Have a bunch of geographically clustered terminals with no ability to walk between them
How to fuck up an airport
161–170 of 320 posts
Re: How to fuck up an airport
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well Tegel with multiple security checks during transfers isn't pinnacle of good communication either.
The worst for security that I've ever experienced was Amsterdam Schiphol. Absolute chaos at land side security and Americans on American airlines get extra inspection. When I was there they did the extra screening at the gate, but they've gone back and forth a bunch on where that's supposed to happen. Tegel OTOH was super quick albeit poorly connected to the rest of Berlin.
At airports that do this I find it’s more common when US TSA adopts a rule first that people don’t want to subject all air passengers to. It was really common to have gate lines back when the US introduced that 3 oz bottle max.
Re: How to fuck up an airport
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
The worst for security that I've ever experienced was Amsterdam Schiphol. Absolute chaos at land side security and Americans on American airlines get extra inspection. When I was there they did the extra screening at the gate, but they've gone back and forth a bunch on where that's supposed to happen. Tegel OTOH was super quick albeit poorly connected to the rest of Berlin.
At airports that do this I find it’s more common when US TSA adopts a rule first that people don’t want to subject all air passengers to. It was really common to have gate lines back when the US introduced that 3 oz bottle max.
The situation at AMS is that they kowtowed to the American government. The extra security doesn't apply to anyone flying a non-American airline (e.g. KLM) just Americans on American airlines flying to America. Used to be you'd have to go wander to a secondary screening station but when I flew through in 2019 they just pulled you out of line at the gate. I've not seen another airport that does this (in Europe or elsewhere).
Re: How to fuck up an airport
#164Arguably off topic, but having suffered through BER several times, I have a few tips to share which might reduce your own suffering. First: post-security you will find some of the most disgusting food ever served in an airport, but hey it’s also expensive and the servers don’t hide how much they hate being there! However, there is a little shop near the left-side stairs that sells better alcohol as well as soft drink…
I was just there over this weekend, they sold us those 9 eur train tickets saying you can use it for any train anywhere. Then we board the first train that Apple Maps suggested and the first thing we hear from the announcer "9 eur tickets are not valid on this train".
Re: How to fuck up an airport
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
For most sectors yes it was. For airlines and airports it wasn't as helpful, as the sector had very low demand throughout the whole pandemic, minus a couple of 'false start' months. Compare this to busses and trains who got furlough PLUS a very generous package to cover nearly all of their running costs.
You seem to be talking about aid paid to companies. The furlough scheme allowed companies to keep employees without having to pay them (they were paid by government). If airlines and airports were so short-sighted to still layoff plenty of staff then they should now be made to bear the full cost.
Furlough wasn't no cost though for companies. There were many months where you had to pay at least employers NI (which is not trivial when you are getting little to no revenue), and often a signifcant contribution of the salary too.
There really wasn't an option for many airlines and airports to continue furloughing everyone, they simply didn't have the cash to do so.
Ryanair did have the cash and they didn't lay anyone off to my knowledge - and hence are having way better performance than nearly anyone else in Europe (they also have their own airport ground crews at many airports).
Re: How to fuck up an airport
#166I just landed in BER 20 minutes ago and I am just amazed how bad the signage is The signs tiny and all in the same red/white color. The monitors tiny and sparse. The placement of the tickets for the trains placed where you do not pass. And just good luck if you go down the wrong stairway and then reached the nowhere, without any visible signs. They cared about the CI way more than about fast passenger throughput.
>They cared about the CI way more than about fast passenger throughput. Continuous integration?
Computer Infatuation
Re: How to fuck up an airport
#167I just landed in BER 20 minutes ago and I am just amazed how bad the signage is The signs tiny and all in the same red/white color. The monitors tiny and sparse. The placement of the tickets for the trains placed where you do not pass. And just good luck if you go down the wrong stairway and then reached the nowhere, without any visible signs. They cared about the CI way more than about fast passenger throughput.
>They cared about the CI way more than about fast passenger throughput. Continuous integration?
Corona Injections
Re: How to fuck up an airport
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's about 450km, which is between 4 and 5 hours, traffic at each city depending.. A propeller plane shines here. If boarding is quick, and there is no customs as it is in country, and you just carry on? You save time, and it's better than 20 to 50 people driving independantly. A plane can also fly straight too, so it can take even 1/3 of the time to get there. Which is why boarding slow downs are so sad.
OP likely meant that it is a very sad thing for the environment that we (as a society) privilege air travel instead of train travel for such a short distance and where there’s no need to cross a border. The train brings you in the middle of both city center, directly integrated with transit, you can show up about 10 min before your departure, etc. It’s just the actual rail that is the problem.
If there's no train, though, the turboprop plane is going to be better for the environment than all those people driving.
Re: How to fuck up an airport
#169Frankfurt airport is marginally better. Flights stop in the middle of the runway. Take a bus. Buses are late. Walk for what feels like eternity. No regard for accessibility. I’ve met multiple senior citizens frail, waiting for their wheel chairs and worried that they’re going to miss their connecting flights. As good as German engineering is, the airport infra is equally worse. It’s a shame. I like flying lufthansa.…
> I like flying lufthansa. They have the shortest flight times to Asia from the west coast.
Can you elaborate on this? Where do you mean by "west coast"?
Re: How to fuck up an airport
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
You have a very weird circle of associates. Schönefeld was always the bad airport and now the Brandenburg airport took over that title. Tegel was always the quick and convenient one.
I thought Tegel was notoriously the very worst airport in the world? The facilities were atrocious . A security setup like cattle pens. It was like a bad bus stop - grim and dark and raw concrete. It didn’t even particularly have good routes did it?
I used to fly between London and Berlin a lot, and absolutely loved Tegel then. LCY-TXL was a great route. From my apartment to sitting on the plane at LCY took 20 min; from my desk in Berlin to sitting on the plane at TXL took 40 min. Probably the best two airport experiences I've ever had.