A flight too far

Travails of the domestic flyer at modern airports 

Story first published in +Medium (Click on this to read)

Modern International Airports are purposefully designed like huge shopping malls aimed at seducing passengers — hanging out before flight departures — to eat, buy and otherwise spend money. While landing and airport usage charges pay for the operations, commission on shop, spa and restaurant sales are the real profit engines. That’s the revenue model on which commercial airport run. Hence, the unending walks to the boarding gates.

This works for long haul flights with early check-in and extended lay-over. But, for domestic or short-haul (as in Europe) — this can be a real pain as it increases pre-boarding time — to provide for the distance from check-in to the gates. Bulk of Domestic traffic comprise Business Travellers for whom time is at a premium. Much of that is wasted . Even if they treat the run to the plane as a substitute for their morning constitutional or evening run, the distance to baggage claim and, sometimes, the wait for bags to arrive on the belt becomes excruciatingly frustrating. And, all this is sheer torture for senior citizens — as our airports are far from “old age friendly” with buggies and wheel-chairs usually difficult to find.

That is why smaller city airports for domestic and short-haul flights make sense. In India — budget airlines like #Indigo6E did well to stay back in the old terminals in Delhi and Mumbai — while ‘full-service’ players like Jet have moved to the newer T3 and T2 respectively. Perhaps, from the airlines’ point of view it helps to have common ground and commercial infrastructure. Besides, Jet and Air-India have greater number of international connections and code-share flights — for which a common terminal is the way to go.

However, for the domestic passengers it can be a killer. Delhi T3 — it is still manageable as the Domestic Departure section is more sensibly designed. Though in Delhi too one has to commute a long distance from Security-Check to the Boarding Gates it is far more easily negotiable. The shopping area is much smaller and there are mechanised walk-ways all along. Availability of buggies and wheel-chairs are also better. But, Mumbai T2 is another story. It’s a forced tour of a “museum” — that becomes tiring after the first experience. There are no conveyor walkways till much after the shopping arcade. In adopting international designs — architects forget the fact that — the ordinary air-travellers in India are less fit than in Europe, Americas or even other Asian countries. Besides, we “Desis” travel with much heavier hand (cabin) luggage — beating the 6 kg limit with impunity — making it a punishment of sorts.

So, the bottom line is — I will think twice before taking my next flight out of or into Mumbai’s T2 — unless I have hours to kill (and lot of money to blow up) at the airport. That means — what’s #Indigo6E’s gain will be #JetAirways’ and #AirIndia’s loss. Not that they care, really.

Coonoor

Spent a lovely week in Coonoor last month. It’s without a doubt our favourite hill station. The weather is just right -  never too cold - and it has little attraction for tourists other than the Sim’s Park for it to get over-crowded. We love  the Wellington Gymkhana.  Though the food , over the years, has become slightly indifferent and the service a bit variable – the view from the sit-out of the cottages , of the tea gardens and the golf course, makes up for everything.  For us it’s usually five days of doing nothing  - not even  Golf - except for long walks  and the mandatory visits to Bakers’ Junction in the evenings to pick up bread, locally made cheese (Gray’s Hill and Acres Wild) and Pomelo Marmalade.

The problem with Calcutta is the lack of getaways. It’s one more reason to miss Mumbai – with Goa just a handshake away or even Khandala, Pune and Mahabaleshwar at striking distance Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai all have more than their  fair share of places for short breaks.  It’s a pity though because very few states are blessed with such range of vista as West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee points out, for once got it correct (given her fantastic sense of Geography.  Remember her classic “Bengal is the gateway to the countries of the North East” and “Bangladesh, which is the border of Pakistan”? ).  West Bengal is endowed with natural bounty – from the Himalayas at one end to the Bay of Bengal on the other, traversing through forests, rivers and many heritage sites. But, the woeful infrastructure doesn’t offer many options for a decent holiday.  Especially after Darjeeling has gone out of bounds.,  a Bengali  traveling to the Nilgiris to enjoy the tea gardens may  not  be as New Castlenian (if one were to coin a term) as it may sound.  Today, Bangkok, Phuket and Langkawi (and even Kunming in China) have emerged as popular holiday destinations for Bengalis and Calcuttans thanks to ‘low-cost’ airlines and budget hotels.

On returning from Coonoor what hit me hard is not the steam-bath weather of Calcutta – but the cruel credit card bills. Though, we had the luxury of staying at the Club (which was a saving grace) – what dealt the killer blows are the air-fares and taxi bills.  Which begs the question – why can’t we holiday in India without having to go broke? Or is it that we have become too snooty and spoilt for our own good?

That’s probably being a little unfair. Basically, I don’t think we have got our act right as far as cost equations  go in the tourism and hospitality business  or  for that matter even in airlines ( perhaps,  Indigo  is the only exception).  So, what’s ‘affordable’ is really lousy quality and what is passed off as ‘budget’ is sometimes as steep as a good 4 or 5 star in Thailand or Malaysia.  Even neighbourly Nepal offers far greater value for money for an ordinary tourist. So, no wonder more and more Indians are opting to holiday abroad than at home.

There are exceptions, of course. Home-stays in Kerala have caught on. And, the latest Kerala Tourism ads promote it as a destination for all seasons and to suit all pocket sizes. Goa has something to offer at every price-point from the shoe string to the ultra luxury.  Rajasthan too operates across a range – from the bag-packers to the super rich.  But, that’s about it. In the rest of the country the infrastructure, particularly at the lower end of the spectrum, is worse than pathetic.

Yet, as the poet wrote, we travel the world but overlook the beauty at our own back-yard. As a Bengali, I am ashamed to admit that I have never been to the Sunderbans – partly because till recently no infrastructure worth its name existed there.  I am told now a few Eco Resorts have come up – which aren’t too bad.  Monsoons are certainly not the time to go there. But, I hope to make amends this winter and wade through a few pages of Amitav Ghosh’ The Hungry Tide.