Just when I got to Heathrow for my Etihad flight to Kuala Lumpur the police closed down terminal 3 and evacuated everyone. No one from the BAA staff seems to know more at this point.
Update: Fire engines are arriving but are held back at the holding area outside the Central Bus Terminal.
Update: The terminal has just been reopened. Now hundreds of people are trying to get back in. It looks chaotic!
Update: I’ve now made my way to Kuala Lumpur but nearly missed my plane in London since I had to queue for about an hour for security at Terminal 3 and it seemed as most other passengers of that flight were already through it before the evacuation. Luckily for me the fantastic onboard service from Etihad Airlines made up for the Heathrow shambles.
Genève Cointrin (IATA: GVA) as the airport, situated in the French part of Switzerland, is called in the local language, is quite an odd one. Don’t get me wrong it is actually quite a convenient airport as it is small and therefore rather accessible. But from both, an architectural and a usability point of view, it’s not exactly your standard airport.
Switzerland’s second largest international airport after Zurich is comprised of a mix of buildings from various decades. It looks a bit like an unthoughtfully assembled mosaic. Besides, the airport has a French and a Swiss side – so beware of from what “country” you are departing or arriving from. The good news is that if you are coming from France, you do not have to go through customs if you remain on the French side. The following review, however, is based on the Swiss part of the airport.
My first advice is, not to go through passport control until it is absolutely necessary (but of course allow ample time for security checks). The reason is that there are hardly any shops after passport control other than your usual, boring duty free and watch stores. The suggestions below are therefore based on the “outside”, public area of the airport:
Your best option is to go to the railway centre (also called “centre commerce”). There you can check out various stores and restaurants. You will find it right next to the main terminal building. My top picks there are:
Migros – a grocery store and a Swiss institution. They normally don’t have branded products, but trust me, their quality of produce is excellent. Here you can find anything from chocolates, Swiss specialties like cheese or dried meet to a delicious airline sandwich alternative to take on the plane.
Check out the “Manor” shop with a decent range of contemporary Swiss souvenirs for you to bring home.
And finally, if you sadly experienced bad weather on your skiing holidays, go to the centre’s solarium and freshen up your tan.
In case you are just looking for a quick bite before you board your economy flight, go to an area called “Les jardins de Genève”. You will find it on the 1st floor of the main terminal building. There you will find a Starbucks, Upper Crust, Burger King, a Sushi place (Bento), an Italian eatery (Le Sud) a bar and an outdoor area for when the weather is nice (mind you, smoking is not permitted there).
My final suggestion is a restaurant called “Swiss Chalet” which you will find in the arrivals area. The nicely decorated place offers typical Swiss meals like cheese Fondue, Raclette, Rösti and other delicacies. Oh and by the way, Geneva is only about 8 minutes away by train with trains leaving frequently, so if you have a lot of time, check out Switzerland’s second biggest city.
Switzerland officially joined the Schengen zone on the 12th December of last year even though my home country is (still) not part of the EU. The original Schengen agreement was signed in 1985 and it provided for the removal of systematic border controls between the participating countries.
With the Swiss joining the club now, this means you will no longer see systematic passport controls between it and the other member countries. This is straight forward with Switzerland’s neighbouring countries as they are all members themselves, but it’s a bit more complex for an airport as flights, obviously, will leave to both, member and non-member countries. Zurich airport will therefore undergo a change to accommodate for the new system. On their website they write
The most noticeable changes for passengers is that they will no longer have to pass through passport control within the Schengen area, and some transit passengers at Zurich Airport will even be able to transfer to their onward flight without having to undergo another security check.
These changes are becoming effective on 29th March 2009. More information can be found on the airport’s website. I’m scheduled to go back there in May and will report on the changes. Let’s hope Zurich remains as reliable as it was and that my favourite “Luxemburgerli” are available in both zones.
Everyone who climbed mighty Mount Kilimanjaro knows the Swahili expression “Pole Pole” meaning “slowly, slowly”. Apart from a few Diamox tablets and a good fitness level walking slowly up to the 5,895m (19,331 ft) high summit of Africa’s highest mountain is the key for success. Unfortunately the Tanzanians extended that philosophy also to the local airport: Kilimanjaro International Airport (IATA: JRO).
But let’s first start with the basics: As you would think, the airport mainly serves travellers as their destination airport for the climb of Mount Kilimanjaro. It is located between the two cities Arusha and Moshi and is also in close proximity of what must be two of Africa’s best wildlife reserves: Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater. KLM is the only non-African airline with frequent flights from Amsterdam Schiphol.
Alright, now back to the airports relaxed efficiency: I thought we had plenty of time at our hands when we arrived at the airport 3 hours before our scheduled departure back to Amsterdam (read the related article). But with various security checks, a long check-in queue and, worst of all, a stupidly strangely complicated immigration system, we basically just got to the gate right on time for boarding. Another annoyance was that all the shops are located before the last security check. My suggestion therefore is to take it easy (Pole Pole), have a look at the shops, eat something and wait until the queue for the gate dies down. Just make sure you don’t miss your flight!
There are still a few things you can do, so here are my top 3 things to do at Kilimanjaro Airport:
Look at the people boarding your flight and guess who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro (hint: watch them walk!)
Make your fellow travel companions happy and buy some Coca-Cola, Snickers, Kitkat, Pringles and Cookies (17.500 Schilling)
Flick through your digital camera’s pictures and smile about the unforgettable moments during your trip
Unfortunately the airport’s duty free shop did not have either Veuve Clicquot or Chanel No. 5 for my usual price rating but then, in my opinion at least, buying expensive French champagne in Africa doesn’t sound right in the first place.
If you asked me what the most useful online travel tool is the answer would have to be Tripit. The service allows you to forward your travel confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com and automatically get a master itinerary with all their plans, plus daily weather, local maps, city guides and more.
Tripit now just got better with the help of the guys from Appropos Mobile who announce the launch of their newest development on Monday: FlightTrack Pro for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The clever application automatically provides real-time flight cancellations, delays, gate changes, route maps, 10-day weather forecasts and more. FlightTrack Pro is the first application to synchronize TripIt itineraries to its service on iPhone and iPod touch and is available through the iTunes store for US$ 9.99 – a must-have tool for every seasoned traveler.
Surely you heard about the biggest snowfall in England in 18 years on Monday (news stories here and here). Coincidently I traveled that day from Tanzania back to London through Amsterdam. Not surprising that our connecting KLM flight to London Heathrow therefore received a lengthy delay of almost 6 hours (kudos to KLM though who were quick to organize a Boeing 747 bundling several London flights into one). This was time enough to have a really good look at what Amsterdam Schiphol (IATA: AMS) has to offer.
In summary, Schiphol offers a lot. Of course, you find the usual things like Duty Free Shops, Cafés, Burger joints and bars. But Schiphol goes further, a lot further actually: You can find everything from a full Casino in the main terminal, a branch of the famous Rijksmuseum with a drawing from Rembrandt among the display to one of the Yotel chains that offer affordable, modern rooms for as short as 4 hours.
But even if you are just looking for a quick refreshment, Schiphol has it: you will find shower cabins in the toilets in front of the First Aid on the first floor of the main hall, between the airport lounges 41 and 42. There, you also find comfort seats for you to rest from your busy travelling life. And if you need refreshment for your stomach, try the noodle soup (€15) at “Noodles” next to the T5 transfer desks.
Finally, even the usually from airports banned smokers will like the Dutch version as there is a smokers cell room on the first floor next to the airport lounge 42. However, if you are looking for a typical Amsterdam coffee shop you are out of luck unless you book one of the Holland Tours directly from the airport and make it into the city (disclaimer: I am not suggesting anything here! ;-)).
Now to the tricky part, the Top-5: I really had to think about it hard this time as there are so many things you can do – here are my favourite five:
Visit the Rijksmuseum branch and find the Rembrandt drawing
Eat a pot of pork noodle soup at “Noodles”
Buy some Dutch cheese from the Delikatessen shop (alternatively, buy some famous Dutch liquorish)
Count how many Dutch, blond ladies you see that are over 1.90m tall (6’3″) – trust me you need more than one hand to count them!
Try to find Starbucks (remember, the Berlin task?) – it’s not that tricky here, but you may need some time depending on your destination (this is already a hint)…
At first sight, getting delayed at Venice airport (IATA: VCE) might seem like a boring misfortune.
You should rethink that.
Yes, Venice Marco Polo Airport is small compared to many other touristic destinations, but what makes it interesting is the possibilities it gives you to do a different kind of shopping.
In fact, you will find a wide selection of Murano Glass, one of the most original presents you can bring home from Italy, together with series of Venetian masks, so typical of the Venetian Carnival for centuries.
If your interest is focused on cars instead, what’s one of the first brands to come to your mind, and one of the first people associate with Italy? Ferrari! There you go, a Ferrari store for you to browse between gadgets, car models, toys and clothes, with items from the toddler (future F1 champion?) to the navigate fan.
Last but not least, Marco Polo airport is a heaven for coffee lovers, with espressos served in several tastes and fashions (chocolate, condensed milk, cream; which make you wonder if you should try them all, defying caffeine and the doctors…).
In a globalised world, which often seems a replication of the same shopping centre over and over again, Venice airport is the ideal place to get delayed at (hopefully not for too long though!) for the range of options of “last minute” gifts that will change an embarrassing empty handed return home into an opportunity to show off originality and taste.
Well, nothing is impossible and that definitely holds true for Asia: Terminal 2 of Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport (IATA: TPE) features a full-blown Hello Kitty Lounge with adjacent – wait for it – Hello Kitty souvenir shop. Apparently you can even board some planes directly from the lounge. I guess one of these planes here. Up to you now to decide whether that’s a great sign of what we can expect at airports in 2009 or not…
I am sure you agree that 2008 has been a very difficult eventful year. This also holds also true for the aviation industry as our selection of the top 10 news stories about airports shows:
10. London Stansted blockade
Early December environmental activists have stopped flights at London’s Stansted airport (IATA: STN) after breaking through to the runway, raising security concerns at Britain’s third-busiest airport. The protests against a further expansion of the airport caused a serious knock-on effect on the airport’s flight operations causing over 50 flights to be cancelled.
9. Opening of Beijing airport Terminal 3
On March 26, Beijing airport (IATA: PEK) opened its new Terminal 3, designed by Sir Norman Foster, after four years of construction. It is the world’s largest airport building, covering more than a million square meters, designed to accommodate an estimated 50 million passengers a year by 2020.
8. Closure of Berlin’s iconic Tempelhof airport
Open one, close one; on the October 30, Berlin’s iconic Tempelhof airport closed down for good. Originally opened in 1923, the later built airport halls and neighbouring buildings, intended to become the gateway to Europe and a symbol of Hitler’s “world capital” Germania. Read our full coverage here.
7. Kalitta Air crash at Brussels airport
On Sunday, 25 May a Boeing 747 cargo plane overshot the runway at Brussels Zaventem airport (IATA: BRU) and crashed resulting the aircraft to break into 2 parts. The spectacular picture made the news everywhere.
6. Frightening landing at Hamburg’s airport
A low pressure system named “Emma” nearly caused a disaster at Hamburg airport (IATA: HAM) in March. The Lufthansa A320 plane struggled to make the runway through 90 kilometre-per-hour crosswinds resulting in the 39 year old pilots last minute go-around procedure and a safe second attempt. The frightening approach was caught on camera and is an extraordinary piece which will now probably be used all over the world in pilot training classrooms.
5. Hong Kong wins ‘Airport of the Year’ award
In July Hong Kong International airport (IATA: HKG) was named best Airport in the world, in the passenger survey results released by Skytrax. Despite being “only” rated in 5th place in the most-timely airport survey, Hong Kong received the prestigious award after Skytrax collected 8.2 million questionnaires completed by passengers over a 10-month time period. Read our congratulating article here.
4. Spanair crash at Madrid airport
A combination of basic pilot error and an electrical failure was the possible cause of the crash of a Spanair plane at Madrid’s Barajas airport (IATA: MAD) on 20 August that killed 154 people. The airport was closed for several hours after the accident.
3. Radar malfunction at Dublin airport
In the midst of the summer holiday season, Dublin airport (IATA: DUB) made the news with its malfunctioning radar system which meant that controllers lost some functionality on their screens meaning they were unable to see the labels attached to ‘blips’ that signify individual aircraft. The problem resulted in massive delays and many cancellations over several days.
1. Chaos at London Heathrow’s new Terminal 5
In March BAA, the company that owns Heathrow airport, opened its newest addition of what should have been a proud event for London’s most criticised airport. Instead, the opening resulted in a PR disaster with BAA losing thousands of bags over several months. The event then became one of the triggers leading to the demands of breaking up BAA’s monopolistic ownership of airports in the UK.
About three weeks ago, protesters supporting the People’s Alliance for Democracy stormed Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport (IATA: BKK), occupying the departure lounge and blocking all exits. With that 3,000 people were stranded within the airport and another 350,000 were stranded within Thailand. One of them, Markus, a friend of mine on holiday in Thailand. After an additional 9 days in Thailand, he finally returned last Sunday. Latedeparture.com was able to speak with him about his experience:
Tom for LateDeparture.com: When was your original flight back planned for?
Markus: Our original flight was scheduled for Friday November 28th with Emirates via Dubai to Munich. At the end we flew on Sunday December 7th with Lufthansa to Frankfurt – a short delay of nine days.
That sounds terrible, what had happened?
Three days before our original flight anti-government protestors (the yellow shirts from People’s Alliance for Democracy) took over Bangkok’s international airport. One day later they occupied Bangkok’s domestic airport too. So Bangkok was blocked from international air traffic and we were stranded in Thailand. After the Constitution Court ruled on December 2nd to disband the three ruling parties in the coalition government the protestors gave up the airport blockade and since December 6th the airport reopened for international flights.
Did you actually get stuck at the airport?
No, when we arrived in Bangkok it was impossible to go to the airport already.
How did you then spend the days waiting for your flight back?
After we realized that it will take some days to get out of Thailand (we also checked alternatives like flying form Malaysia or Singapore) we spent some relaxing days on Ko Chang Island waiting for news. When the protestors left the airport we went back to Bangkok and hoped for a reopening of the airport. The last three days we spend in a luxury hotel in Bangkok which was paid for by the Thai government. We also spent many hours waiting in the Emirates office waiting for news and searching for alternative flights. This was the most annoying part as the Emirates stuff was quite overstrained so that we got different information each day.
How did you then manage to get a flight back home?
As Emirates was one of the few airlines which didn’t operate from alternative airports and which didn’t send extra planes during the blockade (e.g. Lufthansa operated their Bangkok flights from Phuket and Air Berlin operated from the formerly military airbase Utapao) we still had no return flight after the Bangkok airport reopened on December 5th. Emirates just told us that they will call us within the next days. So we went to the Lufthansa office and got ourselves a return flight to Frankfurt. Probably a good decision as we had the impression that only Emirates passengers were still stranded in Bangkok when we left (especially in our hotel).
Was that at least a pleasant experience on the way out? I bet the airport must have been croinwded still, right?
As most airlines had the extra flights from other airports the Bangkok airport was not crowded at all when we flew back. Also there were no other signs showing the airport was closed for more than a week when we arrived at the airport.
Did you discover anything specially great or annoying about Bangkok airport?
The Bangkok airport is quite modern with a lot of opportunities to spend some hours.
Do you think this event changed how the airport operates?
I think this event won’t have any influence on the way the airport operates but the event will have a big influence on tourism in Thailand next year.
