Apron buses are very common in large airports and I always found it really efficient. From memory I’ve used them at Haneda, Narita and KL. Perhaps the ones in Germany are just altered metro buses though, which would be terrible. Apron buses are efficient due to being low to the ground, having very wide doors to accomodate quick loading and unloading, typically no seats.
Buses are a lot less efficient than proper jetways. Why are European airports so far behind?
Oh, we have them, but they charge extra for it. Capitalism, you know.
And I'm told they're punctual. Haven't been to BER myself. There are some well designed airports in Asia (multiple countries). In USA, I personally felt SEA (Seattle-Tacoma) and DFW (Dallas/Fort-Worth) were rather good. LAX is a mess for domestic/international transfers, with remote terminals and having to go though multiple buses right through the middle of planes on tarmac. However, I've gone through LAX many times…
I've never transferred through lax but I don't mind flying into and out of it. From that perspective its pretty good. 7 terminals distributes security lines well enough to never be that crowded when I go at least. Your gate is then a 10 min walk at most from security at your terminal. On the arrivals side, you hop off the plane and baggage claim is again a 10 minute walk away, usually my bag is already on the conveyer when I come to it. It's a farcry from the song and dance you have to do at airports like denver. It feels like its 7 small airports wired up in series. I can see how that could screw you if your transfer is between different airlines perhaps though.
A few decades ago, when my boss (senior exec at major US airline) was negotiating to be a part of Denver International Airport - he wrote in legalese requiring Denver Stapleton airport to be shutdown. He expected DIA to have tons of problems which it did, but killing Stapleton kept DIA on track. Couple of anecdotes - the baggage handling design (I saw the revised version) was shuttling suitcases easily above 25 miles…
What is the conspiracy take on the giant devil blue unicorn outside the DIA airport?
6 stories beneath it is the real Area 51 or something like that.
> You can use a standard subway ticket almost. the airport is one stop into zone C, and a “standard” ticket would only be valid in zones A and B. you need either an ABC ticket or a standard ticket + extension ticket.
How often do the ticket inspectors come in right after the airport stop? If it's relatively rare, you theoretically could ride that one stop without a ticket (but of course that would be totally illegal, do not do it).
I got fined once when leaving SXF, because my ticket purchase in the app went through 20 seconds after departure (I rushed into the leaving train while buying the ticket). So, yes, they do check as early as that.
Best way: close the actual city airport that was functioning like a well-oiled machine and was loved by the city population. Even better, do it against their explicit wishes with a shady decision that reeks of corruption. Any follow-up to that will always end up being "fucked up".
> close the actual city airport that was functioning like a well-oiled You mean which Berlin's airport? As Berlin-native for few years I used the Schönefeld numerous times... and the staff there was some mixture of rude primitive sadists. Behaving towards passengers as if they're taking revenge for something. I just want to fly out of here, you cunt.
That's just German people. If they don't know you, and they're old, and they see an excuse to harass you, they'll probably go for it.
Best way: close the actual city airport that was functioning like a well-oiled machine and was loved by the city population. Even better, do it against their explicit wishes with a shady decision that reeks of corruption. Any follow-up to that will always end up being "fucked up".
The people of Pankow cannot agree with you. The noise from Tegel was a torture.
Arguably 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".
would be interesting to hear from a foreign how '9 euro ticket' sounds to you. Any opinions on that?
Imagine having "spare" 50€. Unless you're absolutely rich, you probably shouldn't default to using a cab in a city known for it's amazing public transport.
You think you are rich if you have a spare 50$ ? wow Then I must be mega-rich.
by 'spare' I think he/she meant something like "ah, whatever, I don't care"
'not spare' would be: "50€ ? I could buy xy for that!"
I 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?
I 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?