Airport Experience...?

Question

Was just wondering who has had a bad experience at an airport?

If so, what was it, which airport, and what happened?

I Just got back off holiday yesterday from Switzerland and arrived in Gatwick Airport.

I had a pretty rotten experience where i got accused of things that were beyond my control at immigration.

The lady was pretty rude to me... I understand its their job but the line has to be drawn somewhere.

It was just rude cos she spoke to me like i had no right to be in "her" country which is completely untrue as i have UK residency. (I'm Australian btw lol)

Outcome was they let me go and "apologized" - well thats what she wanted to call it lol

Seems to me Gatwick Airport are full of miserable twats that hate everyone lol! I ALWAYS have problems at that airport!

Answer 1

The following was a bad experience happened to a friend of mine, though it's not about the airport, it's the airline company.

She had a holiday in Hong Kong and coming back to Britain. At the time of passing the immigration officer, she found out she lost the form she filled in when entering Hong Kong ( UK passport holder need to find a form ), thus a lot of enquiries, question asking and paper work followed. The result being that she, her husband and son missed the flight. The plane was still there but the gate was closed. She asked the staff to re-open the gate for her, but to no avail. The staff said they have to board the plane 20 minutes before the scheduled time, he then called for the luagagges being pulled out. He took their boarding card and tore them off in front of her. After that , he ignored them. This was KLM they were going to fly with that day. Nothing they can do. In such case normally the staff will help them to book for the next nearest flight available to Britain, but not them. They were left in the airport to fend themselves. They then requested every airline company to look for tickets for Britain at the same day, all failed. She finally called a friend in Hong Kong to buy 3 tickets to Britain flying later that night.

When she's back in the UK, she put a complain to the ageny where she bought the tickets, only to be told that nothing they can do as it's not their responsibility to get involved in the attitudes of the KLM staffs in Hong Kong.

Answer 2

You think the airports in England are bad, try entering the US through JFK with a Turkish passport! I got sent to the back and was thinkin "now i`m ...~ed". I thought they were going to do a cavity search and was preparing myself for the worst, but after sitting there with Homeland Security Police for about half an hour all they asked me was "why`d you get suspended?" I told`em why, and he let me go:) I missed my connecting filght and was pissed at having to wait among security officers(many of whom can hardly speak English!!!) for the next available flight--4 hours!

Oh and another reason I hat JFK: no smoking rooms!!! (THEY SUCK!!!) you have to go outside every time...

Answer 3

If you think security in UK airports are bad, try the US..God, they're so miserable! I too understand that it's their job, and it's a pretty serious one, but still I remember going there when I was a kid and they are suspicious of everyone! Even the 3-10 year old kids that walk past, they eye up everyone.

The only problem I've had myself in UK airports are the technical problems and attitude from the staff. Last month I was flying to France from London and we were waiting for our gate number to be put up on the board, we were there 2 hours before the flight took off so we sat town, drank coffee and read our books for a while. It came until 15 minutes before our flight was actually due to take off, and still on the board it said "Please wait..." next to our flight number. Getting pretty worried, we thought it was best to start walking anyway just in case (luckily we overheard a family near us on the same flight and said they thought it was X gate), so we followed them to the gate (which happened to be one of the furthest ones away from the main building!) turning up 1 minute before the gate actually closed, and we got such an attitude from the staff there! Telling us off for being late and giving that 'wow, you can't do anything right' look. They refused to listen to us about the gate number not being shown on the board, not believing that their system could ever go wrong. And then, after having them practically push us onto the plane, the cabin-crew were no better, so impolite.

You can't really expect much from Ryan Air or Easy Jet, though.

Answer 4

Most of my bad experiences at Airports are caused by things that aren't under control of anyone you'll ever talk to. Usually caused by some mechanical or environmental issue or the incompetence of the baggage control system and made worse by the fact that their communication methods appear out of date and in some cases absent.

Mind you, the fact that the front line staff appear disinterested and aloof and have absolutely no inclination to find out the circumstances, take any remedial action or react to any questions probably doesn't help.

PS. I hate Heathrow most, I'd rather transfer just about anywhere else.

Answer 5

Years ago I arrived at Schiphol Airport just as a terrorist attack was going down!

Like a good soldier, I made like a little worm and wriggled away PDQ!

.......... noisy!.......

edit:

Did you know the most prevalent battlefield injury is a bullet in the backside?

Answer 6

most airports in england are full of miserable twats, i drive boarding school children to airports and check them in and wait with them until someone from the airline comes to take the child to the plane, i go to lots of different airlines and have found Iberia and Virgin to be the rudest. virgin once overbooked a flight that i was checking 2 small boys onto and they didn't get their seats, they had to go back to school 100 miles away, while their parents waited for them in Dubai. No one at virgin even apologised, they were quite rude, and very defensive.