Airport Disease: Enter Airport, Exit Manners

Some people are just jerks, no apology or placation will work and they’re best given a very wide berth.i suspect they’re the same driving, at the supermarket…

Airports can be dehumanising places even for frequent flyers and exacerbate the stress or anxiety of travelling and coping with crowds and noise. The staff dealing with thousands of pax daily can be worn down by sometimes at best gruff responses or ignoring greetings, so hats off to those who can still keep the cheer.

Some people are just jerks… yes… on both sides.

Even some of the calmest passengers are severely tired by airport staff.

I was waiting for a flight last week to MEL. Inbound plane arrives and all of a sudden the gate information switches from ‘Melbourne’ to ‘Adelaide’.

A couple pax picked up on this and asked the gate agent ‘what’s happened to Melbourne?’

The gate agent replied ‘we’re just disembarking this flight and then we’ll board Melbourne’

The passenger looked at the screen again, and said ‘but what’s happening to Melbourne?’

The gate agent looked back ‘I SAID … WHEN WE’VE FINISHED GETTING PASSENGERS OFF THIS FLIGHT… WE WILL BOARD MELBOURNE. WE WILL TELL YOU WHEN ITS TIME’.

Loud and slow.

Even when the gate agent finally realised what everyone else knew, that the flight must have changed, they didn't apologise.

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Not really surprising but always jarring

A convergence place for the gambit of at one end of the spectrum - DYKWIA, also the dead tired from travel or getting up early for travel through to first time travellers totally out of their depth and in a real tizz, and the usual just plain rude people in everyday life.

Even frequent flyers get anxious - fingers crossed my bag isn't over the limit, how long the security queue will be, is my flight on time, did I read the gate lounge number right, where did I put my ticket, did I forget my charger/passport/whatever, I didn't take my belt off the last 7 times I went through here!!!

Don’t envy the staff there at all; 10,000s of travellers passing through, nearly all in a desperate hurry to get through the process even if their flight is not for 3 hrs and of course “these unnecessary rules shouldn't apply to me”.

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generally speaking everything is about routine and familiarity. The more comfortable you are with what you're doing, the more you can feel less stress about the situation. Airports however generally speaking are the opposite of that for most people.

FF may find their home airport just as routine or normal (I'm sure many of us here can navigate SYD/MEL terminals half asleep or know which coffee shops to hit). But even for FF when we travel to new unfamiliar airports it can be daunting. Like I was unexpectedly dropped into DOH the other day. Without knowing how it's laid out, I have no real sense of how long it'll take me to get to my gate area, where the shopping / lounges / facilities all are. Contrast that with Changi - having gone up and down back and forth (thanks stamp rallies), I have a very strong sense of familiarity with where just about everything is at Changi.

These kinds of things adds up especially when things go wrong, even the little things in life.As for the staff working at the airport, they are probably copping this everyday and theres only so much social battery you have everyday before you need to recharge.

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