Today is finally the inaugural day for the new Bengaluru International Airport, and I was one of the lucky(?) travellers to pass through their portals. Coming back into town, to a new airport, located way out in the middle of nowhere, with a potential transit time of almost 2 hours to hit civilization (read "anywhere near home"!), is rather discomfiting at the best of times. And today certainly was not the best.
We touched down, and then were kept waiting almost 20 minutes, in the aircraft, while the aerobridge and the air'plane figured out how to kiss without bumping noses. And then waited another 15 minutes for our luggage to arrive. Despite being "priority" tagged my bags actually arrived last. Oh, wait! My mistake! Priority tagging means "First in LAST out"! I finally exited the airport almost an hour after landing. Which is not quite done when you are flying domestic! But, okay, let's put things down to first-day-fiascos and keep going.
What, in my opinion, is not acceptable is having just 3 stalls to a washroom in the arrival hall of an International airport that claims to equal anything in Singapore, Dubai or elsewhere. 3 stalls, which on day one of the airport's functioning, were not quite functional. Before you wonder why this woman is stuck on washrooms, you try coming in after a long flight with a bursting what-not and encountering what I did!
This, at an airport that has opened amidst much controversy, after an over-long wait, claiming to be able to handle upto 11 million travelers and which proposes levying rather hefty "user development fee" on them.
Mr.Albert Brunner - like heck I am paying a user fee at your airport!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
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3 comments:
Imagine, it took 17 long years for this to come up; and still we don't have a high-speed connectivity to it. Typically Indian, what else. Imagine the perseverance people like Bruner who have to complete such projects. Just like we have adjusted to everything else, we will adjust to BIA too... Any alternatives?
Well, we could all rediscover the joys of travel by train, or road trips! Seriously, though, that fact that we have been left without an alternative is what is the most galling.
Hi Taz - Just read your entry dated 24th May - Ref B'lore Airport, well written with a colourful use of the English language. Keep blogging, the first sentence got me hooked and I cant wait for another entry.
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