I can’t say you are wrong… but let me have a rant on a topic which really p1sses me off and does so quite often.
My take on this sort of thing is that someone who writes what I did is an intelligent person (yeah, I know, but let’s keep this simple 
) because
and an intelligent question deserves an intelligent answer. I do this all day at work and always give a good answer to a good question.
Yet, many people answer an intelligent question with an extremely brief reply, and the reasons are likely to be
So, yes, semantically the answer to my Q was correctly “our website is correct” but without an explanation of why it differs from the AIP I take that answer as a polite f-off. Especially written as a one-liner, no intro and no signature. If I wrote such an answer it would be a very clear and direct f-off and I would never dream of sending that to any intelligent individual.
To me it looks like LOWZ got the 2hrs requirement from the police, and has not done anything to get the AIP straight. It was 2hrs last summer too so this is nothing recent.
I wonder what e.g. St Johann is operating. They are also in that 1-hour AIP list…
Cobalt wrote:
A useful guide is here
Is there a similar guide to German so Peter can decipher the reply correctly?
But I basically agree with Peter. They cannot be bothered to give an exhaustive, customer-friendly reply because they could not care less about proper customer service – or this particular employee doesn’t give a damn.
At least when I had the customs office at Carcassonne on the phone they admitted there was a discrepancy between their opening hours and those published in the AIP and indicated they would take action to have them corrected.
They cannot be bothered to give an exhaustive, customer-friendly reply because they could not care less about proper customer service – or this particular employee doesn’t give a damn.
Exactly. Surprising since they are actually very helpful when one is there.
BTW I actually don’t fit most or any of Cobalt’s “English double meaning” guide. If I say “quite good” I mean literally quite good – even if I am the only person living in the UK who would mean that The main thing is that Justine knows this. Here is my version:
Only an idiot would say “you must come for dinner” if they don’t mean it, because the person might take it literally, come for dinner, and then you have to deal with it. And same for most of the others.
They cannot be bothered to give an exhaustive, customer-friendly reply because they could not care less about proper customer service
The answer to Peter’s email was clearly an example of bad manners in writing – something that, unfortunately, seems to be ever more common as written communication becomes ever more casual.
However, the crew at LOWZ has always provided a very friendly and efficient service when I was at their field. I have yet to come across a pilot who was disappointed with his experience there – as opposed to many other aerodromes.
Poor customer service is everywhere. I live in a country which is unfortunately reknowned for poor customer service, to the extent where when they created Paris-Paris in Las Vegas, they even re-created the Parisian customer service experience to make it more authentic
I work in the service industry (US-based group), and for the last few years my employer has had programs to improve customer service. Not sure it works yet, but we’re trying.
Welcome to the differences among European cultures. There is often (but not always) a difference between an email exchange experience and a direct face-to-face one, especially where one side of the conversation is using English as a foreign language. The comments about the actual experience at LOWZ vs the tone of the email would seem to indicate that your interpretation, Peter, is applying the reverse of the above example of what British say and others understand …. i.e. what others (non-English speakers) say and you as a Brit understand in your context (no offence). The table presented is an example of misunderstandings between Brits and non-Brits (Americans, Canadians, Australians, etc) who are both English-speaking natives. Let’s give non-native English speakers a bit of leeway on this, at least until face-to-face confirms the contrary.
I had a similar experience with Colmar LFGA. The AIP says 1hr PPR and the “official” French customs notification form on the airport web site says 24hr!! I made a compromise and emailed customs and cc’d the airport the afternoon before a morning departure. I then phoned the airport in the morning before departure just to confirm all was ok. A colleague was dinged (fined) €500 in Troyes by the police last May because he didn’t give necessary notice, which I wanted at all costs to avoid (in fact, he was a bit lax with his “notification”, so was certainly partly to blame, so that’s a slightly different story). When I arrived at Colmar, I discussed the necessary lead time with the on-duty person at the ARO. He said that they can be notified directly (by email or phone) and will take it upon themselves to notify customs, and in that case 24hr is not necessary. They noticed that my email was also to customs, so they didn’t need to take any action but were happy to be cc’d so they weren’t surprised (and worried) when I arrived. They said that for Colmar (at that time, last September, pre-Paris) the most important is that customs/police are informed in advance of any non-Schengen arrival (à la Suisse). They are very accommodating in Colmar because they need/want (read: are struggling to get) the traffic to justify the infrastructure and keep the support money flowing.
BTW, on a tangent related to another thread, the current NOTAM/AIC for Colmar states that a flight plan is necessary for ALL international flights (i.e. incl intra-Schengen), which of course is nothing new or different. There is no mention about a new requirement for customs or police notification.
BTW2, I strongly recommend Colmar for a stop. I didn’t need fuel (which they have), and I was into the C bureau for a pit stop and to pay the bill and was back in the plane ready for startup within 15’.
Vince
chflyer wrote:
There is no mention about a new requirement for customs or police notification.
LFFA-B1002/16
Q) LFEE/QFZXX/IV/NBO/ A/000/999/4807N00722E005
A) LFGA COLMAR HOUSSEN
B) 2016 Feb 24 16:19 C) 2016 Jul 02 16:00
E) CUSTOMS :
INFO CLI METZ FOR ANY INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT O/R PN 24H TEL : +33 (0)9 70 27 74 02 FAX : +33 (0)3 87 36 00 84 OR CLI-METZ
