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Friday, December 28, 2007 The worst of the European airports By
Elisabeth Rosenthal The
International Herald Tribune ROME - As we sat for an hour
waiting to deplane at Leonardo da Vinci Airport from a short-haul flight this
year, the pilot got on the public address system. "Sorry," he
intoned. "Everybody knows this is one of Europe's worst airports." At the time it seemed
hard to argue: After the 50-minute flight and the wait to get off the plane, we
would wait another hour around a carousel before receiving our luggage. But these days, there
is intense competition for the title of "worst airport." Each year, the World
Airport Awards, given by an air travel research and consulting firm called
Skytrax, honor the best airports. Only a few in Europe made the top 10 this
year: Munich is No. 4, Zurich is No. 6, Amsterdam Schiphol is No. 7 and Madrid
Barajas is No. 10. The top three are in Asia, while no U.S. airports made the
list. While passenger
numbers have skyrocketed in the past decade, airports have expanded in a
makeshift fashion, leaving travelers to hike longer and longer distances. The
treks are best suited for marathoners, doable for fit mortals. I am not quite
sure how people with children or those who are elderly or have disabilities are
expected to handle them. Add to that the fact
that air traffic and security procedures have both grown more onerous, and bad
airport experiences far outnumber the good ones. So outing the worst airports
may be more useful than praising the best. In that spirit, and as
a frequent flier around Europe, I have polled my fellow road warriors over the
past two months - on airplanes, in security lines and at taxi ranks - to come
up with an entirely unscientific survey of Europe's worst. And though I am no
statistician, I think it must be significant that nearly everyone gives the
same response: London Heathrow is, hands down, the worst, cited by 100 percent
of respondents, as the scientists say. Charles de Gaulle
outside Paris came in a close second. Leonardo da Vinci at Fiumicino, near
Rome, and the Frankfurt airport won honorable, or should I say dishonorable,
mentions. "Heathrow is
horrible," said Howard Brennan, a businessman from the United States.
"You wouldn't believe the waits. It's too congested, and you have to
sprint to get between gates. If you fly first class they are sometimes helpful,
but only sometimes, even then." Jeffrey Pappin, a
business consultant in London, said it was "always amusing to look at the
signs that inform you that it takes 25 minutes to walk to a particular
gate." As for Heathrow's amenities, Pappin said, "One only knows
through experience and secret knowledge where the restrooms and business
lounges are tucked away." To be fair, London, as
a target of terrorism, has particularly pressing security issues. Nevertheless,
the lines for passport control for non-EU citizens can take hours, even at odd
times of the day. I recently had the misfortune to arrive at Heathrow from Rome
late at night, around the same time as jumbos from Moscow; Almaty, Kazakhstan;
Islamabad; Lagos; and other far-flung locations. The line through an
airless tunnel was long, the wait 90 minutes long, and British airport
employees yelled nearly nonstop to those in the line that they should
"step aside" (to where?) to allow EU residents through. Another common
complaint about London is the British security policy that strictly limits
carry-on luggage to one bag. That includes laptops, purses, briefcases, the
works. To get into the security area, you must have it all in one. The result
is the human traffic jam outside the screening area as people attempt to cram
laptops into handbags or handbags into laptop carriers. The policy seems
particularly pointless because the second you show that it can all be put
together and pass into the security area, you are harangued with announcements
asking you to unbundle it again, removing laptops, wallet and liquids for
inspection. (Helpful hint: Bring a
fold-up bag into which you can dump your computer and briefcase or handbag.) One good point about
Heathrow: It has a remarkably efficient, if expensive, connection to central
London, the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station, which takes 15
minutes and costs from £14.50, or more than $28, for a one-way ticket. If Heathrow is like
being on a Long March, then Charles de Gaulle in Paris, according to one fellow
traveler, is "like being in an Escher print." The terminals, A
through F, look identical and are widely spread out. The signs are poor. Ask an
airport employee where to find the check-in counter for your flight and you
often get bad advice. And then you are far from your boarding gate. Security lines for
check-in and especially for transfers to flights leaving the European Union are
endless, inefficient and poorly organized, so forget about making tight
international connections. Airlines like Air France and Lufthansa still sell
flights as if post-9/11 security had never happened. They will allow travel
agents to book transfers in Paris and Frankfurt with less than an hour between
flights. Not a chance you will make a connection in that time! The various hotels
around Charles de Gaulle do a great business playing host to connecting
passengers who have missed flights. "If you don't
know the airport, it's really hard to find things," said Nada Kranjc, from
Ptuj, Slovenia. "And no one is very pleasant." Yes: The worst thing
is that when you have missed your plane or cannot figure out which of the lines
leads to your connecting flight or need helping interpreting the brave new
world of airport security, you are at the mercy of indifferent, aloof Parisian
airline or airport employees. In Britain, airport
employees hand out clear zip-lock plastic bags in which passengers are required
to place carry-on liquids and gels. At CDG it is another matter: Last week a
colleague bought a sealed box of expensive perfume that, security personnel
decided, required an additional clear plastic bag. In Paris, it turns out,
those have to be purchased - back in the concourse - for 10 euro cents, or
nearly 15 U.S. cents, at a stationery store called Relay. After racing to Relay
and returning with said plastic bag, the colleague was informed that it was the
wrong one. When, about to miss her flight, she exploded in Italian, she was
rebuked by a screener: "You have to speak French here!" It is a particularly
galling (Gaulle-ing?) experience. Mention Frankfurt
airport to frequent fliers between Europe and the United States and you are
bound to hear about the "rainbow" tunnel, a subterranean tube
illuminated with varicolored neon lights. It seems miles long and ends in
mountainous staircases in both directions. There are two very slow elevators as
alternatives to the stairs. "The place is
really annoying," said Walter Konkin, an American. And is Brussels a
generally efficient airport? Happy that your flight arrived on time? You'll
still be late. "It is as though
they wanted to disguise the fact that Belgium is a small country by having you
walk for miles and miles to baggage claim," Pappin said. Leonardo da Vinci did
not rank highest in my survey of bad airports. But I suspect that is largely
because it is small and not a frequent transfer point and because people expect
Italy to be somewhat dysfunctional. "I don't
know," said Julia Pool, a lawyer who travels frequently in Europe.
"When you wait in London it's really irritating, but when you wait in Rome
it feels charming." Objectively, Leonardo
da Vinci is dirty. Gate assignments change with the wind. Your plane lands on
time, and then you wait for the Italian airport guy to open the door. (Espresso
time?) But what really stands
out are the incredibly long lines to check in for U.S. flights and the abysmal
luggage handling. No Roman who can help it checks luggage here. One Saturday this
autumn on my way to New York, the check-in line for flights stretched the
entire length of the terminal (and out the door) and was 10 people wide. It
took two to three hours of dragging luggage forward by inches to reach the
desk. People with walkers and carrying screaming infants were not excused. There were occasional
announcements calling people on imminently departing flights to the front of
the line. But - Catch-22 - that helped only if you were close enough to the
front of the line to hear them. I got two explanations
for the congestion: Cruise ships arrive in Rome on Saturdays, and there was an
undefined "problem" with luggage handling. It must have been a big
problem since, when the belt started turning at the carousel at JFK airport in
New York, it turned out that not a single checked bag had made it onto the
plane. In my survey I tried
to be positive, always asking about best airports as well. Munich, Zurich,
Schiphol and Barajas were praised, as well as a few smaller airports. Shannon
in Ireland won plaudits because, as Konkin said, "at least there you can
get a pint of Guinness when you're stuck." In many cases there is
little one can do to prevent airport stress these days - and most of my
respondents noted that airport experiences are even worse in the United States.
So perhaps the best course is to resort to skills I have learned in Italy:
Lower expectations, slow down a bit and enjoy the moment, wherever. On a recent flight
between Rome and London, my seatmate, Gaetano Pace, gave me a list of the
airports he disliked (Heathrow, Frankfurt, Charles de Gaulle) and those he
liked (Barajas and Schiphol). But then he added: "You know, you have to
spend so much time in airports these days that what matters to me is whether
there are nice shops, a good bar or a restaurant." |
