It was my first trip to North America and as always i was all excited about going to new place and meeting new people. I took a sunday morning 6.45 am British airways flight to Montreal and reached here at 7:45 pm on the same day. It was a 22.5 hours of journey including a break of 5 hours at London Heathrow airport. But i gained about 9.5 hours in the journey (that always puts a question in my mind whether we can travel continuesly around the world in east to west direction and go back in time to our good old days as kids? ;-) )
The journey was quite boring as i was gaining time in the journey and didnt know when to eat and when to sleep. Even the co-travellers in the trip were quite boring (one mallu coupl and then one old canadian lady). Once i reached Montreal, there were few initial hiccups at the immigration counter due too my peeling passport lamination and food items, but then it was all cleared without much trouble. Then i went to my apartment address to only find that the office was closed, but with the help of a girl i called him to find that my room was alloted in different building. I took another taxi and reached and rested there.
Next day, i had to search for new map on google for my route from new apartment to office. I then took the road as marked by google (one company that i can always trust) and reached office. But they were not prepared for my joining as they had got the news only on Thrusday. So i ended up sitting without any work or laptop (as i cant plug my personal laptop to their nework). It was a dull day with a bit a shower and cold winds, but it got better by evening when i took a walk back on St.Catherine street (its the main street of Montreal) looking at all the shops of best brands like GAP, Guess, Puma (with those lovely Ferrari shirts).
Till now havnt really got the energy to explore the place. This weekend i am planning to go to Ottawa and then to Canadian GP the week after that. So hopefully a lot more interesting and action things for me to post here. So keep watching.
BIAL - a big disappointment
Lot of questions were raised, discussion were held, protests made about closing down of HAL airport and traveling to new Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL). So i am not going to talk about it again here today. But the question i am trying to find an answer to is "whether the new Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL) is really of 'International' standards?".
My answer would be both YES and NO.
Yes, because the kind of entry road, parking, sign boards, valet service, number of checking counters (58 + 12 self check in) and immigration counters (20) is all superb. Even the amount of land they have for future expansion is well taken care of. Parking charges were not too high and assistant staff for lugguage cart were helpful.
No, because the terminal building and its facilities were a big disappointment. Structure wise, the building looks more like a factory (as the civil aviation minister Praful Patel rightly said). I can understand that the zig-zag design of the roof has got more to do with allowing more natural light to enter the building, but usage of more glass could have done the same too. The sloppy quality of granite stone used for flooring makes it look unattractive. The whole building had only one ATM, 2-3 shops for eatables (that too outside the departure area), there is no entry or seating arrangement at the departures for people accompanying the traveller. Worse was that there was no one from airport or airlines to guide people on how to proceed. The UDF counters were located in corner and lot of foreigners didnt even know that they had to pay the UDF charges. Most travellers were realising it while standing in boarding pass queue that they have to go and pay UDF charges (Rs. 1070) first. Out of 58 counters only 7-8 was alloted for British airways, 2-3 for GulfAir as against the much promised "check-in from any counter for any airline" thing. So i had to stand for good 1.5 hours in the queue (luckily no separate screening of checkin bags) to get my boarding pass. Then out of 20 immigration counters, only 4 were open and the officers sitting there took their own time to process. So again a 45 min standing in queue. Even the security check area had only 2 counters open, but it wasnt a long wait here. Lastly the boarding gates were 20 in number, but there was hardly any place to sit while waiting for the boarding to start.
To tell you in simple words, it looked more like a bigger version of old HAL airport with the same old inefficient staff. Compare this with the real "world class" London Heathrow airport which has 5 terminals with 25 gates in each or the Singapore airport with something like 4 terminals and 20 gates in each (dont remember exact number though) but still has no long queues and got best looks and facilities in world. Our Bengaluru International Airport Ltd really has a long long way to catch up with them. Mr. Bruner are you listening??
My answer would be both YES and NO.
Yes, because the kind of entry road, parking, sign boards, valet service, number of checking counters (58 + 12 self check in) and immigration counters (20) is all superb. Even the amount of land they have for future expansion is well taken care of. Parking charges were not too high and assistant staff for lugguage cart were helpful.
No, because the terminal building and its facilities were a big disappointment. Structure wise, the building looks more like a factory (as the civil aviation minister Praful Patel rightly said). I can understand that the zig-zag design of the roof has got more to do with allowing more natural light to enter the building, but usage of more glass could have done the same too. The sloppy quality of granite stone used for flooring makes it look unattractive. The whole building had only one ATM, 2-3 shops for eatables (that too outside the departure area), there is no entry or seating arrangement at the departures for people accompanying the traveller. Worse was that there was no one from airport or airlines to guide people on how to proceed. The UDF counters were located in corner and lot of foreigners didnt even know that they had to pay the UDF charges. Most travellers were realising it while standing in boarding pass queue that they have to go and pay UDF charges (Rs. 1070) first. Out of 58 counters only 7-8 was alloted for British airways, 2-3 for GulfAir as against the much promised "check-in from any counter for any airline" thing. So i had to stand for good 1.5 hours in the queue (luckily no separate screening of checkin bags) to get my boarding pass. Then out of 20 immigration counters, only 4 were open and the officers sitting there took their own time to process. So again a 45 min standing in queue. Even the security check area had only 2 counters open, but it wasnt a long wait here. Lastly the boarding gates were 20 in number, but there was hardly any place to sit while waiting for the boarding to start.
To tell you in simple words, it looked more like a bigger version of old HAL airport with the same old inefficient staff. Compare this with the real "world class" London Heathrow airport which has 5 terminals with 25 gates in each or the Singapore airport with something like 4 terminals and 20 gates in each (dont remember exact number though) but still has no long queues and got best looks and facilities in world. Our Bengaluru International Airport Ltd really has a long long way to catch up with them. Mr. Bruner are you listening??
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