Transfer pick up time

Baled

Heading home tomorrow after a lovely break in Corfu. With the homeward flight being 1pm the earliest I was expecting to get picked up by the TUI provided transfer was 9am however the pick up is 8am, 5 hours before the flight! 

Is this usual for TUI? 

eskbanker

Surely it'll be dependent on a range of factors, including distance from the airport, number of other stops, number of other flights departing at similar times, traffic/roadworks, etc?

la531983

eskbanker said:

Surely it'll be dependent on a range of factors, including distance from the airport, number of other stops, number of other flights departing at similar times, traffic/roadworks, etc?

After 1pm tomorrow, there isnt another TUI flight out of CFU until 9.55pm. So it does seem a bit strange.

It's feasible the coach operator could be collecting people on other flights on other operators - there are three Easyjet flights going out between 1140 and 1240 back to the UK.  Operators like TUI and Jet2 with fleets of coaches abroad usually like it when they have a cluster of flights leaving within a short space of time. As TUI only have one flight essentially leaving for hours, its possible they have subcontracted the pickups out to a third party (Easyjet maybe) to save on costs of picking up a handful of people for one flight from across an island.

Also my memory of Corfu is that the roads werent great and took a while to get from where we were staying to the airport, have been to Sidari and Paeleokastisa (may have the spelling of that wrong).

So could be a combination of the above. I've never been picked up 5 hours before a flight ever, even in Turkey where the airport was 90 mins away!

twopenny

Are they picking up at other hotels on the way? That often happens.
You've got the length of the journey plus de boarding and the 2hrs required before the flight so that's going to take a good chunk out of that time.

Hopefully it's after breakfast service because they picked us up before 8 when we weren't supposed to be able to get any and that was Christmas day when everything at the airport was closed and a long day ahead to get home 
So grab some food. We snaffled bread and bacon to make sandwiches and some cakes 

bagand96

la531983 said:

eskbanker said:

Surely it'll be dependent on a range of factors, including distance from the airport, number of other stops, number of other flights departing at similar times, traffic/roadworks, etc?

After 1pm tomorrow, there isnt another TUI flight out of CFU until 9.55pm. So it does seem a bit strange.

It's feasible the coach operator could be collecting people on other flights on other operators - there are three Easyjet flights going out between 1140 and 1240 back to the UK.  Operators like TUI and Jet2 with fleets of coaches abroad usually like it when they have a cluster of flights leaving within a short space of time. As TUI only have one flight essentially leaving for hours, its possible they have subcontracted the pickups out to a third party (Easyjet maybe) to save on costs of picking up a handful of people for one flight from across an island.

Also my memory of Corfu is that the roads werent great and took a while to get from where we were staying to the airport, have been to Sidari and Paeleokastisa (may have the spelling of that wrong).

So could be a combination of the above. I've never been picked up 5 hours before a flight ever, even in Turkey where the airport was 90 mins away!

It's unlikely TUI will have subcontracted the transfers to a third party (especially not a big competitior).  TUI have contracts with coach operators in the big destinations and the transfers will  be only TUI clients.

It is likely that TUI holiday customers will be travelling on those easyJet flights.  TUI have been using third party airlines to dynamically package for some time now - they recently started using Ryanair.  Allows them to offer holidays where their own aircraft don't operate the route and allows more flexibility on duration where they don't operate daily.

daveyjp

If you are one of the first pick ups this isn't unusual.  If you want longer in resort ditch the bus and get a taxi, just ensure you tell your rep.

One reason buses leave plenty of time is to allow for passengers who don't let the rep know and they spend time looking for them.

la531983

bagand96 said:

la531983 said:

eskbanker said:

Surely it'll be dependent on a range of factors, including distance from the airport, number of other stops, number of other flights departing at similar times, traffic/roadworks, etc?

After 1pm tomorrow, there isnt another TUI flight out of CFU until 9.55pm. So it does seem a bit strange.

It's feasible the coach operator could be collecting people on other flights on other operators - there are three Easyjet flights going out between 1140 and 1240 back to the UK.  Operators like TUI and Jet2 with fleets of coaches abroad usually like it when they have a cluster of flights leaving within a short space of time. As TUI only have one flight essentially leaving for hours, its possible they have subcontracted the pickups out to a third party (Easyjet maybe) to save on costs of picking up a handful of people for one flight from across an island.

Also my memory of Corfu is that the roads werent great and took a while to get from where we were staying to the airport, have been to Sidari and Paeleokastisa (may have the spelling of that wrong).

So could be a combination of the above. I've never been picked up 5 hours before a flight ever, even in Turkey where the airport was 90 mins away!

It's unlikely TUI will have subcontracted the transfers to a third party (especially not a big competitior).  TUI have contracts with coach operators in the big destinations and the transfers will  be only TUI clients.

It is likely that TUI holiday customers will be travelling on those easyJet flights.  TUI have been using third party airlines to dynamically package for some time now - they recently started using Ryanair.  Allows them to offer holidays where their own aircraft don't operate the route and allows more flexibility on duration where they don't operate daily.

Fair points. Ive been with Malta with Tui and the return flight was with Easyjet. 

So they are likely bundling all the 1140-1300 flights onto the same pickup coaches.

Pollycat

eskbanker said:

Surely it'll be dependent on a range of factors, including distance from the airport, number of other stops, number of other flights departing at similar times, traffic/roadworks, etc?

Very valid points.
And totally relevant to any responses you may receive 

If your accommodation is a 3 hour journey to the airport it's perfectly reasonable for a 8 am pickup.

Baled

twopenny said:

Are they picking up at other hotels on the way? That often happens.
You've got the length of the journey plus de boarding and the 2hrs required before the flight so that's going to take a good chunk out of that time.

Hopefully it's after breakfast service because they picked us up before 8 when we weren't supposed to be able to get any and that was Christmas day when everything at the airport was closed and a long day ahead to get home 
So grab some food. We snaffled bread and bacon to make sandwiches and some cakes 

The hotel manager has arranged a breakfast box as breakfast doesn't usually start until 8.30. That's the one downside I've found with Greek holidays - late breakfast times.

Over the years I've holidayed in a few different resorts including Turkey but the earliest pick up was 4 hrs. Granted, I was the last drop off when I arrived in Corfu but the journey even with all the numerous drop offs was under 2 hours. The airport on a straight run is an hour away so I think 5 hours is a bit overkill.

Inbound flight is TUI. I suppose they're erring on the cautious side if they think there's the possibility passport control/security will be slow going. Fingers crossed the flight isn't delayed.

Edited to add - I've just been into the TUI app and they actually list the pick up destinations after mine, that's a new experience for me.

There's 5 pick ups after me which is at least the same number of the drop offs getting to my hotel. I think 4 hours would be enough time really but it's still better value than forking out for a taxi on my own that's for sure!

NoodleDoodleMan

bagand96 said:

la531983 said:

eskbanker said:

Surely it'll be dependent on a range of factors, including distance from the airport, number of other stops, number of other flights departing at similar times, traffic/roadworks, etc?

After 1pm tomorrow, there isnt another TUI flight out of CFU until 9.55pm. So it does seem a bit strange.

It's feasible the coach operator could be collecting people on other flights on other operators - there are three Easyjet flights going out between 1140 and 1240 back to the UK.  Operators like TUI and Jet2 with fleets of coaches abroad usually like it when they have a cluster of flights leaving within a short space of time. As TUI only have one flight essentially leaving for hours, its possible they have subcontracted the pickups out to a third party (Easyjet maybe) to save on costs of picking up a handful of people for one flight from across an island.

Also my memory of Corfu is that the roads werent great and took a while to get from where we were staying to the airport, have been to Sidari and Paeleokastisa (may have the spelling of that wrong).

So could be a combination of the above. I've never been picked up 5 hours before a flight ever, even in Turkey where the airport was 90 mins away!

It's unlikely TUI will have subcontracted the transfers to a third party (especially not a big competitior).  TUI have contracts with coach operators in the big destinations and the transfers will  be only TUI clients.

It is likely that TUI holiday customers will be travelling on those easyJet flights.  TUI have been using third party airlines to dynamically package for some time now - they recently started using Ryanair.  Allows them to offer holidays where their own aircraft don't operate the route and allows more flexibility on duration where they don't operate daily.

TUI have started using other carriers out of Glasgow to Malaga.

I assume that is now common across the UK from their other departure airports to various destinations ?

Thursday is their day for that route on TUI aircraft, once that flight is full customers are directed to other airlines for the same resort and hotel package deal - usually at at significantly higher price - and luggage is not included as far as I can tell.

TUI packages are available on other days of the week using other carriers.

We can also fly from Edinburgh on a TUI package for our favourite hotel, however not with their airline, hence GLA for us.

They've also supplemented GLA flights using BA in high season to provide a Thursday/Sunday cycle.

We have experienced a one leg return BA flight on a 10 day package - very satisfactory.

eskbanker

Baled said:
I think 4 hours would be enough time really but it's still better value than forking out for a taxi on my own that's for sure!

But if the entirely plausible explanation above applies, your pickup time will actually be less than four hours ahead of some of the flights associated with this airport transfer, or do you have reason to believe that it'll only be ferrying passengers for that specific 1pm flight?