Hope this doesn't spoil your holiday abroad !!!

Good morning everyone, what a beautiful day, the sun’s shining, I no longer have to endure the nightmare journey on the train to work anymore, its 9.50 am and I’m still in my kaftan, although I have had my shower and put a brush through my hair (in case anyone knocks on the front door!). The pup’s are fast asleep in a never to be used again for it’s purpose deep laundry basket that they can peer over but no way get out of, perched right next to me on the sofa whilst I am typing this up. They have been fed, toileted, everything is clean and tidy.
There is a lovely smell of Jeyes Fluid outside the back door and Dettol inside.Definitely time to relax, start on my second cup of tea and browse through my Daily Mail (or Daily Wail as some on here are apt to call it!).
I stopped at Littlejohn’s column with the bold headline “Holidays from Hell - and that’s just the Airport!”. Huh oh! I wonder what he’s on about now, I thought to myself and continued to read the article. All I could think to myself was. “It is so true!”. .
The article is far too long to type out, even for me, but what about this…..
(some of the following is quoted from Littlejohn’s article but in my own wording…..)

In a nutshell….

It starts before you even go through the doors of the departure lounge of your airport.

Travelled by train? You probably clambered into a crowded train perhaps with fractious grandchildren and enough luggage to last a fortnight - especially with the thought that the RMT won’t call a wildcat strike on the day you are due to travel.

Leaving your car at the airport? Your parking charge will probably cost you more than your air fare!!. Choose the convenience of valet parking and the chances are your car will be dumped in a muddy field or used for a little light joyriding by the spotty youth to whom you entrust your keys.

Someone giving you a lift to your airport? The disgraceful practice now of charging “drop off” fees is now widespread. According to a report out this week, only 6 out of Britain’s 24 airports allow drivers to drop passengers off outside the main terminal free of charge.
At Luton it’s £3.50 for 15 minutes. Stay longer and it could cost anything up to £53 per hour. Stanstead imposes a fine of £50 on anyone who dawdles more than 10 minutes.
What other business would even contemplate charging vehicles bringing paying customers to their front door? It would be commercial suicide. Yet airports can get away with it simply because they don’t have any competition.

Once you are over the threshold, the nightmare really begins. We all accept that after 9/11 and the liquid bomb threat at Heathrow ten years ago, security has to be tightened but come on, surely it can be carried out with intelligence and especially proportion.
Heaven forbid, how many times have we watched the likes of Sybil and Howard from Hampstead have to empty their hand luggage? Precisely how many middle class, middle-aged, middle-England terrorists have attempted to blow up planes recently? Precisely. So why subject them to the third-degree as if they were IS sleepers?

After you have removed your belt, bracelet, shoes, jacket, watch, phone, laptop, and placed them all in separate bins, there is still the tyranny of the plastic bag police to get through.
I would swear they confiscate your cosmetics and toiletries so they can charge you for replacement overpriced same at the airports. At Luton they even charge you for the plastic bags!!!!!!

Having cleared security, you think you are home free? No bluddy chance! Before you can get to your departure lounge you have to navigate a long and winding narrow array of retail outlets flogging stuff you couldn’t possibly want to buy at the start of your holiday.
British airports now resemble Brent Cross shopping centre with a few departure gates tacked on as an afterthought. You actually have to run the gauntlet of women in mortician’s make-up spraying you with perfume.

Some airports are now telling you to arrive three hours before your long-haul flight is due to depart. What’s the betting this is nothing to do with security but to try and screw every last penny out of you before you take off..

And while we’re being subjected to security screening just short of a colonoscopy,can we have any confidence that the same level of scrutiny is being applied to those who work at the airports?
Three hundred staff at a company which provides airline lounge services at Heathrow have just had their airside passes suspended as a “precautionary measure”To be fair, Heathrow has a reputation as one of the world’s safest airports.

But can the same be said of airports abroad? This week we all saw pictures of that idiot Ryanair passenger running across the Tarmac at Madrid airport, chasing a plane that was about to take off. . He was carrying two pieces of hand luggage. But what if he had been carrying a bomb?

Then when you finally make it back to Britain, don’t expect the “Welcome Home” mat to be put out for you. You’re forced to queue at passport control behind assorted Romanians, Bulgarians and citizens of every other EU country. No special treatment for British citizens.

Roll on Brexit. Oh, and if you are reading this at an airport or on a plane, have a nice holiday, you’ve earned it!

Partial unquote

Oh dear, it seems from the above that we are no longer treated as valued passengers in the long gone days of Alan Whicker. Now we seem to be treated like cattle herded and milked at every opportunity. What do you think? Do you agree with the above or do you think that we should have to put up and shut up?

Re: Hope this doesn't spoil your holiday abroad !!!

I have just finished reading that article and it is so true. I used to love travelling but can't really see myself doing much from now on.

Re: Hope this doesn't spoil your holiday abroad !!!

It is exactly as I think Longdogs, I will probably never go through an airport again in my life and it won't make me unhappy. I have always seen flying simply as a necessity of getting from A to B, this June when I was due to fly again for the first time in years (always cruising) I was rushed into hospital on the morning of departure where I stayed for three weeks, definitely kismet or fate.

I have to admit to having hated flying all my life ( although I was in the WRAF for a number of years) even during basic training we were due to go up in a Hercules aircraft. I told the Corporal I wasn't going, she said oh yes you are, I said oh no I'm not! she said: do you want to bet? I said nothing, On the day of the flight it was cancelled due to severe weather conditions. I said to her.....told you I wasn't going!.

Re: Hope this doesn't spoil your holiday abroad !!!

I have just got so fed up with the way we are treated on flights and at airports. I don't mind the security checks because it's better to be safe than sorry but the whole thing seems to revolve around maximum profit.

The last time we flew back from America, we were told that seats together could not be guaranteed (even though they were booked together) unless we paid extra. I kicked up such a stink at the desk that they eventually gave us the seats without extra charge.

Every time we fly we vow never to book with that company again but we are running out of options.

I am lucky that I have seen the majority of the places I wanted to see but I think from now on holidays here are the best option.

Re: Hope this doesn't spoil your holiday abroad !!!

It's that 'drop off' fee that's annoying. Its £1 for ten minutes and £2 for 20 minutes at Birmingham airport. It's not so bad, when you are dropping off but when you are collecting someone and they are slightly delayed you start to panic!!
I was amazed the other night when l dropped my daughter off at the airport, that after paying the £1 in the machine that l didn't have to put the ticket in the slot in the barrier machine.The barrier just lifted!
Now tell me, cos l'm blonde! Did the ticket machine send a message to the barrier or was there something at the barrier that could read the ticket in my car?

Re: Hope this doesn't spoil your holiday abroad !!!

It's so true about how they treat us. If I cast my mind back I remember the last time we flew, on the return we arrived at Manchester Airport, had to walk what seemed miles until we came to Passport control, where we had to go through rows and rows of post office twisty pens where we had to queue with every other nationality for at least 30 minutes before we reached the customs desks. Then he who must obey and I weren't even allowed to go to the same passport control desk together. A stern looking officious jobsworth said "other desk " speaking to me as if I was someone he would rather not be talking to. I so wanted to say to him "young man, who the hell do you think you are speaking to? if you wish me to go to a different desk to my husband, then you will ask me politely as I am sure your parent taught you how to speak to others when making a request!!) but I was tired and our taxi was already waiting for us to make the 60 mile journey home, so I bit my tongue and said nothing, which I always regret.

Never again !

Re: Hope this doesn't spoil your holiday abroad !!!

Wow Art, they always say blondes have more fun! they must have been viewing you on the security camera's. or maybe they watched you buy a ticket, and saved you having to put the ticket in the barrier slot, which was very kind and considerate of them). Otherwise..... spooky!

Re: Hope this doesn't spoil your holiday abroad !!!

No, Art...quite simply, ANPR cameras read you going in and calculate how long you've been there for.

Re: Hope this doesn't spoil your holiday abroad !!!

When collecting travellers at the airports that charge, I would simply suggest that the traveller sends a message or phone call to the driver, that they are either in or leaving baggage control, or have already cleared customs. They can then wait outside, or take the courtesy bus to the car park, where some airports allow around 30 minutes free parking. A recent article in the papers didn't mention that Stansted offers this.

Follow these guidelines and nobody should receive a penalty for overstaying. Or pay that extra £50 at the barrier!!

Re: Hope this doesn't spoil your holiday abroad !!!

Jazzi, l'm not sure if that's the same?

I arrive at the 'drop off' area, l take a ticket and the barrier goes up to let me in. I drop off my passenger and go to a ticket machine in the 'drop off' area. I put my ticket in and it calculates how much l owe. I put the money in and it gives me back my ticket. I then drive round to the exit barrier but this time l didn't have to put my ticket in the machine slot to activate the barrier, the barrier just lifted as if it knew l had paid?!! The ticket was lying in the middle console in my car.