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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
A top contender for World's Worst Airport has to be Thiruvanantapuram (old name: Trivandrum) Airport in Kerala State, India. It is also a busy airport - like Dakar's - since it handles a lot of flights to the Arabian Gulf. It is a combination of lousy facilities, chaotic arrangements and horrible employees. Anyone who has seen their luggage being 'handled' by the luggage handlers in Trivandrum Airport will never ever want to go there again. Trivandrum is the capital city of Kerala State - one of the most socially advanced states in India - and it is a wonder that the airport is as rotten as it is.
Not so seasoned a traveler as the rest of you, so I don't know the initials. We've flown in and out of Miami several times in the past 7 years, most of the time with very small children, and I found it pleasant and easy to navigate, with very helpful people. Minneapolis has great shopping, if you have the time and, while I know it's sad, I really like the long tunnel in Detroit which (at least in 2003) had the lights which changed color.
cim902
Wow.. upon seeing the article headline, I actually thought "heh, he's probably talking about the Dakar airport"
Through circumstances that still baffle me, I found myself there two years ago.. upon arrival, I was standing in the line approaching the customs counter in amazing heat and humidity (amazing as it was perfectly temperate outside), and the heavily-cologned guy in back of me was standing so close that I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. He had his carry-on bag on the floor, and every time the line moved forward, he'd kick it against the back of my legs. Welcome to Senegal!
Then there was this main corridor where the ceiling suddenly drops down to head-skimming level. Perhaps I was rash in not anticipating the dangers of hitting my head on the ceiling in the *airport*!
All in all, it reminded me of this one Greyhound terminal in Sacramento.
If Viktor Navorski had been stranded at Singapore's Changi International Airport, he might have lived out a fulfilling life there. For about $30 you can get a night's sleep in a clean room, toss in a massage for another $20 or so, or catch a movie. You might miss your flight while deciding where to eat or swimming in the rooftop pool. Several lounges feature live music. Want to get away from the airport? No problem, just take a free bus tour of the city. Add a school system and you could raise a family there.
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I took a flight from Dulles (IAD) to Johannesburg (JNB)that had a refueling stop in Dakar. At 17 hours including the stopover, it was horrific. We were not allowed to get off the plane in Dakar, and now I understand that the airline was doing us all a favor.
This airport stuns me every time.
Example: arrived from Barcelona a few weeks ago and after walking through dingy halls that were last cleaned with the London underground (ie never) took the bus-through-hell: overcrowded, overheated you drive through a rabbits warren of streets, barbed wire looped around windows with toilet paper and plastic bags snagged in them, a lonely piece of expensive luggage sitting on a traffic island.
Arrived in Terminal 3 - up the stairs and into a long line of people waiting to go to security. As usual there's an anxious staffperson saying 'are you with the x (this time japanese) group going to x (this time Barcelona)?' They nod yes. 'Then follow me!' she shouts, and starts running. The fit young members of the group keep up with her, the older people shuffle along, their dignity gone. Naturally I find them all again thirty minutes later in the queue through security where the staffperson is now arguing with security to let them through the elastic queue guides.
The last time this happened to me: 'are you going to Sydney? Run!' I ran, leaving the old and infirm to totter behind me, presumably missing their flights.
This happens every time! I enjoy the comedy of it occasionally, but I don't like it when it's me being told to run and I don't like seeing old people being hassled and stressed like that. Why don't they: get a golf buggy to collect people instead of telling them to run; communicate better between staff so people can be prioritiised through security; orgnise themselves better all round so people aren't told that basically they should get really stressed for nothing becuase now they're on their own?
Not to mention the extraordinary state of their inter terminal transport and their incredibly lax security at the entrances and exits to the terminals. Except for the implausibility of anyone WANTING to get in there, it would be extremely easy to join a group of discouraged travellers off the bus and into the terminal. After that they'd just have to line up to go through security with everyone else, obediently taking off their shoes, and they'd be through.
Heathrow - the Bally shop and the Harrods shops, not to mention the first class and business lounges are fun, but what about the ordinary people who have to use your facilities? It's the biggest dump in the first world and it's time to sort it out.
My first thought was how wonderful the airport in Iceland is (I dare not attempt to spell the name of its capital at this late hour). It's modelled like a modern version of a wooden viking ship - medium-toned scandanavian wood in swooping arcs, intermixed with lots of glass and light. I was only there on a couple-hour layover, but shopping for pickled fish and canned fruits was fun. A real joy to be in.
We rushed to the Jaipur airport to catch a flight to Udaipur, urging our cabdriver to go faster every minute. We were greeted at the check-in line with a big huge scary guy in a turban and the biggest mustache you've ever seen, the kind that curled at each end (right out of Aladdin). He took his sweet time, we were the only ones in the terminal and were convinced we'd miss the flight, though we didn't rush him, for fear he'd turn into the airplane nazi (no flight for you!). Other than that, it was a regional kind of place, so not that shocking.
What's up with them still allowing smoking at the gates in Narita though? (or at least they were in '02).
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
Salon headlines in your mailbox
