Occasional Observations

There is an airport, not too far from London, which specializes in budget flights to tourist destinations. It sucks for business travel, especially when you?re trying to get through the metal detectors etc, since there always seem to be the people who have never flown before (or even been to a big city?) who don?t realize that getting through the machines means removing your coat, your hat, your belt, the metal items in your pockets, etc.

But I digress. Arriving at said airport, where the lines are long for check-in, is enough to merit the mental ?Abandon hope, all ye who enter here? signs that I always seem to imagine at the entrance to the check-in hall. And let me share a little secret: with a rather well-known and brightly-colored airline, it?s absolutely possible, without fear of recrimination or even funny looks from other passengers (unless they?re within earshot), to pick the shortest line and check-in there. Regardless of your destination and what it says on the board above that check-in desk. So Malaga = Munich = Belfast = anywhere you?re going, as long as you actually have a ticket with that airline, that is.

Aha! You exclaim. Queuing is done only by those who are off the grid. Indeed, I agree ? however when one is travelling with more than a laptop and mobile charger and one night?s essentials, especially on the way back from a trade fair, when one?s bag is likely to be stuffed with Bling / CPS / Chotskys, then a bag is sometimes essential? and no, this airline doesn?t yet do bag-drop only desks.

So today, despite the monster teenagers-sitting-in-circles-on-the-floor-around-their-bags queues, I was in luck ? there was one check-in line that was shorter than the others. And lo and behold, it was even the ?one? for Munich, my destination. Somehow, that didn?t seem right. What really confused me , through, was the lady in front of me. She was going to Dublin, a destination that my airline de jour doesn?t actually serve ? on a different airline.

That, I didn?t get

Labels: odd, travel

# posted by Nesjo : 18:29