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Glenn A wrote: ↑Tue Jul 10, 2018 17:47
I know it's not British, but Schiphol in Amsterdam is an excellent airport. Only one terminal, so you can't go to the wrong one, a large railway station underneath the station that has trains to the city centre every 10 mins and connections with most of the Netherlands and some international services, a huge taxi rank at the entrance, and easy access to the Dutch motorway network and central Amsterdam. Not sure about the hotels, but the transport access is excellent.
In this country, Newcastle seems to be one of the best. One terminal that is easy to navigate, Metro services to central Newcastle every 10 minutes, large car parks, two hotels on site with shuttle buses, a service station and the D2 A696 as you come out with the A1 two miles away.
Maybe I was dazed and confused, but I found Schiphol a strange airport.
You check in and reach the terminal. But you haven't been to security yet?
Security is on a gate basis, and they don't announce the gates until just before the flight.
So you have to keep an eye on the departure screen, then race up the corridor towards your gate, queue and go through security, and hope the flight hasn't left before you.
Any other airport I like to get through security then relax with a bite to eat, safe in the knowledge that the next queue is to get on the plane.
Public transport connections were spot on though, train right into the city centre.
ravenbluemoon wrote: ↑Mon Jun 18, 2018 02:46Stansted a.k.a. Stan's Shed: My regular haunt. If you're not travelling at a peak time, it's a doddle driving there from the M11. I'll often park in Mid-Stay, which has a regular shuttle bus that takes 5 minutes - the free drop off is here too.
Everything beyond the security seems to work ok (except for the WiFi), if a little bit crowded and chaotic in the glorified shopping mall bit. Returning into the UK can vary - sometimes there's hardly any queue, sometimes it is rammed. Depends on if the E-Passport machines are working and how mardy the staff are.
Stansted is my local airport and I've used it several times. I can step out of my front door, drive up the M11 and be in the terminal within the hour. The same is true coming back but the main holdup is waiting for the bus to turn up. The downside is that stress of knowing you have to be at a boarding gate on time but not knowing where it might be or how bad the queue for Security is. That's why I find all airports a bit daunting.
ravenbluemoon wrote: ↑Mon Jun 18, 2018 02:46Gothenburg City - Now closed, and although a bit more of a pain to get to at the north of the city, it was basically a large shed with three gates on a former Air Force Base. I hold the record for going from car seat to plane seat in 14 minutes
This one is great! We went there deliberately to visit the museum under the airport, it's a huge nuclear bunker - https://www.goteborg.com/en/aeroseum/http://www.aeroseum.se/
The downside was having to drive around three sides of the airfield to get there but part of that is a dual carriageway that doubled up as a runway in time of war
This was a daytrip from Stansted back in 2005 and the return flight was delayed slightly, this meant a lack of seats as two plane loads were waiting at the same time.
Gatwick to Prague was quite easy. We were driven to the terminal from the secure car park, checked in, passed through security and had to sit and wait in a very nice shopping centre. Rather relaxing really.
Burns wrote: ↑Wed Jun 20, 2018 00:56
Oslo and Bergen. On all occasions, my bag has either been there or minutes from appearing. I've yet to wait more than five minutes at the conveyor. When I last arrived in Oslo, I got there at 2:10pm, got through passport control and baggage reclaim by 2:20 and I'd picked up my car by 2:25. I could have been on the road by 2:25 but I didn't set off till about 2:40. I faff about setting up my dashcam and familiarising myself with where everything is before I drive a hire car.
Not trying to defend Edinburgh, but I don't recall ever waiting less than 15 mins for bags to arrive and typically much longer at every airport I've used (quick back of fag packet count got me to 17 other international airports).
Edinburgh is the airport I fly into / out of most regularly and is one of the most efficient in dealing with the 'tedious' aspects of flying.
Education makes the wise slightly wiser, but it makes the fool vastly more dangerous. N. Taleb We tend to demand impossible standards of proof from our opponents but accept any old rubbish to support our beliefs. The human paradox that is common sense The Backfire Effect
wallmeerkat wrote: ↑Fri Jul 20, 2018 16:49
Maybe I was dazed and confused, but I found Schiphol a strange airport.
You check in and reach the terminal. But you haven't been to security yet?
Security is on a gate basis, and they don't announce the gates until just before the flight.
So you have to keep an eye on the departure screen, then race up the corridor towards your gate, queue and go through security, and hope the flight hasn't left before you.
Any other airport I like to get through security then relax with a bite to eat, safe in the knowledge that the next queue is to get on the plane.
When did you travel? I suspect this may have changed in the last year. I've been there twice in recent months, coming from Asia we had to go through security on arrival but not at the gate for Dublin. This was a bit of a waste as we had efficient gate security in SIngapore. It was very efficient security though.
"I intend to always travel a different road"
Ibn Battuta 1304-1368
I' ve found Liverpool John Lennon easy to get do by road, with the M57 and M62 only a few minutes drive away. Inside, quite like the secure parking with its high fences and the single terminal.
wallmeerkat wrote: ↑Fri Jul 20, 2018 16:49
Maybe I was dazed and confused, but I found Schiphol a strange airport.
You check in and reach the terminal. But you haven't been to security yet?
Security is on a gate basis, and they don't announce the gates until just before the flight.
So you have to keep an eye on the departure screen, then race up the corridor towards your gate, queue and go through security, and hope the flight hasn't left before you.
Any other airport I like to get through security then relax with a bite to eat, safe in the knowledge that the next queue is to get on the plane.
When did you travel? I suspect this may have changed in the last year. I've been there twice in recent months, coming from Asia we had to go through security on arrival but not at the gate for Dublin. This was a bit of a waste as we had efficient gate security in SIngapore. It was very efficient security though.
Schiphol switched from gate to central security at the beginning of June 2015.
Calgary in Canada I found was very efficient and easy to use. Only a short walk to/from the hire car pick up and drop off location. Kuala Lumpur was good too and so was Cape Town the other year (if you don't count the hire car pickup place which was horribly inefficient). My favourite though was Cairns, Australia which was efficient and as soon as you step outside you know you're in the tropics with parrots chattering in the trees.
Now the bad ones. OR Tambo, Johannesburg, inefficient, lots of dubious people who don't seem to officially work at the airport offering to take your bags or show you the way and then demanding money. Ninoy Aquino, Manila. Not awful but very busy and a bit shabby. Heathrow must be my least favourite though.
bothar wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2020 10:38
At this stage I'd welcome the opportunity to travel through an airport, even an inefficient one.
I did a drop off and a collection at Cork airport a couple of years ago; the experience was much more pleasant than anywhere else I've ever been - you could just drive up to the terminal entrance, and drop off or pick up. Perfect.
bothar wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2020 10:38
At this stage I'd welcome the opportunity to travel through an airport, even an inefficient one.
I did a drop off and a collection at Cork airport a couple of years ago; the experience was much more pleasant than anywhere else I've ever been - you could just drive up to the terminal entrance, and drop off or pick up. Perfect.
Teesside Airport is like that, the main car park is across the road from the terminal, when they first opened the same was true of Stansted and London City Airport. I fact it used Stansted as a de facto motorway service area when the M11 first opened, the old Terminal was just north of the main runway. I used it as a de facto Motorway service area, access was easy and I could park near the terminal for an hour free and pop in and have a coffee. No Birchanger Green services then of course.
bothar wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2020 10:38
At this stage I'd welcome the opportunity to travel through an airport, even an inefficient one.
I did a drop off and a collection at Cork airport a couple of years ago; the experience was much more pleasant than anywhere else I've ever been - you could just drive up to the terminal entrance, and drop off or pick up. Perfect.
Teesside Airport is like that, the main car park is across the road from the terminal, when they first opened the same was true of Stansted and London City Airport. I fact it used Stansted as a de facto motorway service area when the M11 first opened, the old Terminal was just north of the main runway. I used it as a de facto Motorway service area, access was easy and I could park near the terminal for an hour free and pop in and have a coffee. No Birchanger Green services then of course.
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I know, living in South Cambridgeshire I used Stansted regularly flying to Copenhagen, its still not a bad airport to use though. Better than Luton for sure. The Alamy link seems to be broken but this one works and has a lot of the pictures in the Daily Wail. https://mediacentre.stanstedairport.com ... the-years/
I know, living in South Cambridgeshire I used Stansted regularly flying to Copenhagen, its still not a bad airport to use though. Better than Luton for sure. The Alamy link seems to be broken but this one works and has a lot of the pictures in the Daily Wail. https://mediacentre.stanstedairport.com ... the-years/
The Alamy one works for me - there is an image of the Thremhall Avenue junction with Coopers End Road (now the roundabout at the south-west end of the short stay car parks), and below it nearly 100 other preview images from the same era. Here's another view looking west along Thremhall Avenue towards the 'very unlikely to be finished' incomplete GSJ: https://www.alamy.com/stansted-airport- ... 72389.html
Simon
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Copenhagen works well if you have the right code for the self check in, which my then Girlfriend didn't have, so we had to find another way to check in, which took a while.
As previously stated, Gatwick would always be the obvious choice for me because of the usually fantastic rail service from East Croydon and the station in the terminal. That is if such choice ever comes back. But I'm not sure I would ever want to use the long term parking there again on the first day of a school holiday. There was simply not enough shuttle buses to cope with the number of people at the long term car park who wanted to get on the rush of early flights. I nearly got caught out there last October half term for a flight to Sardinia. The gate was announced before reaching the departure lounge and whilst there is always some delay when you get to such gate, that's the latest, relative to a flight time, that I've been inside a departure area.
The arrival airport at Olbia was small and it being out of season for the Costa Smeralda, very efficient. The car hire was right next to the terminal and the only person in front of me was Gianfranco Zola on a return to his birthplace. He got a handshake though and a request for a picture from the desk as a returning hero and I just got the efficient service.
cb a1 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 20, 2018 18:25
Not trying to defend Edinburgh, but I don't recall ever waiting less than 15 mins for bags to arrive and typically much longer at every airport I've used (quick back of fag packet count got me to 17 other international airports).
Edinburgh is the airport I fly into / out of most regularly and is one of the most efficient in dealing with the 'tedious' aspects of flying.
Not in my experience.
Security control is a tedious, contorted process, manned by rude, surly staff. You can of course pay £5 to get through marginally quicker unless you are behind the Emirates or Qatar crew.
Next time you go through just work out how many times you turn back on yourself between the concourse and the departure lounge. The usual funnelling through the shop, where at times the pathway is barely 6ft wide.
Arrivals process convoluted as well with the new extension.
But still better than Manchester, easily the worst airport in the UK.
RichardA626 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2020 23:10
Copenhagen works well if you have the right code for the self check in, which my then Girlfriend didn't have, so we had to find another way to check in, which took a while.
Every person I know who has visited Copenhagen has a story about how they got on the wrong train heading back to the airport and found themselves heading towards Sweden. Something to do with confusing signage!
RichardA626 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2020 23:10
Copenhagen works well if you have the right code for the self check in, which my then Girlfriend didn't have, so we had to find another way to check in, which took a while.
Every person I know who has visited Copenhagen has a story about how they got on the wrong train heading back to the airport and found themselves heading towards Sweden. Something to do with confusing signage!
The biggest problem I had with the trains were the ticket machines taking coins only, hopefully this has changed since then.
multiraider2 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2020 23:59
The arrival airport at Olbia was small and it being out of season for the Costa Smeralda, very efficient. The car hire was right next to the terminal and the only person in front of me was Gianfranco Zola on a return to his birthplace. He got a handshake though and a request for a picture from the desk as a returning hero and I just got the efficient service.
We had a terrible experience at Olbia, returning to London on BA a few years ago. Incredibly long queues for check-in and security and uncomfortably hot. But yes - the smaller airports do usually have convenient car hire as you say.
