Interesting Airports

poiuytsam

Hi there

have travelled a bit over the past number of years with work etc. and landed at some funny airports. I remember landing in Mexico is some small airport , where they had traffic lights for the pasenegers , when you walked to the exit you cam to a traffic light , if it went grren you went through , and if red you went to customs

Any body else any funny stories?

Tenger

Landed into Kerry once in an Aer Lingus B737, we all had to wait onboard as the Ryanair B737 that landed before us had filled up the baggage/arrivals area. We had to wait 10-15 minutes for the airport to empty a bit!

brandon_flowers

Landed in Kerry several times but way back in the early 90's I went all the way around sitting on the baggage carrousel, when I got outside your man with the tractor says "how's the going" and turned away again!

In more recent years I have seen a Dawn Milk van speed up to the front door, drop 8 litres of milk on the ground and speed away again. If it was any other airport the driver would be shot before he is back to the van.

Cairo Airport the day before Ramadan was just hilarious, you showed your passport and you got a boarding pass, made no difference what flight it was for or anything. Mine said Mr Al-Alshawah or something... comical stuff.

markpb

Hoedspruit airport has to be my favourite airport. The buildings in the photo are tiny - you pass through them in seconds. A tractor is used to bring the luggage from one side of the building to the other (you collect your bags from the back of the tractor) and the airport authorities use cheetahs to keep other animals off the runway.

weisses

Kerry Airport indeed ... From opening plane doors to starting the car in just over 2 minutes ... Love it:D

Suits

I was delayed for 3 hours in Madrid once with Ryanair because it was the height of the Spyanair War(Spanair v Ryanair) and a Spanair A321 was parked on a ramp behind us with it's tail in a rather cheeky position blocking our push back.

xflyer

Spanair v Ryanair, now who's laughing!

poiuytsam

flew into tunis airport long time ago on my own , was approached by a customs guy before I had even got to the passport desk , asked if i had any duty free , i said i had none , he then proceedee to gibve me money to buy some for him !!!! , when i purchased , was straight through passport control like a VIP

CaptainSkidmark

I was in schiphol mid week back in early february 2010 and a KLM 737 took off from the taxi way LOL

coylemj

Courchevel airport in the Alps, there's a large bar & restaurant to one side at the end of the runway where you can sit all day watching the daredevils coming in to land.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNFNFZq2BFY

Lustrum

I've flown into Rurrenebaque in Bolivia, but then it rained so the runway turned to mud and the airport closes until it dries out again - we had to get a bus back to La Paz!

This isn't me in the photo



Also was in Punta Arenas airport in very southern Chile where there are arrivals and departures to Antartica on the board

L1011

Cardiff, arrive after the morning rush of flights and they'll need to send someone down to open the immigration doors to let you out!

veetwin

Algiers was pretty interesting the last few times I was there. From arrival at the airport to actually sitting on the plane we were stopped to produce documents and/or searched a grand total of 19 times. At the door of the aircraft just before boarding you have to identify your checked in bags and they are searched manually. Guess they are pretty keen to avoid another hijacking.

donvito99

Bilbao purely for the magnificent Terminal...

Davidth88

Flew in/out of Odessa ( Ukraine ) a few times . The runway was VERY rough and you could see the grass growing in the cracks in the runway.

Kerry is a great airport . I was lucky enough to be in the cockpit of a Manx ATP one time when we landed there ( direct flight from Luton in about 1994 ).

roundymac

The small city centre airport at Swakobmund Namibia, boarding a Beech 1900D for the flight to Walvis Bay, we were handed our in flight meal at the gate. There was a chicken Roll, fruit, chocalate bar, fruit drink and a bottle of water. Ryanair and Aer Lingus take note.:rolleyes:

parsi

Arrived in Dinard (Fr) after a scheduled flight from Jersey.

Walked up to arrivals and had to ring the bell and wait for someone to come along and let us in to France.

stacey25

poiuytsam wrote: »

Hi there

have travelled a bit over the past number of years with work etc. and landed at some funny airports. I remember landing in Mexico is some small airport , where they had traffic lights for the pasenegers , when you walked to the exit you cam to a traffic light , if it went grren you went through , and if red you went to customs

Any body else any funny stories?

yesss i heard the same story from my friend!

conor_ie

parsi wrote: »

Arrived in Dinard (Fr) after a scheduled flight from Jersey.

Walked up to arrivals and had to ring the bell and wait for someone to come along and let us in to France.

The same happened to me a couple of years ago in Knock. I was coming back from a stag in Bristol and after we got off the plane the door into arrivals was locked. The guard who was checking passports had to open it!!

poiuytsam

Another interesting airport was rabatt in morocco , no permission to land for some reason , circiling over the sea , even medi flight was held , eventually got to land it turned out the king showed up unexpectedly hence everybody else waits

veetwin

Murtala Muhamed Airport in Lagos, Nigeria is a fascinating place that I will never get bored of. Not a particularly pleasant place but always interesting. Last time I was there a policeman at the search area tried to hustle me in order that I could keep my lighter. A 5 minute argument ensues followed by "keep the F**king thing!"

Turns out he tried it with lots of passengers and one poor soul in the business lounge (who had obviously paid up) ended up getting pestered for a light by hundreds of guys for a light for the time he was there.

xflyer

Can't recall any 'interesting':eek: airports or even ordinary interesting airports. I have flown into a couple of interesting airfields. Coonagh being one, it feels like you are landing in someone's garden. At another airfield the runway was just wider then the undercarriage and often had standing water which created enormous splashes during take off. You also dare not stray off the runway as the nosewheel would dig in straight away. You got very good at landing exactly on the centreline.

My wife on the other hand flew into Lukla Airport in Nepal. She didn't realise what it was like until she actually flew in. For those unaware of Lukla, there's high terrain at one end and a 2000' drop at the other.

FANTAPANTS

Zante airport an island of greece what a dump!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cocoshovel

Most interesting airport for me is probably kilkenny airfield :pac: Lovely airfield imo.

extraice

was flighting from Alc to Bcn but JK spanair went on strike , yes the pilots in Madrid wont fly the planes ... so got to the check in desk told go two ticket desk to give a train ticket to Madrid where coshare with AE to Mad to Bcn . the guy point at the taxi rank ... the guy behind lost it and told guy in the ticket desk what taxis ? there none , and has been nope for last 30 mins i feck book a plane not a taxi ... (ticket deak guy)to tolded wait ... ( in spain wait is like to until Tomorrow ) ..You got 20 min to get to the train , and tell the clown to F**K of in spanish , well the Irish guy light up and ask for the head man of spanair , to be driven to the train staion put on frist class by the Manager , al due to the irish guy who did know spanish , now work for that company here in Galway the Manager of spanair ALc was chat to the Irish guy on way to the train station ask how was his holiday and Irish guy told he was eat in bar when hear the 3 oclock news about the pilots and ran out door , forgot to pay for his drinks and meals , again Manager ask where was and would pick up the bill , irish guy say i pay next year , Spanair did pick up the bill , have been back and asked in pub Yes spanair did pay for it and two free tickets each , and yes used them up befor that went to the wall

scudzilla

FANTAPANTS wrote: »

Zante airport an island of greece what a dump!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really?? When did you go there? The new terminal has been opened up now for 3/4yrs, sure it's not amazing but it's halfway decent, hardly a dump.

The old terminal on the other hand was just dire, could fit about 200people in

knockon

extraice wrote: »

was flighting from Alc to Bcn but JK spanair went on strike , yes the pilots in Madrid wont fly the planes ... so got to the check in desk told go two ticket desk to give a train ticket to Madrid where coshare with AE to Mad to Bcn . the guy point at the taxi rank ... the guy behind lost it and told guy in the ticket desk what taxis ? there none , and has been nope for last 30 mins i feck book a plane not a taxi ... (ticket deak guy)to tolded wait ... ( in spain wait is like to until Tomorrow ) ..You got 20 min to get to the train , and tell the clown to F**K of in spanish , well the Irish guy light up and ask for the head man of spanair , to be driven to the train staion put on frist class by the Manager , al due to the irish guy who did know spanish , now work for that company here in Galway the Manager of spanair ALc was chat to the Irish guy on way to the train station ask how was his holiday and Irish guy told he was eat in bar when hear the 3 oclock news about the pilots and ran out door , forgot to pay for his drinks and meals , again Manager ask where was and would pick up the bill , irish guy say i pay next year , Spanair did pick up the bill , have been back and asked in pub Yes spanair did pay for it and two free tickets each , and yes used them up befor that went to the wall

Go again and leave the beer down :pac:

Gibraltar is one I was at. Crossed the main runway via traffic lights as a pedestrian as the road in goes through the airport.

extraice

knockon i am spanish and my engish not good sorry but if offtering a beer i have it
if google it Gibraltar airport
Top 10 Most Dangerous Airports To Land and take off from due to the rock , updrafs and down drif s , and wind at then end of the rock side of the runway , have leg it across the runway many times name road is Winston Churchill Avenue

cailinoBAC

Yeah, Gibraltar is the one I would mention. I cross the runway every day. They were digging a tunnel but I think they've stopped for a while, if not for good. There's a huge new terminal there, but still only a few flights to UK, as they have to stop the traffic every time there's a flight and the traffic is crazy there. Also, the fumes!

I liked Canaima airport in Venezuela. Just a small hut really, I suppose a lot of small south american airports are like that.

Skyhawk684

Skiathos Airport in Greece. It is on a small island in the Aegean Sea, and it is like the Princess Juliana of Europe. There is a road going along the end of the runway, and the runway is so short that the planes like the B737 and A320 have to land at a different airport so they can get more fuel, usually Thessaloniki.

owenc

conor_ie wrote: »

The same happened to me a couple of years ago in Knock. I was coming back from a stag in Bristol and after we got off the plane the door into arrivals was locked. The guard who was checking passports had to open it!!

What a weird airport. Derry dosnt even do that!

owenc

For me I havent been to many small airports but reus I thought that was really crappy.

tankbarry

roberts international in Monrovia Liberia.... mad airport

knockon

extraice wrote: »

knockon i am spanish and my engish not good sorry but if offtering a beer i have it
if google it Gibraltar airport
Top 10 Most Dangerous Airports To Land and take off from due to the rock , updrafs and down drif s , and wind at then end of the rock side of the runway , have leg it across the runway many times name road is Winston Churchill Avenue

Extraice - le ruego (que) acepte mis disculpas (my apologies)

knockon

Anyone ever been here.....

http://youtu.be/zAfQwDizpRo

Sorry cant seem to embed it properly.

veetwin

knockon wrote: »

Anyone ever been here.....

http://youtu.be/zAfQwDizpRo

Sorry cant seem to embed it properly.

Yeah I was there about 10 years ago. Amazing place. Got to stand behind an Air France A340 as it powered up for take off. Got blown back 50 metres into the sea. Incredibly stupid but great craic;) Great bar on that beach also.

FANTAPANTS

scudzilla wrote: »

Really?? When did you go there? The new terminal has been opened up now for 3/4yrs, sure it's not amazing but it's halfway decent, hardly a dump.

The old terminal on the other hand was just dire, could fit about 200people in

it was the old 1 you wouldnt swing a cat in it new 1 aint have bad now!!!!

FANTAPANTS

tankbarry wrote: »

roberts international in Monrovia Liberia.... mad airport

yeah flew into their in 2003/04 what a kip holes all over the run way

vard

coylemj wrote: »

Courchevel airport in the Alps, there's a large bar & restaurant to one side at the end of the runway where you can sit all day watching the daredevils coming in to land.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNFNFZq2BFY

Took off from there in 2005 by helicopter. Incredible scenery.

Sterling Archer

I've never been to any of these, so have no stories but it's a nice list

Princess Juliana Airport
Lukla
Courchevel
Gibraltar
Wellington
Kai tak
McMurdo
Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (Saba)
Barra
Svalbard
Alert

and London City airport, i just like it.

poiuytsam

Flew into Funchal airport , again from a flying pointof view very interesting also , got to be careful ! Also flew from southampton to Heathrow , Taxi time in heathrow was more than flight time !!!