geneva airport

[SteveP]

Was there recently
What a chaotic scene.
I thought i was at an italian airport.

Whats up saab?

Long lines everywhere, coudnt check in at kiosk...had to wait in line.
Nother line for baggage,
Baggage guy not there. Had to wait.

Only question.
Is geneva in switzerland still or has it been ceded to italy these days?

[Saab2000]

Were you on the French side or the Swiss side? It's a shared airport. I used to fly there all the time but I have actually don't know what goes on there since I left. I'm sure it's gone way downhill in my absence!

[SteveP]

we were on the swiss side.
i told them i knew a famous swiss pilot.

they told me to get coffee and come back later.

[Saab2000]

we were on the swiss side.
i told them i knew a famous swiss pilot.

they told me to get coffee and come back later.

If I were less famous they would have let me go back after getting furloughed in 2003.

I'm seeking asylum in Quebec City currently. At least we have a nice hotel here. Canadians are friendly. I was amazed when I found out that South Park is fictional and that Canadians don't actually look like this.

[progetto]

Famous or Infamous

we were on the swiss side.
i told them i knew a famous swiss pilot.

they told me to get coffee and come back later.

[vertical_doug]

The Swiss don't like U.S. Passports anymore.
Something to do about their banks being fined by U.S. Treasury for helping rich Americans hide their money.
The Swiss paid their fines, and the rich Americans hid their money elsewhere.

[kentinmania]

Geneva Airport is too small for the rush days/hours. Traffic jam to access to the parking (only one main entrance), congestion at the check in (really few counters open), congestion at security control (only two lines).

At 6pm on a friday you can expect 40 min to pass through the security control.

Btw, if you speak with a swiss, Geneva isn't Switzerland ;)

[sk_tle]

Yeah Geneva is the least swiss city of switzerland. People there hate the french but have build their house in nearby France and are as rude and arrogant as french people. And the airport definitely sucks. Traffic grew but it never scaled. It's not the only one in europe in that situation though.

[kentinmania]

And they are happy to buy their medecines in France for a fraction of the price :) Pharmacist speaking

Luckily there aren't a lot of "real" swiss in Geneva so not a lot of people hating on us

[Powerful Pete]

This thread made me laugh. Sitting in Schipol, soon to be back in Fiumicino. Thinking of how things work unbelievably well here in AMS. Italian airports are... exciting. But at least you can get a good caffè!

What is it with coffee culture that many emulate and few succeed in recreating an Italian espresso? Topic for another thread, I suppose.

[Paul]

What is it with coffee culture that many emulate and few succeed in recreating an Italian espresso? Topic for another thread, I suppose.

This is something that I've thought about many times, how can it be so difficult, it's just coffee beans and water!

All these places in England have the same raw materials and the same Faema, Gaggia, Saeco etc equipment, the end result looks similar but usually tastes like shit in comparison?
It's the same story with pizza and pasta.

I need Sant' Eustachio to move from Rome to Manchester

[SteveP]

Funny enough.., the one entrance..
That was a botch i forgot...leading to the other botches.

The 2 of us sitting in the car in this entry line trying to figure out where we were supposed to go cause this made no sense.

[Saab2000]

The Basel airport is also a shared airport though technically it's a French airport on French land. But there's an entrance and exit to Switzerland and they each have their own customs. Of course, there are few, if any, flights from North America to Basel/Bâle airport. It is my opinion that Zurich is the best airport in Switzerland but since I worked there for years I'm biased. I have little experience with the other airports from a passenger POV.

BTW, over my years there I found out that the French speaking Swiss and Italian speaking Swiss don't like to be identified with their German speaking countrymen, they don't hate them either and they certainly don't identify as French or Italians respectively. Especially the Ticinese. They are fiercely independent and while Italian speaking, they're also proudly Swiss, though they never miss an opportunity to rip on the Zucchinis north of the Gotthard Pass!

I did not find Switzerland to be nearly as divided a people as Belgium is divided. For example, there is no call for independence of the different linguistic regions.

[SteveP]

More airport stories.

A few years ago I flew Alitalia (god forbid) boston- milan direct.
The crew would go to the back of the plane in flight and smoke...
You can smell smoke a mile away.

We get to milan. 4 of us on the flight.
2 bikes come off the plane.

Mine came thank you.

Friend who was missing bike asks where the baggage office is.
Answer.. you flew coach. There is flights no baggage office for that. Phone this number.
He drives back to the airport 2 days running from Lake Como where we were staying.
3rd day in flights suggest he call a friend of ours in flights boston and ask him to go to Alitalia in boston and inquire.
He does.
Alitalia guy in boston says.
" let me go in back and check."

Comes back with... " there are 2 big boxes there addressed to milan. They have been there for 2 days...we will send them tomorrow" .

Awesomely bad service. Spectacularly bad service. Olympic gold medal level of bad service.

[sk_tle]

Röstigraben

[Saab2000]

More airport stories.

A few years ago I flew Alitalia (god forbid) boston- milan direct.
The crew would go to the back of the plane in flight and smoke...
You can smell smoke a mile away.

We get to milan. 4 of us on the flight.
2 bikes come off the plane.

Mine came thank you.

Friend who was missing bike asks where the baggage office is.
Answer.. you flew coach. There is flights no baggage office for that. Phone this number.
He drives back to the airport 2 days running from Lake Como where we were staying.
3rd day in flights suggest he call a friend of ours in flights boston and ask him to go to Alitalia in boston and inquire.
He does.
Alitalia guy in boston says.
" let me go in back and check."

Comes back with... " there are 2 big boxes there addressed to milan. They have been there for 2 days...we will send them tomorrow" .

Awesomely bad service. Spectacularly bad service. Olympic gold medal level of bad service.

This level of 'service' is unfortunately all too common in the airline industry at large. Thankfully, DOT does keep track of some of this stuff and the info is available. But it pisses me off to no end because there are many people in my industry who actually give a shit about the customers but we're held back at all levels from the top to the bottom by people who 1. don't care 2. suck at their jobs 3. have no idea how an airline really works (I'm talking middle and upper managers who have never seen an airplane up close and sit in their offices crunching numbers in downtown Chicago......), etc.

Most people want to do a good job. But yeah, that story sucks and I've heard it a million times.

[j44ke]

I was on a British Air flight to London out of NY-JFK that was diverted to Dulles due to some huge thunderstorm off the coast. That meant after an hour or so flight, we ended up sitting on the tarmac in Dulles, after which they decided we had to de-plane for refueling. So we de-planed into an empty terminal (was like 2AM by then,) sat around for an hour and then got back on the plane and flew to London. When we went to the baggage terminal at Heathrow, we found out nearly 50% of the baggage had been off-loaded in Dulles. WTF? Dulles wasn't a destination, so obviously no one had connecting flights there - why did they take baggage off? Theories ranged from extra-fuel required for the longer flight made the plane over-heavy so bags were removed to some sort of top secret cargo was loaded onto the plane, requiring baggage to be removed to make space. I got my bag only about 24 hours later, but the contents looked like everything had been pulled out, rolled into a ball and stuffed back into the suitcase, and all of my particulars - shaver, toothbrush, etc. - were gone.

INSANE!

[Lionel]

Don't get me started on airline stories.

[vertical_doug]

I was on a British Air flight to London out of NY-JFK that was diverted to Dulles due to some huge thunderstorm off the coast. That meant after an hour or so flight, we ended up sitting on the tarmac in Dulles, after which they decided we had to de-plane for refueling. So we de-planed into an empty terminal (was like 2AM by then,) sat around for an hour and then got back on the plane and flew to London. When we went to the baggage terminal at Heathrow, we found out nearly 50% of the baggage had been off-loaded in Dulles. WTF? Dulles wasn't a destination, so obviously no one had connecting flights there - why did they take baggage off? Theories ranged from extra-fuel required for the longer flight made the plane over-heavy so bags were removed to some sort of top secret cargo was loaded onto the plane, requiring baggage to be removed to make space. I got my bag only about 24 hours later, but the contents looked like everything had been pulled out, rolled into a ball and stuffed back into the suitcase, and all of my particulars - shaver, toothbrush, etc. - were gone.

INSANE!

Washington Area has all sorts of special rules since 9-11. My guess is the bags all had to be screened before you were allowed to fly out of Dulles. Being late and understaffed, the airline ran out of time to run the screening and your were SOL.

British Air lost my luggage on a return from Delhi a few years back. I filed the luggage claim and the nice person working at the desk for BA said they'd deliver it the day after it arrived. I explained I was leaving for another trip in 2 days, so if the luggage arrived on the next flight to call me and I'd come pick it up since I needed some items for the next trip. The next day, the rep from BA called, I went out to claim my luggage. The rep said it was lucky she was on the look out for my luggage, because when she went in, customs were about to cut the locks. She tried 0-0-0 and it opened. So they did not have to cut. I told her the locks were TSA keyed anyway so customs could just use the TSA key. She said' This is customs, they don't have TSA keys.'. Gov at its finest. Left hand right hand.

But for all the complaining, I don't think flying has ever been cheaper. Since 1980, ticket prices have declined by 50% or so. (not inflation adjusted so in inflation adjusted dollars even cheaper.) It is much cheaper to fly to Washington than take the Amtrak.

[j44ke]

International flying has gone up considerably. Just like the post office and international parcels. They are fine with you running around the country, but as soon as you want to leave, the price gets jacked. Record profits in the industry this year. Airlines say it is because more people are flying, but the numbers suggest profits come from increased number of non-competitive routes due to mergers and arrangements like Star Alliance etc.