Got back off holiday last night and I need to have a good moan and get this off my chest. I'm not exactly new to air travel and I don't mind flying itself like some people do, but I've realised I frigging hate airports. They could be nice relaxing places with the multitude of bars, restaurants etc available in departure lounges, but they seem to make a concerted effort to make it a ballache for you and keep you spending all your time away from these places. First you get there and have to drop your bags off. The airport always has 50-100 gates to drop them off, you can see one of them has a big queue and the rest are all empty. It's the middle of the night (cos you can never get a flight at a decent ****ing time can you, no it has be 3am for some reason) so there's yours and one other flight. You know from a distance that massive queue is yours. You join the queue, it's bang on two hours before the flight as instructed and IT'S NOT ****ING OPEN YET. They insist that you get there two hours early but all you're doing for that time is standing in a queue that doesn't move, because they haven't even opened the bloody bag drop thing. Why not just tell us when it's actually going to be open and we'll come then? Why are those 98 unused gates still empty while we're all queueing out the doors for these 2? If this was a supermarket they'd just open another till. The people operating these gates seem unlike anyone else in customer service, they're in absolutely no rush at all to deal with this massive queue, and the way they operate their computers it's as if its their first day every day. Then you're sat cosy enough in the departure lounge for about 10 minutes before your flight is apparently 'boarding' so you go to the right gate and it's another bloody queue with no one there to let you on the plane. Why are we queueing again? Why not just tell us when it's actually boarding and we'll stay comfy sat down until that time? Just tell us the truth ffs. Then you arrive after the flight and have to do the border control bit on the other side. And of course they're woefully under-prepared for 200 people to arrive at once, with one stony-faced guy checking passports etc and 9 other closed lanes. I mean what are they expecting? Is it really that unusual for them to get a whole plane load of people arriving at once? Doesn't this happen hundreds of times a day? These flights are expected at a certain time to a high degree of accuracy and yet they seem to be genuinely caught out when you all turn up on time, all at once. It's not like this on any other mode of transport. What's going on?
It's not a Turkish problem, it's the same at both ends and seems to have been wherever I've flown to/from.
it's another reason i hate flying you endure the horrific flight, and you don't even get out the ****ing place for ages, i need fresh air asap
I've studied tourism for three years, with another three to go and i honestly can't answer this question. It's not so bad when you're going because you're excited but long waits to go home are just depressing all round
The worst airport i have been to recently was, surprisingly LA. Before i got there i was expecting state of the art everything with everyone breezing through security, check in etc etc..... I don't think i could have been more wrong if i tried. It was a total chaotic shambles every time you had to do something else in the process. Most of the outback Airports(???) here in Aus are easier and better, and some of them are little more than a bit of tarmac with a shed. I've got a few airports to pass through in about a week or two, so will probably heartily agree with everything that has been said so far by the end of it.
at schiphol airport,amsterdam,there is self service bagage control going out and self service passport control coming back. passport self service is only for eec people. beer in the rembrant bar is 6:75 for a half litre!!!! at most airports ive been through there never is enough stools to sit on or toilets to poo on.i just got back from asia and me comic cuts were in tatters and i could,nt get a toilet!!
It's because the ****ers are there to make as much profit out of you as is possible, not make your life easy. Less staff = less costs to the airport authorities/airlines. You're locked in; you're a 'captive crowd'. You pay for it, not them......
The thing that gets me about airports is the cynical, money grabbing, contempt with which you're treated. Duty free shops were things appear just as expensive as anywhere else. No seats so you are forced to buy a coffee or beer in order to sit down. Limited amenities which they cannot charge for, so few toilets or decent waiting areas. The main Hell though is, as always, other people. Loud, leary knobheads drinking at 8.30am (which is fine but probably unnecessary) and singing, chanting, swearing and abusing passers by (which is not). Hen parties, wearing cheap T-shirts, sashes and devils horns, screeching like banshees. Arrogant businessman who think that being a regular flyer means that somehow they own the place. Screaming kids. Cleaners who hit you with mops. (Admittedly this has only happened to me once, and was probably accidental, but I'm still counting it.) The only thing I don't mind is the security. Checking of documentation, searches of baggage etc. all seems eminently reasonable to me.
This is a symptom of cheap flights, cheap carriers and *local airports". You're not going to get quality with that price you want to pay. Ern's pretty much nailed it in his post about hen/stag parties, and people getting pissed are never much fun when you're sober. You get what you pay for basically.
We arrived back t'other year at 1:30 in the morning after a hour delay for no reason to find we were behind a flight coming in from Pakistan. You can imagine how long it took for us to get through passport control.
You can add the cafe's to your rant. I used to fly a lot, often getting one of the first morning flights out. After getting up early getting to the airport going through all the check-in **** you mentioned I now need a coffee, but of course they coffee shops arn't open yet and the queue is starting to build. Finally some oik turns up and as casually a sloth prepares for his work. Passengers nervously checking the time before they need to leave the coffee queue and go off to join the queue at the gate. Customer one now being served, What would you like sir? cup of coffee please, Would you like expresso, douplo, latte, americano or one of a list of 20 other types which he takes three minuets to read out. Never ask for an expresso its not.
In this country, it's pretty certain that none of the people you're complaining about are airport staff. Check-in desks, for example, are manned by handling agent companies, employed by the airlines. The airline, which you chose, decides how many desks it is prepared to pay for. The airport has done its bit in providing more than enough desks, but cannot insist that they are used.
Did you fly to and from a proper international airport? Although pricey, airports are usually pretty decent. It's the smaller ones where all the ****ing **** budget airlines such as Ryanair, wizzair etc use and the holiday agents like Thomson or whatever (who are no better) that are horrific **** dens. Fly with a proper airline and it's generally a fairly cushty experience.
Im going to guess you flew with Thomson/Thomas Cook/Monarch? They always put their cheapest flights at that time unfortunately. Like Barmbys_tan, I studied this subject for 5 years - and can wholeheartedly agree with you on a lot of points. The single worst airport to go through however is Leeds Bradford, as they appear to have outgrown themselves. Manchester T3 with Ryanair isn't much better, but Leeds Bradford consistently has horrendous queues at security, along with £5+ pints and absolutely bugger all where to sit! Plus the experience of landing from Dublin is awful, 189 people cramped onto to buses going at 2mph, to be dumped at passport control with just TWO people manning the desks. It's a shame Humberside can't reduce their costs - were always a good little airport. As for the 3am flights, Ryanair/Easyjet flights land before midnight 99% of the time. (except for delays).
Disagree, at the moment I'd much rather go through Kaunas airport than somewhere like Malaga. I prefer to fly with Ryanair as at least it'll get there on time, and to be fair they've upped their game quite substantially. If I was heading to a European game to watch the mighty Tigers, they'd be my first port of call.
It's cheaper to get out there on British Airways than Ryanair. BA or Ryanair.... Hmm, no contest. Plus Ryanair... I've used them twice,late both legs both times. Pile of ****e. No legroom, charge you to use the bog, charge extra for baggage, full of drunk ******s, what's not to hate?
firstly the smaller the airport the better for me, you can roll up to somewhere like humberside 45 mins before the flight and still get checked in, personally i,m not all for the shopping experience, reclining chairs, self flushing toilets, cocktail bars, etc, very nice extras and appreciated but there is enough waiting around already. i would just rather get on the plane and get where i am going, whether short haul or long haul! as for ryanair being on time, they can skew those figures significantly, people don't care much for flight times if they differ by even 1/2 hour or so, so they bolt on say 20 minutes above what they expect and then play that little jingle saying they are on time again and how they are 99.999999999999999% efficient. saying that i actually don't mind travelling on the budget airlines
Those airports that offer a premium fast track through the airport are the worst culprits. As you say they seem to deliberately slow everyone else down to highlight the value to the few customers paying extra. What they fail to understand is that if they got the masses through to the shopping and restaurant areas as soon as possible, they would maximise the cash out of these people waiting around before they board their flight. Holidaymakers are generally far more open to spending 3.50 on a bar of chocolate than they would normally be. East Midlands airport is the worst for this in my experience. Rant over.
