We went to Aberdeen to stay with The Older Girl (The Old Girl's mum) and had a good catch up as we hadn't seen her for 4 years. Here are some small observations from our trip:
Border control and check-in personnel
Like anything in life the experience differs from person to person but is generally a poor one. I accept that people working in these positions might not like their jobs but a bit of courtesy goes a long way.
When boarding at Toronto the Canada Airlines staff were only just efficient but had no personality.
As we approached the boarding desk leading to the air tunnel thing to the plane there were two sides. We had left it to the last as we had aisle seats and didn't want to make people clamber over us. The Old Girl went one side and presented her boarding pass to the female attendant. At the same time I went to the other side and presented my pass to the male attendant.
He said "Sorry, this is for First Class and Business Class passengers only".
I looked around. There was no-one queueing. We were the only ones. The separation between cattle class and preferential class was a short rope that ran out after about 3 feet. I looked him in the eye and walked the 3 feet to follow The Old Girl, presented my pass to the female attendant and said to him "there, that made a big difference didn't it".
He didn't catch my eye.
At Heathrow we met the most pleasant and helpful attendant (non airline affiliated) you'd ever want to meet. He was in his 60's, had a nice manner and was friendly. Yes, friendly. He appeared to like his job and wished us a good day. For once, after hearing this ad-nauseum in North America, it was genuine.
Leaving Aberdeen we experienced the rudest and most indifferent service from British Airways staff once again. I said loudly to The Old Girl "I might understand it if this was the end of a long tiring day but this is morning, the airport has just opened. If these people don't like their jobs then they should fuck off".
They didn't catch my eye.
Arriving in Toronto we were queued at the customs entry and watching how things were being processed. An elderly woman was being interrogated by a male official as to how many things she was bringing into the country. She was Indian and was going to a wedding. She had said that she had one small present with her and no money over the allowable limit. He didn't seem to believe her and was haranguing her.
We looked at each other and hoped we wouldn't end up with him. The Old Girl was rehearsing the things she had bought in Scotland. Apparently Canada are at pains to discover what tourists bring back with them. I'm not talking about drugs, alcohol and cigarettes here. They are worried about truckloads of grannies bringing in undeclared doilies and table cloths. I'm not kidding. I said "Tell him nothing, the Nazi"
Murphy's Law dictated that we were in fact channelled down to this guys counter. We presented our documents which he quickly perused and waved us through.
"Have a nice day" he said.
Maybe he's a racist.
Delays
Our plane was a couple of hours late taking off from Toronto due to the snow storms before Christmas. Even when we boarded there was a further delay as the wings were de-iced. A guy stood on the wings (dangerous given how slippery they would be) and sprayed some chemicals on them.
As a consequence, when we arrived in London we missed our connecting flight to Aberdeen and had to queue for re-ticketing.
Now I'm not one of those people who rant and rave over things beyond control nor do I abuse airline personnel over weather related delays or flight cancellations. It's not their fault.
What is within their control and capability however is communication with customers. This never seems to happen. Customers are left in unmoving queues for ages without there being helpful announcements. Occasionally a Canada Airlines staff member would appear only to be hijacked by throngs of people who weren't even in the queues. What they should do is have a big noticeboard above the counters explaining what the hold uo was. How difficult would that be?
We had a four hour wait before we were allocated seats on an afternoon flight to Aberdeen. We were lucky.
On our return from Aberdeen to London we had about 3 hours to wait before or flight to Toronto which was to leave at 2PM. We waited. And waited. And waited. no boarding information was available on the electronic screens. The counter staff had no information. 2PM came and went. By 4 PM someone graciously decided to enter "Delayed" on the electronic board. The counter staff had no information.
By 7PM the counter staff admitted that there were "technical difficulties" with the plane. I don't mind waiting if there's a problem with an aircraft as I'd rather fly in one that was going OK but I remembered years ago that "technical difficulties" which led to a flight cancellation from Christchurch to Auckland was due to the fact that the pilot was plastered and they couldn't find another one.
We established that airlines hold off from cancelling flights until the very last moment as when cancelled they have to provide accommodation. The cut-off is 8PM for flights from London to Toronto. Sure enough, after 8 we were summoned to a herding area and put on buses to a nearby hotel where we stayed the night and were bussed back to the airport next morning. The flight left OK and we were back in Toronto mid afternoon - 36 hours after we left Aberdeen.
Once again it's no use complaining about the situation but communication needs to be a hell of a lot better.
We like to move about briskly at airports and train stations and get peeved at the dawdlers who meander all over the place taking up space. The travelators at Heathrow are great for whisking you along (you must walk on them and not stand there like a dummy) quickly.
When hurrying along to our flight from Heathrow we came across two travelators side by side. I took the left one and, behind me a bit The Old Girl took the right one. Walking along I noticed The Old Girl moving up alongside and then overtaking me. We are a bit competitive so I upped my walking speed as I assumed she had done. She still passed me and was getting ahead. I trotted. I ran. I stumbled. Laughing she looked over her shoulder and shouted that she was on the express travelator. Sure enough, I looked over the connecting walls and saw that hers was travelling at half the speed again that mine was. Bugger!
Other passengers around must have wondered about the dishevelled old guy, shirt-tails flapping and carry bag trailing who was running on the travelator and pondering why the silly old fool hadn't taken the faster one.
1 comment:
Next time you have trouble in an airport, try mentioning that violin string comparison video. Who knows, it might help.
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