[Travel] Airports and flying

[The Wizard]

Ordered a sausage sandwich in the spoons at LGW, TWO THIN sausages cut in half and slapped between two wafers, I mean pieces of in buttered bread. £8!!! EIGHT QUID?

Wetherspoons has its flaws but normally the food in there is decent cheap microwaved but fills a hole.

That being said I’m always thankful for Gatwick when I travel through airports abroad, Palma for example was designed by imbeciles, landing gates opening into departure lounges so there is always herds of peasants roaming the central areas.

 

[Oh_aye]

Speaking for myself, the one delight of the covid lockdown was that there was no risk of having to go to an airport and fly anywhere.

I’m not a nervous flyer, but I absolutely loathe the entire airport process, being herded about like cattle and then moved from one waiting area to another. Queuing and then queuing again. I find it unbelievable that airports haven’t found better, less intrusive ways of managing security and keeping people moving than the current systems.

I’ve deliberately avoided flying post-Covid, and haven’t missed it at all, but now my partner informs me that a trip that requires flying (to visit family) is on the horizon. Has anything changed?

Am I being a precious snowflake by being so annoyed by the whole airport circus, or do others find it equally inhuman and frustrating?

Are some airports better than others?

And yes, this is absolutely an idle off-season post to pass the long weeks until we’re back in action.

You get shifted from one continent to another in a tube. And all you have to do is queue for a bit. So yes. You're being a fanny.

 

[Weststander]

Ordered a sausage sandwich in the spoons at LGW, TWO THIN sausages cut in half and slapped between two wafers, I mean pieces of in buttered bread. £8!!! EIGHT QUID?

Wetherspoons has its flaws but normally the food in there is decent cheap microwaved but fills a hole.

That being said I’m always thankful for Gatwick when I travel through airports abroad, Palma for example was designed by imbeciles, landing gates opening into departure lounges so there is always herds of peasants roaming the central areas.

And those stupidly long treks from the planes to the main building, designed by an ergonomic fool.

 

[The Wizard]

You get shifted from one continent to another in a tube. And all you have to do is queue for a bit. So yes. You're being a fanny.

We don’t need this attitude here, we need unfiltered vitriol aimed at the unbelievably shit practices that go on at airports.

‘Go to gate 168293763’ okay I’ll just get my walking gear on and my hill climbing spikes so I can walk 16miles then get to the sign for my gate and THATS NOT EVEN THE GATE you still have to walk down stairs and then get a sardine bus to the plane, I just love sitting down on a cramped airplane seat when I’m sweating like a scouser watching crimewatch.

And sorry if this targets anyone on here but those people that thinks it’s ‘cool’ getting absolutely wank stained before you board a plane getting on it at 4am because you’re going to Benidorm for 10 days, grow up and enjoy your holiday, it’s the one time you can be happy WITHOUT having to consume an oil tanker of alcohol.

Oh and twats who take far too much hand luggage and take 26 years putting it into the storage bit and then stuff all around their feet with bags and other items they’ve pillaged from Duty Free. Annoying.

Oh and people who breathe as well.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Will be halfway to Cairns at this time tomorrow, and then on to Port Douglas for a weeks R&R. The big plus is that internal flights mean just rocking up about an hour pre departure due to lack of passport control (remember pre Brexit anyone), conversely I still struggle with the concept of a three and a half hour flight dropping me off in the same country that I left from!

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

I once did about 40 hours Hong Kong to Beijing, with a hole onto the track for your number twos, and a Charlie Chan psycho trying to get into the room in the middle of the night. Good fun apart from that!!

If I remember rightly, the carriage I was on had a "normal" toilet at one end, and a hole onto the track at the other.
Unless I were doing the Ghan or something like that I'd draw the line well short of 40hours straight, I feel like there must be something in China or Europe interesting enough to justify stopping within 24hrs of travelling.

 

[PeterT]

If I remember rightly, the carriage I was on had a "normal" toilet at one end, and a hole onto the track at the other.
Unless I were doing the Ghan or something like that I'd draw the line well short of 40hours straight, I feel like there must be something in China or Europe interesting enough to justify stopping within 24hrs of travelling.

Well I didn’t fancy the flight options and it was part of a longer 4 month backpacking trip with loads of more interesting places to come, so I just wanted to get to them and Beijing was sort of a stopping point en route to Japan and beyond already. There is an awful lot of nothingness to see but I did try to see the major rivers as we went over them. Arriving in Beijing then (in the early 90s) was a real experience with almost no Westerners and what seems like millions on the streets at 5.30am just staring at you!

 

[dazzer6666]

Do you ever see overseas, with checking in or boarding, the Easyjet system effectively abandoned? I’ve seen this lots. The ground crew overwhelmed by liars, so they avoid aggro.

I’ve also seen “Now boarding just rows 11 to 20” ignored.

Had this when we boarded our outbound flight on Sunday but as usual the problem is more in the UK, not overseas in my experience. Announced ‘group 1’ boarding (clearly printed on boarding passes), which resulted in everyone scrumming to board instantly at Gatwick. No checking.

Much better coming back today, clearly defined lines for ‘priority’ and the rest, strictly enforced. Nice flight, baggage return at LGW was exceptionally quick too. Happy days.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Well I didn’t fancy the flight options and it was part of a longer 4 month backpacking trip with loads of more interesting places to come, so I just wanted to get to them and Beijing was sort of a stopping point en route to Japan and beyond already. There is an awful lot of nothingness to see but I did try to see the major rivers as we went over them. Arriving in Beijing then (in the early 90s) was a real experience with almost no Westerners and what seems like millions on the streets at 5.30am just staring at you!

Actually, full disclosure, having fainted face first on the platform on the Turkish border I decided I couldn't be arsed to try and read Cyrillic and got a flight to Vienna.
I highly recommend arriving at an airport with no ticket and no particular destination in mind.
The food poisoning and probable concussion is entirely optional.

 

[dsr-burnley]

Had this when we boarded our outbound flight on Sunday but as usual the problem is more in the UK, not overseas in my experience. Announced ‘group 1’ boarding (clearly printed on boarding passes), which resulted in everyone scrumming to board instantly at Gatwick. No checking.

Much better coming back today, clearly defined lines for ‘priority’ and the rest, strictly enforced. Nice flight, baggage return at LGW was exceptionally quick too. Happy days.

Does this matter? I can understand a bit of upset about a queue if someone gets a better seat because of it, but if you expected to get to your seat K40 before the man in E17 gets to his, and it turns out that he gets there first, does it matter?

If they call my group and there is a scrum, I stay sat down until the scrum clears. (Or if I wasn't sat down, then I sit down.) Being last on to the plane just means that I don't spend as long on the plane.

 

[Weststander]

Had this when we boarded our outbound flight on Sunday but as usual the problem is more in the UK, not overseas in my experience. Announced ‘group 1’ boarding (clearly printed on boarding passes), which resulted in everyone scrumming to board instantly at Gatwick. No checking.

Much better coming back today, clearly defined lines for ‘priority’ and the rest, strictly enforced. Nice flight, baggage return at LGW was exceptionally quick too. Happy days.

My instinct but I could be wrong is that, other than a good old fashioned lack of manners, punters with ever increasing volumes of hand luggage are hellbent on grabbing overhead locker space.

I’ve seen it full, so latecomers get theirs sent to the dreaded hold.

We used to sometimes wait in the departure lounge relaxed, whilst the herd scuffled to ‘win the race’ to sit in the tube for an age.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Had this when we boarded our outbound flight on Sunday but as usual the problem is more in the UK, not overseas in my experience. Announced ‘group 1’ boarding (clearly printed on boarding passes), which resulted in everyone scrumming to board instantly at Gatwick. No checking.

Much better coming back today, clearly defined lines for ‘priority’ and the rest, strictly enforced. Nice flight, baggage return at LGW was exceptionally quick too. Happy days.

EasyJet seem to endorse their speedy boarding which is good…..even though there’s up to 60 of the fuckers

 

[dazzer6666]

Does this matter? I can understand a bit of upset about a queue if someone gets a better seat because of it, but if you expected to get to your seat K40 before the man in E17 gets to his, and it turns out that he gets there first, does it matter?

If they call my group and there is a scrum, I stay sat down until the scrum clears. (Or if I wasn't sat down, then I sit down.) Being last on to the plane just means that I don't spend as long on the plane.

Can do if you have luggage for the overhead lockers, otherwise no - hence why I try not to…..and also wait until it clears.

 

[dazzer6666]

My instinct but I could be wrong is that, other than a good old fashioned lack of manners, punters with ever increasing volumes of hand luggage are hellbent on grabbing overhead locker space.

I’ve seen it full, so latecomers get theirs sent to the dreaded hold.

We used to sometimes wait in the departure lounge relaxed, whilst the herd scuffled to ‘win the race’ to sit in the tube for an age.

….partly due to the added cost of hold luggage.

 

[Weststander]

….partly due to the added cost of hold luggage.

Tell me about it, it extends to locker luggage too.

Caught out by Easjyet in Feb …. I hadn’t realised they’d drastically cut the longstanding cabin case size included in the ticket price. Charging for a newly concocted mid size category.

 

[dazzer6666]

Tell me about it, it extends to locker luggage too.

Caught out by Easjyet in Feb …. I hadn’t realised they’d drastically cut the longstanding cabin case size included in the ticket price. Charging for a newly concocted mid size category.

Yep…..caught either way. If you’re not in a hurry hold luggage, small hand luggage and no speedy boarding is the way to go…….

 

[Weststander]

Yep…..caught either way. If you’re not in a hurry hold luggage, small hand luggage and no speedy boarding is the way to go…….

Being 4 of us most times, I’ve abandoned the speedy boarding thing. What once might’ve been 8 x circa £5.99 has doubled or more. A silly cost when it often seems effectively abandoned anyway.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Would it be the end of the world if Easyjet just locked up the overhead lockers completely and forced all these medium sized suitcases into the hold where they properly belong? Time was when the overhead lockers were for items you needed for the duration of your flight, not the duration of your holiday

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Would it be the end of the world if Easyjet just locked up the overhead lockers completely and forced all these medium sized suitcases into the hold where they properly belong? Time was when the overhead lockers were for items you needed for the duration of your flight, not the duration of your holiday

Times have changed though. If I’m on a city break long weekend I don’t want to spend ages on a Friday afternoon/evening waiting to collect my case when I could be sat outside a nice bar on a nice square.

 

[zefarelly]

And those stupidly long treks from the planes to the main building, designed by an ergonomic fool.

I haven't flown since 2019 . . . Walked off the plane and down the steps in BOlogna, 30m accross the tarmac, into the terminal, and straight out to a hire car.

I think I was on the road driving inside 10 minutes.

Linate next month, I doubt it'll be anywhere near as simple now.