Airport Zombies

A snowHead

The only place that I have been checked on exiting arrivals that the bags I had lifted had tags matching the bag dockets when I dropped them off on checking-in was Manila, everywhere else seems happy to let you walk off with anything. Although bit of a risk or tricky to explain you know whats in them if you get stopped at customs.

A snowHead

@ster, + Las Vegas, but given the amount of cash in some peoples cases I'm not surprised!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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@Raven, Geneva used to do something similar with a tiny area, that was way too small. But at least they realised and built the new area at the end with the long flat conveyor.

At least Heathrow T5's more modern design allows skis to be processed on the same conveyor as the normal bags, so you don't have to split into groups to hunt for bags. I also have to say that their Priority bag process for Business/Club seems to be working a lot more often that it used to.

Not related to skiing, but I have found that Schipol airport had the most effective baggage reclaim system, with a countdown in minutes for the bags on each flight. This lead to only those whose flight was about to appear, were waiting at the carousel. There are probably some union rules that prevents this being applied in other airports, as it indicates the handlers have to deliver in a certain timescale, and that they are being monitored.

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We travelled out of Gatwick the day they decided to ban all hand luggage due to the liquid explosive thing. The news was showing the carnage at airports where people were trying to stuff their hand luggage in to their hold bags and huge queues for everything. Our flight was in the evening so we packed hand luggage type bits in cases before we left home.

Bar some heavily armed policemen the airport was absolutely dead and getting through security was the easiest it's ever been.

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@PowderAdict, The only reason your baggage arrives quickly in Schiphol is that it's bloody miles from the plane to baggage reclaim and they have motorised carts while you have to walk. No surprise the luggage gets their first! I'm not entirely sue one of the runways isn't actually in Belgium. Also has the be the longest distance for the aircraft to taxi ever known. Good airport otherwise.

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They must have speeded Schiphol up. It's once place I've had to go on a 7 mile hike from the plane to the baggage reclaim, and still had to wait 30 minutes. Frankfurt was barely any better in both regards. Frankfurt also has an ETA for bags on the monitor, but still doesn't stop people wanting to be within 1 micron of the bit where bags come out of the hole and drop on the the carousel.

@DJL, +1
@ster, @HoneyBunny, Too true! Very few people seem to be able to work out that their luggage won't appear any quicker on the carousel if they stand on top of it and prevent anyone else from seeing when their case is approching! rolling eyes

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Oh and one of the best arguments for driving to the Alps for half term is Geneva airport in February. Bad enough if there aren't any delays.
I flew back in Jan and had a flight cancelled into City so delayed 6 hours. Tolerable on a fairly quiet day but I still paid for lounge access. Worth considering because by the time you've paid for wifi, coffee and a sandwich at GVA you've sold a kidney anyway.

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The door will open even faster still if those in a window seat half stand up and stay bent doubled over under the luggage bins for 5 minutes.
And even faster again if you undo the seatbelt before the plane actually comes to a halt.

@andy,

You know it makes sense.

Re: Schiphol

For my own amusement I've just measured some of the distances involved. If you land on Runway 36L at Schiphol you then have to taxi an astonishing 10km to Councourse D. Once you disembark you them have a 1km walk to the airport exit doors.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I find a climbing style teardrop shaped rucksack fits into the overhead lockers (thin end first) very well and takes up quite a bit less room than a standard flight bag.

A snowHead

Do they even bother challenging the size of hand luggage ? I have moved house with less than what some folk see as acceptable hand luggage.

A snowHead

@foxtrotzulu, I used to fly Heathrow to Sciphol weekly, and we would often spend more time on the ground than in the air. The pilot would often comment along the lines of "Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to Sciphol, we have just landed on the new Sciphol runway, unfortunately they built it in Belgium".

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

My travel doc says that I can have 46Kg of hand luggage, so long as it can be squeezed into the right size:

"HAND LUGGAGE
1 item max 23kgs (max dimensions 56x45x25cm) plus one personal item max 23kgs max
dimensions 40x30x15cm (eg ladies handbag or laptop)"

Anyone still got a 23Kg laptop from the olden days?

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Pull bags in airports. If you can't carry 8kg there is something seriously wrong with you. F*****g hell they wee wee me off.

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@Jeraff, or an 80s mobile and battery. Maybe you could get in to smuggling gold bullion?

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@Legend.,

I particularly enjoy the oblivious owners of wheeled hand luggage. Rarely content to merely trip you with their bag as they scurry across your path, they have evolved a short, deliberate and crippling pause right at the top of escalators, while they re-extend the handle to their exact desired height. Meanwhile the rest of the passengers on the escalators begin a comical half-step backwards...which in the best examples can become a regular pile up.
Toofy Grin

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That too

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I make a point of wearing trousers that are at least 2" too big in the waist, so that after having removed by belt, when I walk through arch and raise my arms, my trousers fall to the floor. This normally elicits a few chuckles from fellow travellers and helps to brighten up what is an otherwise stressful process. I live in fear that my high jinx will one day come to haunt me, and I will hear the words "Please come the booth" followed the the snap of a latex glove being donned.

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@WindOfChange,

@Hurdy, Me too. Never ending flow of muppets who have forgotten what the had to do at the previous airport and the one before that and the one before that as well. Twisted Evil

You know it makes sense.

Travelling with Swiss a few years back they told us to add the skis to a particular pile which they indicated. We queried why there were skis with Zurich and Geneva in the same pile, they said it would all get sorted. Landed at Geneva an hour or so later, guess what, no skis! Told the ground staff the skis were in Zurich, took a few minutes to convince them to contact Zurich but when they did sure enough thats where they were together with about a dozen pairs of other peoples. They said we would need to wait for them to come on a flight in a couple of hours from Zurich - no, we said. Well, they said, we could put them on the bus to Chamonix and you could meet the bus in the centre of town - no we said, we are staying in Argentiere, you lost the skis you have found them and you have to deliver them to us. Later that afternoon following a pleasant lunch in the sunshine and a couple of serieuse beers we returned to the hotel to find the skis in the hotel ski room!
With regard to brains left at home when travelling, the sub-set - the ditherers who stand in a loose group taking up loads of space in a throughfare while they decide who is going to the bar, who is going to the duty free, who is going to the gate and where they are all going to meet up and when!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I must put my hands up and confess....
I walked out of Luton Airport with someone else's "Salomon" boot bag 1981
At least it was on the way home. All boot bags were Salomon then.

A snowHead

Then there is the joy of being bussed out to the aircraft when it's pissing down...mount the stairs, move a couple of steps up and then stand there for an eternity whilst the first numpties on board block the aisle as they stuff bags and coats into the lockers. After all, they're now in the warm and dry, why care about anyone else?

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Just book a Citation or Agusta and sidestep the poor people.

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@gbium, It's not the rucksack strap that whacks other people, it's the fact that people walk down the aisle still wearing the blessed thing. They tend to walk less then perfectly straight and if you are in an aisle seat you can get the full force of the rucksack hitting you in the face. Anyway, we're never going to agree so perhaps we can just accept that both wheelie bags and rucksacks can be antisocial when handled by idiots.

Two other minor irritations:
1. Healthy people who just stand on travel actors and escalators instead of walking.
2. People who will happily walk along a travel actor/escalator but lack the ability to walk off normally so they just stop 2m before the end so the can step off. Frequently causes mayhem as everyone else behind suddenly has to stop walking too.

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Checkin: What possible questions can somone be asking as they check in to a standard Sat holiday flight? What are these protracted conversations that people have with the Checkin Clerks? Why am I always behind a couple having a 10-minute Q&A?

Awaiting boarding: Similarly, why are there always a couple of people who stride purposefully up to the boarding desk and engage in a similarly protracted conversation? Then turn 'round and stare at the waiting crowds with a surprised expression. Then hang around the desk getting rejected for business class, then speedy boarding, then the announced rows .....

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Airport Zombies

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