25 March 2024
“Producers of simple yet exceptional-quality beer, German breweries are some of the craft world’s most sought-after and respected,” says online beer retailer Beer Merchants.
However, the sad fact is that it appears Germans would be incapable of organising a p*** up in brewery given the fiasco yet again beseiging the online slot booking system for this year’s AERO Friedrichshafen.
Not only are pilots finding it next to impossible to book a slot for Europe’s top General Aviation event, held at Friedrichshafen Airport in April, but the show organisers have had to issue an apology and warning for a data breach.
The data breach ‘has occurred due to a configuration error’ and can affect email address, password, address, aircraft information and personal details.
“We strongly recommend taking precautions to ensure your security, such as changing your password, especially if you use it for other accounts.” said the Aero-Slot.de Team notice.
One pilot’s repeated experience trying to book a slot for AERO Friedrichshafen
Meanwhile, contributors to the FLYER forum and another in Germany have complained that the message ‘Slot no longer available’ happens whenever they try to book what first appeared to be an available slot.
One pilot reported, “[I] logged in and selected a viable arrival slot from the presented list and continued to departures. A box pops up at the bottom of the screen, “Slot no longer available”. Back I go to the new list of slots presented and same again… and again and again. Every slot presented, same message. What a crock, again.”
Others are suggesting other nearby airfields such as Konstanz EDTZ, Lentkirch EDNL and Memmingen EDJA, although that does seem to negate the fun of flying to the event. One suggestion is to fly outside the show open days when no slot booking is required.
AERO’s inability to organise its show slot booking system has been a constant problem over the years despite the show organisers saying last December it was fixed.
Tobias Bretzel, AERO Show Director, said on 21 December 2023, “We are delighted to be able to offer AERO exhibitors and visitors more slots for the anniversary AERO than last year – which is of particular importance to us. With a new process, we are making slot booking more customer-friendly and incorporating the experience of previous years into the new system.”
Anyone fancy a pint?
