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Some reflections on airports, airlines, and air travel after two weeks of travel to the other side of the world:
--Our departure date, 03 August, coincided with the end of the National Boy Scout jamboree here in Northern Virginia. What impact did this have on our departure? Luckily, very little. Our trip leader visited Dulles Airport the day before our flight to scope out the conditions, locate our check-in counter, and generally try to have answers for everyone's questions. That evening, he called everyone with an update. First, he noted the LONG lines at the security screening stations. Then he pointed out that his contact at a local tour bus company had told him that every bus in the fleet was booked for the next day to transport tired boy scouts to airports around the region. So, he suggested that we plan to arrive at the airport by 1pm for our 4:30pm departure, a full hour earlier than earlier suggested.
Accordingly, we adjusted our plans and arrived just a few minutes before 1:00. As we drove to the entrance for our airline's counters, we passed several buses disgorging hundreds of boy scouts onto the curb at various points along the terminal. Quickly, we grabbed our bags and hurried to our check-in counter. As we entered the line, we noticed that the queue for the security screening was very short, but by the time we checked our bags and received our boarding passes, it was growing rapidly, as the boy scouts finished their check-ins. By the time we completed our security screening, the wait to pass through security was probably approaching an hour. We reflected on our (relatively) short 15 minute wait with no small amount of relief.
--The Queenstown Airport must be among the smallest international airports in the world. With only one runway, and no separate taxiways, our plane from Auckland had to stop at the end of the runway, turn around, and taxi back up the runway to get to the terminal. The airport only has five gates, and no jetways...you have to walk across the tarmac and up the steps to the plane. As far as I could tell, the only airlines serving the airport were Air New Zealand and Quantas.
There is extensive construction work throughout the airport. I don't know if this means they are expanding, or if they are simply updating the existing facilities. However, upon arrival from Auckland, we paraded through a construction zone in search of the baggage claim area. It appears that the original baggage claim area is undergoing extensive work, so we discovered that all arriving luggage was placed by hand on a low counter along the edge of the tarmac at the end of the terminal, within a stones throw of the final gate. The baggage cart was driven up the the counter, and the bags randomly placed on this long counter, and you had to shove your way through the masses to identify and claim your bags. Additionally, the baggage claim area was a dead end, so once your bags were claimed, you then had to push back through the crowd of people still looking for their bags to re-enter the terminal to reach the exits to the parking areas. Definitely not the most efficient or fun baggage claim procedure I've ever witnessed.
--You frequently hear people complaining about the miserable state of the airlines here in the U.S. Well, this trip provided us with a chance to compare the conditions on both a domestic U.S. carrier and an overseas airline. The results were not pretty. Our domestic flights between Dulles and San Francisco made an admirable attempt to impersonate a flying sardine can. The airline had moved the rows of seats as close together as possible, in order to accommodate as many passengers as they could. When I sat down in my seat, my knees were touching the seat back in front of me, even before the seat was reclined. On top of this discomfort, the airline did not provide meals on either flight, unless you were willing to pay extra for airline food. So, for about five hours, we sat crammed into entirely too small a space and endured. Thank goodness I brought lots of books to read!
In contrast, Air New Zealand, our international carrier, provided us with ample food, complimentary wine and beer (even in economy), and plenty of leg room, even on our short hop from Auckland to Queenstown. I was more comfortable on my flights between Auckland and San Francisco than those between Dulles and San Francisco, even though the Pacific crossing is more than twice as long. Now I understand that the U.S. airline industry is experiencing some extreme financial difficulties, but I'm not sure that their cost cutting measures are going to help. After all, if you can't make your passengers comfortable, who's going to fly with you?
--Our departure date, 03 August, coincided with the end of the National Boy Scout jamboree here in Northern Virginia. What impact did this have on our departure? Luckily, very little. Our trip leader visited Dulles Airport the day before our flight to scope out the conditions, locate our check-in counter, and generally try to have answers for everyone's questions. That evening, he called everyone with an update. First, he noted the LONG lines at the security screening stations. Then he pointed out that his contact at a local tour bus company had told him that every bus in the fleet was booked for the next day to transport tired boy scouts to airports around the region. So, he suggested that we plan to arrive at the airport by 1pm for our 4:30pm departure, a full hour earlier than earlier suggested.
Accordingly, we adjusted our plans and arrived just a few minutes before 1:00. As we drove to the entrance for our airline's counters, we passed several buses disgorging hundreds of boy scouts onto the curb at various points along the terminal. Quickly, we grabbed our bags and hurried to our check-in counter. As we entered the line, we noticed that the queue for the security screening was very short, but by the time we checked our bags and received our boarding passes, it was growing rapidly, as the boy scouts finished their check-ins. By the time we completed our security screening, the wait to pass through security was probably approaching an hour. We reflected on our (relatively) short 15 minute wait with no small amount of relief.
--The Queenstown Airport must be among the smallest international airports in the world. With only one runway, and no separate taxiways, our plane from Auckland had to stop at the end of the runway, turn around, and taxi back up the runway to get to the terminal. The airport only has five gates, and no jetways...you have to walk across the tarmac and up the steps to the plane. As far as I could tell, the only airlines serving the airport were Air New Zealand and Quantas.
There is extensive construction work throughout the airport. I don't know if this means they are expanding, or if they are simply updating the existing facilities. However, upon arrival from Auckland, we paraded through a construction zone in search of the baggage claim area. It appears that the original baggage claim area is undergoing extensive work, so we discovered that all arriving luggage was placed by hand on a low counter along the edge of the tarmac at the end of the terminal, within a stones throw of the final gate. The baggage cart was driven up the the counter, and the bags randomly placed on this long counter, and you had to shove your way through the masses to identify and claim your bags. Additionally, the baggage claim area was a dead end, so once your bags were claimed, you then had to push back through the crowd of people still looking for their bags to re-enter the terminal to reach the exits to the parking areas. Definitely not the most efficient or fun baggage claim procedure I've ever witnessed.
--You frequently hear people complaining about the miserable state of the airlines here in the U.S. Well, this trip provided us with a chance to compare the conditions on both a domestic U.S. carrier and an overseas airline. The results were not pretty. Our domestic flights between Dulles and San Francisco made an admirable attempt to impersonate a flying sardine can. The airline had moved the rows of seats as close together as possible, in order to accommodate as many passengers as they could. When I sat down in my seat, my knees were touching the seat back in front of me, even before the seat was reclined. On top of this discomfort, the airline did not provide meals on either flight, unless you were willing to pay extra for airline food. So, for about five hours, we sat crammed into entirely too small a space and endured. Thank goodness I brought lots of books to read!
In contrast, Air New Zealand, our international carrier, provided us with ample food, complimentary wine and beer (even in economy), and plenty of leg room, even on our short hop from Auckland to Queenstown. I was more comfortable on my flights between Auckland and San Francisco than those between Dulles and San Francisco, even though the Pacific crossing is more than twice as long. Now I understand that the U.S. airline industry is experiencing some extreme financial difficulties, but I'm not sure that their cost cutting measures are going to help. After all, if you can't make your passengers comfortable, who's going to fly with you?
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