Is air travel becoming too much hassle?

therecklessone

In the last 15 months I've travelled through quite a few airports (all leisure, no business), and I'm fed up with them all!

The list (if anyone's interested)

Dublin (countless times), Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Stockholm, London Luton, London Stansted (countless times), London Heathrow (countless times), Hong Kong, Cairns, Darwin, Alice Springs, Sydney, Dunedin, Christchurch, Rotorua, Auckland, LAX, Manchester, and Palma.

Maybe its the increased frequency of travel, but I've noticed a distinct deterioration in the quality of the experience. Dublin has been a shambles for quite a while now (I was a defender of the place until recently) with everything from airport layout to the joke that is security screening (the only place I'm aware of that insists you take your shoes off, then deposits you in a shopping arcade with for you to get them back on again)

I spent 45 minutes queueing to get through security in Stansted last night, which was particularly uncomfortable for me given some recent back trouble, so I can only imagine what its like for elderly passengers. Stansted has one large area of seating near Zone G, but no screens are visible from there to see if your flight is boarding yet if you're on your own like I was (and wanting to get checked in as early as possible so you can try to relax before the flight) you're up and down checking bloody screens, dragging bags all over the place.

I arrived in Dublin from Heathrow a while back and the 150 or so who got off the BMI flight found ourselves standing like spare p*icks at Immigration in Pier C because all four channels were for all passport holders and there was a few non-EU passengers holding us up (I don't blame them as such, more the idiot who decided against having dedicated EU passport holder lanes like everywhere bloody else) I don't expect thinking outside the box to be a prerequisite skill, but thinking inside the box would be nice at times...

This might sound like a Dublin and Stansted rant, but I've had bad experiences at most of the other airports as well. What I'm wondering is this: if the likes of Michael O'Leary want us to consider air travel as like using buses, are they going to find customers getting fed up with the whole experience and will leisure travel start to level off? If its a choice between a weekend in Galway and a weekend in London, I think I know where I'll be heading from now on...

seamus

If anything I'm finding it much easier to travel by air than it used to be, but perhaps it's the way I've been doing it.

I do the Dublin -> Heathrow hop about once a month, sometimes more, and I find it a pleasure; If for, example, I get 20:10 flight from Dublin:
18:15 - Leave house
18:45 - Park in Long Term
19:00 - Arrive at airport,Take out money from ATM, use quick check-in.
19:15 - Buy a magazine, and pass through security.
19:20 - Go upstairs and get a sandwich and coffee.
19:40 - Head to gate
20:10 (ish) - take off
21:10 (ish) - Arrive in Heathrow
21:30 - Get tube
22:15 - Arrive at gf's house.

That's four hours door-to-door, and very little time spent sitting around waiting. You'd be longer getting to Killarney. The above is on a Friday evening though, when the airport is quiet.

Did go to Spain during the summer though, taking off on a Saturday afternoon, and everything went smoothly except for check-in. We used the fastpass check-in, only to be told at the Bag Tag & Drop that "We don't take bags for Malaga", despite it not being indicated anywhere at the desk. This meant that we had to queue anyway at the normal check-in desk, where we were standing for nearly an hour for some unknown reason.

Cabaal

I found the security checks,
- fingerprints
- photos
- takibng your bloody shoes off
and all that very annoying when I was going to the states, it would really put you off.
You get the feeling your entering a police state....oh wai

therecklessone

seamus wrote:

when the airport is quiet.

Thats the crux of the issue. All airports are a breeze when its quiet. I did the same flight last Tuesday morning with BMI, and to avoid the early morning snarl-ups I left my place at 5 in a taxi, and was in the airport at 5.05. Checked in (manually, wasn't sure if the self-check in would allow me to check through to Mallorca) and through security in 5 minutes, drinking coffee in Cafe Ritazza at 5.15 for a 6.45 flight. Didn't mind the wait, its the wait doing things that I don't want to do that pisses me off (like queueing for security)

seamus wrote:

Did go to Spain during the summer though, taking off on a Saturday afternoon, and everything went smoothly except for check-in. We used the fastpass check-in, only to be told at the Bag Tag & Drop that "We don't take bags for Malaga"

Had similar with SAS going to Stockholm. Used my Eurobonus card in their machine to be told by machine I need to check in maually. I go to desk to be asked why did I not complete the automatic check in (eh, cos you're machine won't let me). Was told that it should have...:rolleyes:

Try self check in in LHR with Midlands, had to drop bags off in same queue as people checking in manually! Whats the bloody point?

Maskhadov

Yes it is. Thats why Europe is pushing ahead with High Speed Rail. Its time we followed suit and started discussion about HSR between Belfast , Dublin and Cork

HelterSkelter

seamus wrote:

If anything I'm finding it much easier to travel by air than it used to be, but perhaps it's the way I've been doing it.

I do the Dublin -> Heathrow hop about once a month, sometimes more, and I find it a pleasure; If for, example, I get 20:10 flight from Dublin:
18:15 - Leave house
18:45 - Park in Long Term
19:00 - Arrive at airport,Take out money from ATM, use quick check-in.
19:15 - Buy a magazine, and pass through security.
19:20 - Go upstairs and get a sandwich and coffee.
19:40 - Head to gate
20:10 (ish) - take off
21:10 (ish) - Arrive in Heathrow
21:30 - Get tube
22:15 - Arrive at gf's house.

Snap!! I do almost exactly the same with my gf living in London also. Can't say I find it a pleasure though, more like a mad rush!! The one thing I can't understand is taking the shoes off at security. It's all cosmetic, done to make it look as if it is impossible to get a bomb on the plane. BTW, did you notice how different the security is at Heathrow? They barely look at you as you pass through. You'd think that would be more strict given the level of threat in the UK.

Tom Dunne

HelterSkelter wrote:

They barely look at you as you pass through. You'd think that would be more strict given the level of threat in the UK.

I think it's more a case of your skin colour, unfortunately. Caucasian male, fine, anything else, potential threat, sadly.

I do think Dublin airport takes the joy out of travelling. I have done a lot of travelling in the last 18 months and I bitterly resent having to go to that zoo at 5:00am for a flight at 7:00am.