Perpignan and Carcassonne airports.

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Sue
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Post by Sue »

Airports other than London would be good for many too. :D
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Santiago
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Post by Santiago »

I love the big posters at Perpignan airport proudly advertising that you can fly to no less than ELEVEN destinations (in summer).
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sue and paul
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Post by sue and paul »

Haha. Yes, agreed Santiago. We have just arrived back at Perpignan airport this morning after a brief UK visit. The first thing you see, even before passport control, is a whacking great poster written in English, advertising Perpignan as a WINTER destination. Font Romeu gets a mention too. Snowy scenes, an' everything!

Winter....depart UK....destination Perpignan....in your dreams
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Post by rogb »

Maybe Belgians go skiing more than Brits. They get 2 winter flights a week to Perps from Brussels-Charleroi.
dimidu66
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Post by dimidu66 »

Dear All,

As you have seen, there are no more flights Perpignan-London Stansted on sale after November, 3rd. Ryanair has decided to close the winter service justifying that the 3 weekly flights offered for last winter season were not enough filled. It's true that they could have at least left 2 weekly flights in order to reduce the service but maintain it, but they have finally decided to close it for the winter. Flights from the end of March 2016 should be on sale soon.

They will fortunately still operate the Carcassonne-London Stansted service with 3 weekly frequencies (Tue/Thu/Sat) for next winter season.

Good news for the Dublin-Perpignan travelers, flights are already on sale with Aer Lingus for Summer 2016 and will start a bit earlier. Aer Lingus will re-launch its service to Perpignan on May, 3rd with 2 weekly frequencies (Tue/Sat) for the 2 first weeks, and 4 weekly frequencies (Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun) from May, 17th. You can already book your tickets for May, June & July 2016.
Lanark Lass
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Winter travel

Post by Lanark Lass »

Have looked at the flights to Carcassonne and Beziers in the winter - but the problem in both cases could be onward rail connection to the Perpignan area
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Post by dimidu66 »

Hi, you have regional trains (TER) about every hour between Perpignan & Carcassonne, I have checked online for November and the times are ok if you take a flight from Carcassonne or if you arrive by Carcassonne. http://www.voyages-sncf.com You also have a direct shuttle between Carcassonne airport and the train station.
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Carcassonne

Post by Lanark Lass »

Hi

Problem is flights to Carcassonne arrive at 17.20

Last train on a Saturday from Carcassonne to Argeles departs at 17.15.

For a weekday flight there is a train at 18.35. Fine on paper - but any slight delay would leave one stranded in Carcassonne for the night.
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Post by dimidu66 »

Yes you're right, the times are just good if you need to take a flight from Carcassonne but not when you arrive.

Flights on sale for Summer 2016 UPDATE :

RYANAIR from CARCASSONNE
Bru. Charleroi (6 weekly flights in winter exclu. Fri, 1 daily flight from March, 30th)
Dublin (2 weekly flights in winter Fri/Sun, 3 weekly flights in Summer Tue/Thu/Sat)
East Midlands (3 weekly flights Mon/Wed/Fri till November, 2nd - back from March, 18th - 3 weekly flights Mon/Wed/Fri, flights from April… will be on sale soon)
Glasgow Intl (2 weekly flights Wed/Sat till October, 24th -summer flights should be on sale soon, back from March, 30th 2 weekly flights Wed/Sat)
Liverpool (2 weekly flights in winter Tue/Sat - no summer flight loaded online at present)
London Stansted (3 weekly flights in winter Tue/Thu/Sat - 1 daily flight from March, 17th
Porto (2 weekly flights Wed/Sun till November, 5th - back from March, 27th 2 weekly flights in summer Wed/Sun
No flights to Cork/Eindhoven & Liverpool for Summer 2016 at present

RYANAIR from PERPIGNAN
Bru. Charleroi (2 weekly flights Tue/Sat in winter - 3 weekly flights in summer Tue/Thu/Sat)
London Stansted (4 weekly flights Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun till November, 3rd - back from March, 17th with 4 weekly flights Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun)

AER LINGUS from PERPIGNAN - back earlier than expected in 2016!
Dublin (2 to 4 weekly flights till September, 26th - back from April, 28th 3 weekly flights Tue/Thu/Sat & 4 weekly flights Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun from May, 17th)

I will give you regular updates as much as possible.
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Post by Lanark Lass »

A return trip to/from Carcassonne not very practical then for onward travel to Argeles etc! - not by when train connections required,anyway.
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Perpignan carcasonne

Post by CarolineN »

Dimitri. Thank you for everything you do. This is not a criticism of you. But WHY don't the relevant people see that tourism could be all year round in the region? But only IF people can get here !
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Post by neil mitchell »

For those in the south of England the EasyJet Montpellier/Gatwick route is actually good. The flights are in the middle of the day which much reduces the need for a hotel stopover and the 1 Euro train Perpignan/Montpellier can be used. We just got from Vernet Les Bains to the Isle of Wight easily in a day all on public transport and we can do the same when we come back next week. I think this will be our winter route.
I noticed also that RyanAir are flying Luton/Nimes over the winter and you can use the 1 Euro train from Nimes to Perpignan.
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Post by Pearsonb »

Whenever I have tried to get a one euro ticket for the train, they have sold out for the times I want ;-)

From this far south, it looks much easier to park at Figueras, get the fast train and go from Barcelona.

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Post by neil mitchell »

I found that with the train too when I tried to book a while back when it first started but they now seem to have organised their website better. I had no problem but they do have a 3 week booking horizon.
The Barcelona route is probably better for the North of England but the disadvantages are that you have to drive or get the train which is more than 1 Euro. Megabus are pretty cheap but only 2 journeys per day.
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Post by dimidu66 »

Hi Caroline, thanks for your encouragement. If it only depended of us it would be much easier... but airlines have also to believe in our potential, and it's a hard work to get their confidence! But trust me, we have fortunately people conscious of the potential in the region and we make sure to plan the best actions to promote the services of the ones who grant us their confidence, we have close relations with our Tourism Board and we try our best to promote the region and attract new carriers.
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Post by sue and paul »

Thanks for keeping us in touch dimidu66. You do a great job, probably in the face of a good deal of difficulty.

However, I do find it slightly amusing/irritating that the first Tourism information for the region is an enormous poster, just to the right, as arriving passengers are queuing at passport control . It is in English, so presumably intended for Anglophones and especially those arriving from UK. It is promoting the area, especially the mountains, as a winter destination. Can't disagree...it is lovely up there in the winter. BUT how do all the English get there using Perpignan airport? They CAN'T !! I bet they would if only they could
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Post by Smiley G »

I just wanted to make a comment about Perpignan Airport, our son flew in this morning from Stansted. As we haven't been to meet arrivals since May or taken anyone to departures, we expected to see significant improvements today.
What a disappointment and what a total mess.
Some of you may already know that arrivals arrive via Portakabins with immigration situated to the right of the airport main buildings. You proceed through a gate onto the road. There is no arrival lounge or any facilities. Car hire offices are situated in Portakabins outside the gate. There is no protection from the elements.
Departures still looks a complete mess and the whole airport gives the impression that the work is being carried out on a minimalistic budget. Quite frankly it is a poor advert for tourism in the PO.
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perpignan aerport

Post by monsans »

Add to this that if one goes through 'the gate' then one can NOT return to collect luggage. This happened to me as I went to check if my taxi was there and 'Security' would not let me or others back through 'the gate' who equally had made the same mistake. This of course took nearly 45 minutes extra, until all had collected their luggage except me and others.. Happy times Perpignan aerport.
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Post by redneckrover »

I also came through Perpignan airport a couple of weeks ago.
I could not believe the lack of progress in the reconstruction of the airport.
It appears to me that there is no real commitment In getting things done, I was here in March 2015 and I thought there was about 3 or 4 months work left in completing the job.
I came back in September and found, incredibly that the job was far from complete.
I have worked in this business and I just don't understand what is going on , can anybody explain why such a small project should take such a long time, I'd love to know.
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Perpignan Airport Upgrade

Post by BT »

Arrived last Monday, I was aware of the new arrivals / baggage area and the new location for the Car Hire. Got through in the quickest time ever! OK the flight from Dublin wasn't packed.

Departed on Saturday, the Birmingham and Dublin flights depart around the same time so departure area was very busy. When we got through security it was very uncomfortable, not enough seating. At least there are now loos air-side, this wasn't the case in July. The air conditioning didn't seems to be working yet, the doors to the apron area where eventually opened to allow in some air. Also Wi-Fi hasn't been re-connected.

The upgrade is a work in progress; hopefully it will all be completed for next summer.

Perpignan suits my family, the drive from Carcassonne or Girona is an hour each way, I need that extra hour in the sun!

Regards to all

BT
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Post by dimidu66 »

Dear Sue & Paul, the "Come back this winter" advertisements were made for last year to promote the winter service from Perpignan to London Stansted, unfortunately it's now a pointless advertisement but it might be useful again in a few months...

Dear All, thank you for your comments and sorry for all the inconveniences caused by the renovation works, but it's a necessary step and our teams try to do it the best way in order to minimize the effects for the passengers.
The renovation works should be finished by late January 2016, and I confirm that they are not conducted on a minimalistic budget, if it's because of the Portakabins that you say that, it was the best solution we had as the works in the Arrivals lounge are heavy and don't allow us to use this lounge anymore during the renovation. I would also like to add that all the works being currently conducted are not visible in totality as several parts of the airport are currently closed to public but works are progressing well behind the scenes! Imagine our staff working in the terminal, they are disturbed since 1 year by the dust, the noise + many other problems caused by works, and it's almost everyday like this for them.... still a little bit of patience and you won't be disappointed ;-)
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Perpignan and Carcassonne Airports.

Post by Rose »

I,for one, have loved the ease of getting through Perpignan airport on arriving, and have paid the subscription for airport parking for almost all of the 13 years I have had a house in the area. One of my fears, however, was that Ryanair could decide not to fly in during the winter months, as is happening now, and they have abandoned Girona airport for the winter months after all the infrastructure has been built.

One never knows how Michael O'Leary will act. I hope for Carcassonne Airport's sake he will never pull out of there after all the building works they have completed. Although we can come to this area via Barcelona, Carcassonne, Beziers or Montpellier nothing is ever certain.

I am afraid that this is the reason we have decided to relocate to the Midi-Pyrenees Region. There are 3 BA flights a day to Toulouse from Heathrow. On 2nd October I am flying back to Heathrow with a 23kg case, a handbag and cabin bag for 83 euros. I will also be offered a free drink and a snack.

My husband arrived at Perpignan on Monday evening and was almost a victim of the 5p scam Ryanair has been operating for years. You order a drink and the bill is £5.95. They say they will come back to give you change for the £6 you offer them. They don't. Many friends of mine have had this happen to them.

My husband asked for the 5p change and asked them if he could have bought the drink for £5.90. Of course not, but many attendants do not return the change. I have had many friends who have had to ask for this.

I loved flying out of Girona all year round, especially because there was an open air smoking terrace.

Good Luck to Perpignan Airport. I wish you well.
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Post by montgolfiere »

i dont believe Ryanair has 'Abandoned' Girona 'per se' for the Winter. it is just no flights to the UK.
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Post by Smiley G »

Some family comments iMessaged from departures tonight.
22:00 FR937 Perpignan to London Stansted................
" Perpignan Airport is a total disgrace"
" No food or drink being served"
"In Departure area about 75 seats with around 150 people waiting"
Other passenger comments concerning the lack of facilities were too full of expletives to be reproduced here.
These comments are in addition to those made on arrival on Saturday 12th.
All these people will relate their experience to friends/colleagues & family. This in turn becomes a Ryanair-bashing discussion and, for example, "don't fly into Perpignan, it's a third-world airport, a complete farce." Comments that our region can do without.
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Post by Owens88 »

I think that Perpignan airport has never had enough seats for 1 flight yet on Saturday there were 2 or 3 scheduled within the same short period.

The array of wiring hanging from the ceiling is a joke. Surely that is not a situation that should last more than a few days?

J
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Post by dimidu66 »

Ryanair develops its Birmingham-Perpignan service! The airline will operate 2 weekly flights (Tue/Sat) from May, 28th to September, 27th 2016. Flights are on sale on ryanair.com since yesterday.

Several extra flights have also been added for August month on London Stansted-Perpignan service. As a reminder, Ryanair will stop the service in early November and resume the route from March, 17th 2016.

Aer Lingus will resume its Dublin-Perpignan service from April, 28th with 3 weekly frequencies (Tue/Thu/Sat) up to 4 weekly frequencies (Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun) from May, 17th.
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Perpignan

Post by BT »

Hi Dimidu,

Do you have a completion date for all the works currently in progress?

Regards

BT
Smiley G
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Re: Perpignan

Post by Smiley G »

BT wrote:Hi Dimidu,

Do you have a completion date for all the works currently in progress?

Regards

BT
Also, are there any car park restrictions over the next 2 or 3 weeks? Friends want to leave their car at the airport for a week and I said I would try and find out.
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Post by neil mitchell »

Well, extrapolating the rate of progress I would say completion sometime between 2025 and 2030. The thing is an utter disgrace and embarrassment. It wan't perfect before but it worked and I can't see how this is worth the improvement.
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Post by redneckrover »

I agree absolutely ! I cannot understand why a relatively small job should take so long, I would really appreciate an explanation. !!
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