Crawling Queues to take an Airplane Flight
Almost every time a flight reaches the destination and airplane parks at the designated stand, at times, before even airplane stops fully, we see people getting up to jump out of the airplane. Surely, it is a common sight, and many of us might have been a party to it. I at times felt, why in hurry when we took many Q’s to reach to the seat of the aircraft.
I started taking flights regularly after coming in professional life in early 2000’s. Flight journeys used to have a premium feel in those days with most of the full-service carriers. Frequency of taking flight increased and so do with many of people like me. With time, frequency of taking a flight increased, Airport terminals got a new look, and that premium feel faded away with crowd at every step at Airports.
New Terminals came with a new term in Air Tickets - UDF (User Development Fee). There are no free lunches and that’s why travellers have to shell out more for enhanced user experience. It is understandable that the cost of new terminal buildings & associated services needs to be shared directly by user. Growing number of people willing to take air travel as preferred mode of transport motivated Airlines to add new flights & routes. Most of the terminals at Indian airports were reaching limit to manage passengers with terminal capacities and aircraft stands. However, the airport operators were not willing to say no to more flights.
New aircraft stands are the answer to add more flights. Terminal expansion remain on back burner to cut cost and increase revenue by adding more flights. This led to increased passengers in existing terminals leading to crowd & chaos. Passengers with no option of an alternate airport absorbed this new definition of Air Travel. New definition include:
Snake-walk no. 1: Q for entering inside the airport
Snake-walk no. 2: Q for check in at airline counter
Snake-walk no. 3: Q for security check
Snake-walk no. 4: Q for boarding (at aircraft as well while boarding from non-aerobridge stands)
Q stands for Queue, not for Quality. Please check the fee & taxes we pay on each commercial flight we take. Are we getting the customer experience, we pay for?
There is nothing that cannot be changed. A little concern towards the passengers can be given for whom the facility exists. A target of more & more satisfied customers will lead to happy & healthy system of Air Travel.
Happy Landings!
OFLY objective is to disseminate fair and genuine information regarding Aviation. We do not represent any specific flight school. Author of this blog is an Indian Private Pilot and keen observer of Indian aviation market. He flies with multiple flying training schools of India. For consultation on Learn to Fly as hobby or profession. Book your appointment here or write to us info@jagaviation.in