Bradford? Manchester?) airport for those - including rugby supporters in the north of England - for whom Stansted is really difficult to get to. Is that too much to ask of Ryanair? Could negotiations explore this?
Rose Coulter I would still question whether Dimitri, who will note or will listen to our concerns, will be able to take on the powers that Flybe, Ryanair, Easyjet, BA etc have. They will not operate unless they can guarantee a certain number of seats being sold regularly to cover their costs. We must also consider that Ryanair does deals with airports and tries to get out of paying the local wages, taxes, charges etc. he should to local airport staff. As to the staff in the cafe, I have spoken to the lady in charge many times in French and she has always had a chat to me. Can't say the same about a local immobilier who said that all the English in our village want to live in walking distance of a bar.
Eliane Durant-alford Great to have the opportunity for feedback ! As previously said, keeping flights going to Perpignan in the winter would be brilliant, even better with more civilised flying time/days . Advertising locally may help to inform pleople locally that those flights exist.
Thanks Kate !
Andrew Prosser Stansted is a pain to get to , always traffic jams on the m25 and so you have to allow so much extra time , if you travel by car and public transport costs far more than the flights .... Thats if you can get an earlier enough train to get the early flight .... Luton is far better . Much easier to get to ,,, from time of landing to exiting the airport ,, luton wins hands down everytime , ... We are perpignan area ,, but we try to use the girona luton flight when its available ,,, because door to door time to my family address in north london is far less ... I was flying back and forth every 2/3 weeks for 3 yrs and for bussiness user door to door time is very important ,,, the passport queues at stansted are ridiculous , then the fight to get into london ,,,,
Luton - perpignan would be much better ,,, much easier by car and by train
Anne Stewart Although Luton can be busy in summer we have stopped flying to Stansted as it is so much easier to use Luton. Much better train and motorway connections.
Sue Faulkner No London airport is easy if you dont live in that area. We need to get to Devon.
Sue Holmes Our friends from Tavistock used Bristol Girona, but in the winter into Toulouse isnt funny still a hike to get to Argeles
Clare Gallaway And the N of E. French people have no idea why Stansted is awful for us because they don't know about the cost and inconvenience of travelling in UK. I would happily pay twice as much for a direct flight as it would still be cheaper than Stansted plus travel.
Clare Gallaway Can only go from our own experiences.....
Margaret Stewart Fisher If you're talking to the airport development manager, he probably has more influence over the airports than the routes. I'd like to see easier access to both airports - Carcassonne is not easy to find, nor to leave!!! & we simply don't understand why, given the 68 million recently spent, there is neither an autoroute nor a direct rocade exit for Perps. Facilities at Perps are grim! - why no café, not even minimal duty-free & not enough seats? Perhaps the building at Perps may be addressing these? It will be interesting to see your report.
Kalba Meadows Am I right that Perps and Carcassonne airports are now part of the same company? If so then maybe they need to work together in planning flights, especially in the winter. For example: flights to somewhere in the UK Midlands/north from one, and to Stansted from the other - with dedicated shuttle services from the other airport to link specifically with that flight. What we can't expect is more flights overall - economically that just won't happen - so it's about a different way of thinking.
Kalba Meadows PS For anyone who doesn't know, you can buy Stansted Express tickets online for only 8 pounds if you buy a month in advance.
Jan Letchford DEcent signage for directions to Carcassonne airport would be good with the airport name the same on all signs!! The name changes at some points very confusing for folk. I followed the little plane symbol but was not sure I was heading the right way as the name went from Carcassonne to something beginning with M I think.
Margaret Stewart Fisher Absolutely agree Jan Letchford - my plane was diverted from Perps & my husband was VERY fed up by the time he found it; then we couldn't find the way back to the autoroute either!
Sue Faulkner UK Midlands/North from one Stansted from the other and those from the South and South West from where?
Clare Gallaway Duty free at PPN. Yes it was sad to lose the little shop, I was even more sad than most because it disappeared taking with it 200 euros of my cards which they had offered to sell.
Clare Gallaway Poor Kate and poor Dimitri........ easier to mark a thesis than wade through this lot! Summary: More info, more and better signage, services more appealing, destinations reconsidered for passengers across UK, and .....if poss......More flights ESP in winter.
Nick Dawson Without the flights none of the soft and fluffy stuff will happen as it all costs money, which comes from passengers who get on flights. That is why the shops and cafés are struggling and closing. It's all about flights and passenger numbers whether or not that's Dmitri's province.
Clare Gallaway Service with a smile and decent toilets is a sine qua non
Clare Gallaway It's a vicious circle of course, either spiralling downwards or spiralling upwards
Clare Gallaway Not quite all about money.... there are other variables, the airport resto in Ppgnn has always been rubbish, and / or shut, so I only ate there once, par contre CCSn has a good resto, I believe people came there from locality, and I have always eaten there with the person who drove me there........
Rachel Treloar Arriving in Perpignan I would get excited if there were great pictures of the region making me proud to live here and/or want to visit those places especially if I was a tourist and get me excited about the fact that I had chosen to come on holiday to dept 66. A tourist office (even a mini one) or some area (interactive in someway) to promote places to do, stay, buses, trains and answer any questions in at least two languages. Signs for the bus service, hire car etc and for the baggage claim area to be closed off to the public. I also think that any shop in their selling food or drinks (cafe/resto or bar or whatever you call it) should be promoting and selling the produce produced by dept 66 first and foremost. I also would like to see an area where you can pull up and collect or drop someone off without having to go into the car park. Oh and the toilets to be nicer and on a level where you don't have to lug your suitcase down and back up again and for the toilets to be big enough that you can fit your suitcase in the cubicle with you when you go to the loo!
Jan Letchford Kate Hareng I bet you wish you'd never asked!!! Your email must be absolutely filled up with all this and your printer will need more ink if you print this all off!
Patrick Knoo Rachel Treloar A good example of this kind of decoration is Malta Intl. Airport (replicas of historical/heritage items) and Bordeaux-Merignac Airport (decoration referring to wine, and even a small decorative vineyard).
Rachel Treloar I think you will find that Sud de France would probably provide all the photo's/posters etc or one of the magazines like Terre doc or Terre catalan maybe. The toilets will cost money I agree! Selling wines etc of the region in the cafe is what a cafe does it just needs to have strick guidlines as part of its contract so that doesn't cost the aiport anything just the consumer. A quick parking area right next to the airport arrival depart - I would pay 50 centimes just to be able to do that.
Nick Dawson ... and the deal isn't with the consumer, it's with the airline, so whatever they do to make the airport better won't directly attract more flights and, sadly, whether or not the toilets are clean or on the ground floor will not affect whether we turn up for a flight that suits us.
Susan Wager What we need to be doing is extolling the wonders of Birmingham, Manchester etc to all our French friends and neighbours!
Jonathan Hesford I think the key to the whole problem is developing a unified tourism strategy for the region. That means the campsites, hotelliers, transport companies, tour operators, ski stations and tourism department of Conseil General and Sud de France all coming up with a plan to make the region more attractive to visitors year round and making sure that once they decide to come here, they can get here easily and comfortably.
Things Perpignan airport could do to help that are a navette to the rail station for every flight. Buses to the major coastal resorts in the summer and to the ski-stations in the winter. However these need to be well advertised to holiday-makers well before they plan their trips.
Tourist information should be improved covering private and public sectors. The shopping and restaurantation need t be improved too. The airport cannot make any money out of its users if they would rather bring a sandwich and a flask of coffee than use the facilities. They should both have an emphasis on Catalan and Roussillon food and drink. The fact that the café only sells wine from the Cotes du RHONE is ridiculous, for example.
Seating is pretty uncomfortable, especially after security. Nobody would want to spend more than the minimum amount of time there.
In many ways it's a great little airport that is very efficient in terms of flow. Very fast security and baggage handling, good short-term parking. well signposted, close to the city. But in other respects its a poor welcome to the region.
Rose Coulter Also need to find enough people (156) to fill a regular flight to the North of England.
Sue Faulkner I must admit I have to agree with what Rachel says about promoting the area and someone there to do it. I very rarely use a restaurant in any airport, maybe Costas or the like for a coffee. Beziers has no restaurant. Sufficient seating is good in any airport as are clean, accessible toilets. Flights should be the main priority of any airport in my opinion. With everything else to follow.
Rachel Treloar Aircon in the waiting area after you get shunted through security. Nice seats too
Nick Dawson Sue and Rose, I think you have it. It's all about pound notes. Get that right and everything else works out.
Rachel Treloar Look at Girona - I always buy coffee, drinks, magazines spending money, money, money
Patrick Knoo What apparently lacks is an integrated approach on how to promote the area.
Nick Dawson The money comes from passengers benefiting from "corporate" deals between Michael O'Leary.and the local government of Gerona and Perpignan. One of those two pays more and has more flights, but even so, look at what is happening. Girona is financially crippled because Ryanair is moving over to Barcelona. It's a nightmare business model. Our experience on the ground has little or no bearing on it.
Rachel Treloar Just a question but which is Perpignan's busiest flight and constantly brings in people to the region. My guess it is the AIRfrance Paris to Perpignan flight so what are they - french business or french tourists - if business then maybe an area where business people are happy to sit because they have wifi and buy coffee/drinks etc will mean the bar would make money and be happy to be open for the other flights that aren't so busy.
Angie Pedlar Surely easier flights from Britain would bring more tourists to the area and therefore better for tourist areas and camping and hoteliers and shops in general. At the moment it is too complicated for many to get to this region now Girona is being abandoned by Ryanair.
Binary Riot I find it ridiculous that there isn't public transport from/to airport on sundays.. and shuttlebus would be handy too
Jonathan Hesford All these suggestions of more flights from more regional UK airports is going to lead nowhere. It may suit the person who wants to make that flight a couple of times a year but it is no interest to an airline, otherwise they would be doing it.
The airports can help encourage the opening or frequency of routes but as a few people have said. Budget airlines require money from the airport/local governments involved they do not make money from 25€ tickets.
Without the means of making money from its visitors, Perpignan airport is not going to pay Ryanair or Easyjet millions to put bums on seats. Barcelona airport is a shopping centre. It makes its money from rents and uses that to fund cheap flights. Those visitors also spend money in the city of Barcelona, or on travel to other places in Catalunya and their tourist euro gets converted into tax.
John Davis The major problem for us is the hopeless links from Perpignan airport to the rest of civilisation. Rubbish bus that doesn't even go to Gare Routiere and no train in spite of the railway running a 100 m or so away. I really don't know if the airport gives a damn about their passengers - that's the impression they give.
Rose Coulter Price for a one-way flight Perpignan to Stansted at end of January is 17.64 euros. Thank goodness for flights like that.
Clare Gallaway IMHO saying it's all about bums on seats and €€€ is pretty reductionist and not the whole story . There are ways of improving which don't cost much and there are details which swing people whether to come here or to go somewhere else where it is easier and more pleasant.
Clare Gallaway 17 e to Stansted, er yes and another 60£ and 6 hours on the train get anywhere else, I'd happily pay 100 each way if it went where I would like to go
Clare Gallaway Personally I don't feel obliged to be thankful for anything. It is business and we are consumers, that's the bottom line. They do what they want and we'd like them to do more of what we want,
Sue Faulkner I would pay 100/200€ if it got me to where I wanted to go. I have looked into flying into Stansted but I have no desire to drive around London or to spend 6/7 hours on a coach.
Clare Gallaway But this part of the world is not always good at being welcoming. Difficult transport connections from airport to elsewhere makes a short holiday a pain in the neck and will put folks off coming here regularly
Ian Terrell Sorry, John Davis, I thought Perpignan Gare Routiere was at the Gare (and the navette was always waiting)? Long shall it be.
John Davis I thought the navette had stopped running and it's now only the no.7 Rivesaltes to Cabestany available which doesn't necessarily coincide with UK flights and stops only at place Catalonia not the Gare.
Wally N Stewart A direct link to the Gare and morning commuter flights to London would be my suggestion.
Polly Cannie Have just written a thesis for Kate to put on the website about how go transfer to and from the city centre and the airport by local buses. It's cheap and pretty straightforward - except when you get caught out by a bus drivers' strike as we did yesterday; see my (very much) earlier post...
Lisa Boils have used perpignan airport twice this year, hadn' t been there for 2 years. Not much has changed apart from loads of building work going on( have no idea what they are doing). Queued up to go through the search thing with grumpy workers who couldn't even get a smile out of themselves, and this was in the morning so scary to think what they would be like in the afternoon! got through to where you sit and ended up sitting on the floor as no chairs, used toilets which were not exactly clean . Then had to queued up to get on flight and even they were not the happiest of souls while they checked the passports. on arriving back into perpignan, windy as hell but we all had to queue up outside and freeze while they very slowly ( snails pace) checked passports and still no smile. Sorry but at least at stansted airport i got a smile and have a nice trip by workers there, much better customer service and politeness there!
Lisa Boils also on arrival in uk you can find out how to get somewhere very easily, not sure that is even possible at perpignan, i am fluent in french but have no idea how to get to perpignan from the airport by bus
Clare Gallaway I so agree about the lack of smile and the grubby toilets. WHY???? How can Spain welcome cheerfully and provide plentiful clean toilets with paper and doors that lock, what is wrong with here that they can't do that?
Clare Gallaway I'm sorry I do not agree with all those, mainly men, in fact, who think that €€€ is the only determining factor. Travellers should be offered pleasant services. If they are not they can easily go somewhere where they do get a 21 century welcome, as offered in many other countries around the world.
Clare Gallaway Enough plastic chairs is nothing to do with the airlines and is hardly going to break the bank, er is it? I too object to sitting on the floor, which I have often had to do. It's daft.
Sue Jackson Improved facilities once you have gone through security. A small cafe, nicer seating so it does not feel like a holding pen. Maybe some restaurant facilities at the airport
Lisa Boils when i went a couple of weeks ago there were a couple of youngsters doing a survey about the facilities at the airport , not sure they will ever change much to be honest. They need to get people who can at least try and smile, they have got cushy jobs and should be happy . not exactly sressful at perpignan airport. I would have thought that it would be more stressful at stansted but they still manage to be polite and smile. Also the queueing outside to wait for your passport to be checked is like being in the old ages
Jonathan Hesford A lot of this discussion has been about what we want.
I ask what would be prepared to pay more for? 50c to 1€ to pickup visitors easily would be mine. I think the free 15 minute parking is a bit silly. It makes no money and obviously costs something.
Perpignan Airport shares a lot of its problems with the whole French socialist/economic dichotomy. It has to figure out how to make that work.
Jonathan Hesford A friend just said something very important, for its tourism and its transport. "This region is a photographers paradise". Something to work on...
Sue Holmes I agree with that , why we came here wasnt it, to enjoy whats on offer.
Clare Gallaway Yes it is widely believed that the socialist outlook has partially been to blame for the non-development of the airport
Clare Gallaway So there is VISA photojournalism festival which is now proposed to be yearlong. Will this bring airport business....
Margaret Stewart Fisher I doubt that Clare Gallaway: no international flights & nothing much from Paris. The train seems to be where investment's heading at present
Clare Gallaway I don't think so either but I mentioned this in reply to points made by Sue Holmes and Jonathan Hesford (much earlier). I thought there are plenty of Paris flights, 4 a day but I gather they cost a fortune, also arrive at Orly.
Clare Gallaway Train..... The TGV terminal is pants. The 'customer service' in the guichet rarely know about delays or platforms - they just tell you to look at the board. There is no café or toilets. That is, there are both but a huge trek into the failed Centro del Mon and the toilet is not in a safe location for women alone. The train fares are not that inviting either.
Clare Gallaway Sorry, off-thread. But I would dearly love to know when 'progress' stops going backwards.
Jonathan Hesford Sorry to go off-track but the TGV terminal seems OK to me. OK, the shopping centre hasn't taken off but it was built to coincide with the recession. They could not predict that. There is a very nice café in the building. The TGV to Paris is great, as is the one to Barcelona. I think the problem with the fares is that they look expensive compared to Ryanair at 17€ but I thought people understood that that fare is subsidised by airports and public sector funds. The trains are relatively cheaper than they were 20 years ago.
We have to think positively to improve things.
Clare Gallaway We do indeed but sorry the TGV terminal is not OK for lone woman travellers. The toilets (small and grubby) are down an escalator hidden round a dark corner next to the carpark entrance and when I have gone there, struggling with a suitcase, there are men hanging round outside. The cafe .....er, a chain.? Is also a way away and not near the departure point? Or is there one I haven't noticed. And there are few seats.
Clare Gallaway I took the TGV recently and found it pleasant, but there was no WiFi .....we even have that on the 192 to Stockport.
Clare Gallaway In general I'm a very positive type of person but there are some things not to be put up with and I won't stop mentioning poor facilities because that's the only way to make people aware of them. Whether it will change or not is another matter.
Clare Gallaway I don't think the fares look expensive - they *are* expensive. I once found a single to Paris for under 100 and that was with senior reduction, usually it's up in the top hundred or into 200 +++ ...... That makes a return trip, plus of course, the bits and bobs at each end, pretty pricey.
Clare Gallaway I'm surprised at the comment about train fares, 15 years ago I used air france to fly to Paris and then train down to PPGN, it worked out about 110 £ including the flight and the train for one way. Was reasonable. I don't so much care about 17 ee fares.