It was 22:45hrs when Easy Jet Flight EZY2002 from Athens touched down at Luton Airport last night 29th September 2005.
As we taxied into our gate we could see the passengers from another Easy Jet flight disembarking and making their way across the apron towards the terminal building.
Our aircraft came to a stop and soon we are walking down the aircraft steps and across the apron towards the terminal building. As we entered and snaked along the drab uninviting corridors that were more reminiscent of my RAF service days than the gateway to a major British International Airport, I thought to myself this airport was more suited to some third world country instead of one of the worlds richest.
The corridor seemed to go on forever and as we walked down a flight of steps I remarked to my wife that they were not suitable for those with walking difficulties or small children.
The corridor continued around and then you were aware that you were approaching immigration by the uninviting no photography / security notices and as we rounded the final corner wallop. There in front of us is a queue of some several hundred people winding their way through the make shift cattle pens.
At the front of the area are a number of immigration desks, of which two are manned. One official is administering the handful of non-EU passengers, whilst the other is checking every passport of all the other passengers. When I say checking, they were not just checking photographs they are checking the passport details and scanning the passport through their security machines.
Because of the poorly arranged crowd control barriers, the sole airport official on duty had difficulty controlling the throng and soon chaos erupted as a group of passengers unwittingly (I will give them the benefit of the doubt,) jumped the snaking queue. Those passengers who had waited patiently in the queue, quite rightly protested, and so the sole official struggled to return the wayward flock to the queue.
Finally, reinforcements in the form of four security guards and a eventually a policeman appear on the scene, but they are not there to solve the problem, they are there to solve the effect of the problem!
During this mayhem, a young woman appears at the front of the crowd and bellows some instructions about having passport and immigration cards ready for inspection. A totally pointless exercise as her target audience were non EU passengers who probably could not understand the English let alone her echoing message that got drowned out by the queuing passengers chatter and grumbles.
At this point, my wife and I both agreed that it was not the best image of Britain that was being portrayed, and that it was certainly not the best way to deal with tired and travel weary passengers.
Eventually another two immigration officials appear and the queue starts to move quicker, although heaven forbid that you crossed the yellow line before being told to do so by the immigration official’s beckoning finger!
Through passport control we check which carrousel our luggage is due on and make our way to belt 3 as indicated!
Another shock. The carrousel is probably no longer than a cricket pitch and it is being loaded with the luggage from three aircraft. The queue around the belt is already three deep and there is chaos.
As we wait to sight our luggage the carrousel stopped four times. The cause, the backlog of unclaimed luggage, which as it was returning into the bowels of officialdom, simply jammed the belt. Sadly, when it re-immerged it did so with even more luggage that had been piled onto the inadequate facility.
Again, the sole visible baggage handler struggled to keep the carrousel going and after it stopped for a fifth time an enterprising young man, a passenger who would probably be condemned for his actions, jumped onto the belt and started handing people their luggage.
After another ten frustrating minutes we finally claimed our bags and made our way towards customs. As we do so, we notice the builders partitioning upon which those notices that make everything all right were clear displayed. The notices explained that building work was being carried out and that they apologised for any inconvenience and the work would be completed by the end of summer 2005! Another triumph for British project planning.
Personally, I thought the whole operation was shoddy and unprofessional and certainly not an image that we should be portraying to our international visitors, especially when in seven years time, which is not a long time, we will be expecting them to arrive in their tens of thousands to watch the 2012 Olympics.
Who do I blame? I certainly do not blame those people at the sharp end. Those overworked, under paid workers who simply tried to do the bidding of their masters, whilst their masters were probably just tucking themselves up in bed.
No, like many similar instances in this country I blame those bureaucrats and senior managers who sit behind their desks drawing their large pensionable salaries and who are more concerned with how they can cut yet more low paid jobs in order to meet profits targets and justify their vulgar bonuses! I think it time for those managers to review their Perito analysis and then use it to improve services at a customer end of the business, after all 80% of the costs in any company will be In the top 20% of the work force.
Just how difficult can it be to run a passenger handling facility, especially inbound. Unlike supermarkets, where the flow of customers through the checkouts is totally unpredictable and certainly not based on how full the store or its car park is, processing airline customers must be like shelling peas. After all, it is totally controlled from the moment an aircraft takes off through to the passenger leaving the customs area.
In what other service industry do you have total knowledge of what to expect and when to expect it? Is it that difficult then to ensure that sufficient resources are available to ensure that the passengers can be processed quickly and efficiently, instead of waiting for the tired crowd of passengers to become restless and start showing signs of dissent!
The one thing I have learnt about the Brit’s, which made up the majority of people in the queue last night, they are happy to queue but they like to know what’s going on. Give them accurate and informative information and they will queue quite happily, and I certainly do not believe that a young woman bellowing her orders to the mob constitutes accurate and informative information.
If there is one item that sums up the unprofessional image of one of London’s busiest airports then it had to be the girl bellowing her message. Surely an airport as important and as busy as Luton can afford to install a local PA system over which a polite multilingual welcoming and informative message can be given and which can be heard by all!
Will I be using Luton again? Only as a last resort!
I have to wonder what exactly you are hoping to acheieve from such a long-winded statement on a forum such as this one. Have you tried sending these thoughts to Luton Airport's management instead? Perhaps then you would receive some sort of feedback which might put your mind at rest.
I have been flying with easyJet on a frequent basis ever since they only had one aircraft. The routes I have travelled include ATH-LTN on several occasions as I used to live in Greece.
Yes, Luton is small and ill equipped to deal with an ever-expanding airline like easyJet. Yes, the airline itself sadly lacks in customer service. Yes, the general experience of flying no-frills is not the same as BA First Class from Heathrow.
But let's face it- as you pointed out, we are one of the world's richest countries. We have the money, freedom and opportunities to get on a plane whenever we want. International travel is accessible to us on a whim. We are incredibly fortunate to come from a prosperous Western nation and not one of the third world countries you speak of.
So please, get a little perspective in life. You went to Greece, probably not for very much money- which is more than a lot of people are able to do. You flew there on a well-maintained aircraft and had, I hope, a reasonable time. You probably had the money in your pocket to purchase a drink or snack on the flight, albeit an overpriced one.
Had you travelled to Athens during the Hellinikon Airport era, you would doubtlessly have been complaining about the third world standards of Greece's biggest airport too, so at least be thankful for that.
I am a regular visitor to the Airline Equality webpage and it never ceases to amaze me how jumped-up Gold Card holders have the audacity to complain about such trivial matters such as 'mature' cabin crew, 30-minute delays or lukewarm mineral water.
Bottom line, we are incredibly fortunate to be able to travel where and when we want. Don't you ever just count your blessings for that?
Blimy Mate! are you practising for writing a Novel? Arthur Hailey already did "Airport".
What you've just described is an ordinary day at any airport in the world. I came through Gatwick last month and had to wait an hour for the baggage belts to even start moving. And we got no explanation at all.
I was actually thinking it might be a wind-up, in which case I feel a bit sheepish now- it's just that people who complain at length about nothign in particular really get my back up.
Then again, it does sound remarkably like something my father would write.
Originally posted by chica78: I was actually thinking it might be a wind-up, in which case I feel a bit sheepish now- it's just that people who complain at length about nothign in particular really get my back up.
Then again, it does sound remarkably like something my father would write.
My friend's girlfriend had a horrible experience with the security at Luton Airport. She is asthmatic and even though she did nothing wrong, they singled her out. Apparently for no other reason than being Chinese (BBC).
She was treated horrendously and tried to stop my friend giving her her asthma medication, during a severe asthma attack. They also were giving medical advise to my friend, saying that Asthmatics can't harm themselves from an attack. and that She was full of hot-air anyway!
The weekend of the Terror alerts reducing hand baggage I flew home (working in Ireland) for the weekend and landed at Luton. I had my wallet and my house keys in my jacket pocket and no other luggage at all.
In my mind I was making life very easy for me and security.
Being the first through baggage control I was chased by a huge security guard. He was terribly concerned I had surrepticiously concealed/ left a suitcase/ luggage and was in the process of some kind of terrorist action! Very thoughtful of him!
On the way back out of Luton on the sunday I had the same items plus a months worth of medication, with the paper prescpition. I was allowed to carry this on board in the little clear bag having no other luggage.
I dont like complicated things when I am travelling and only have what is absolutely necessary. I flew out to work in the middle east for a year with only one holdall.
A free piece of advice learned through experience. Only take what you really, really will use.
It causes you a lot less stress on yourself and you will encounter much fewer stressful situations.
