Planes, Pains & Automobiles

I recently flew to Perth on Holiday and I was surprised how poorly both Virgin Blue and Sydney Airport performed. After all these years of aviation, why do we still follow the same process of checking in and bag handling that we have done for decades? Little has evolved since I flew on my first flight as an excited 3 year old in 1976.

First let’s talk about Sydney Airport: Firstly it’s a pain to get to from just about anywhere. From where I live (only 15ks from the CBD) it’s too expensive by taxi, too inconvenient by train and shuttle buses don’t take kids under 4. That leaves me the only option of parking in long term parking for $140 a week. So I have to drive 40 mins to the airport, dump the wife and kids at the front of the terminal, drive to long term parking and take the bus back. All in all, about 15-20 minutes. Not family friendly, in fact not anybody friendly.

Then there is Virgin Blue: of course being a process guy I have already checked in online. My thoughts of dropping my bag down a big chute and speeding off onto the plane are dealt a mammoth blow when I see that the queue for the “bag drop” is triple the queue for check-in. When I do finally get through to the desk after a 15 min wait we are told that we are late and that we can’t take the baby buggy to the gate. We have to drag it across the terminal to the oversized baggage drop before we struggle with 3 kids and 3 pieces of hand luggage down to the gate where we get on the plane just in time.

But we do get to Perth, quickly collect our bags and set off for the AVIS car hire desk. The empty desk that is. We have to use a phone on the desk to call AVIS who ask us to trek over to the other side of the terminal because they only have one staff member on (not my bloody problem!). So the Reid entourage sets off again looking like something out of the Beverly Hillbillies – our trolley stacked up to head height with small children hanging off of it with the occasional suitcase flapping onto the floor like a fat man doing a bellyflop into a swimming pool. So eventually we make it over to AVIS, get things processed quickly and go off and collect our car. However, they fail to spot a dent on the car which I have to have rectified with the rep who has to call back to the desk and have the paperwork changed. Other than that the process is very efficient.

On the way back from Perth we drop off the hire car (again, very fast and efficient). Neither Perth airport or AVIS have thought that people dropping off cars may actually need trolleys to get luggage to check-in but we fossick around and eventually find one.

Our check-in process is as equally painful as the first time. The “Bag drop” process seems to be identical to check-in so I fail to see what time or cost savings it provides to either Virgin Blue or the customer (unless you don’t have any bags to check-in). The bag drop people stand in the queue huffing and puffing and shaking their heads wondering why they didn’t go into the much shorter check-in queue. Again we are unable to take the buggy to the gate (as we were told we could by the Virgin Blue call centre).

We eventually make our flight and arrive at the hellhole that is Sydney Airport on a Sat night. After again battling to get trolleys and bags I go off to collect the car from long term parking. I wait for the bus to arrive. And wait. And wait. So do about 200 other people. After about 20 minutes the bus finally arrives. It leaves looking like the train to New Delhi – about 10 people per square metre. Heads wedged in armpits – you know how it is. I finally pick up the car, pay, head back to the airport (almost getting lost on the way as there are no signs from the parking to the airport) – and try to pick up my wife and kids. Funnily enough even though I am allowed to drop them off outside the airport I am not allowed to pick them up outside the airport (do terrorists only bomb arrivals?) so I am funnelled into a 10 min free parking area where thankfully my little entourage are waiting for me.

However I have to take a taxi home so I queue up to be able to take a taxi home at a higher price than I would have paid getting one anywhere else in Sydney.

So my reflections:

- After 30 years of incredible technology improvements, why does going to the airport seem like going back in time?
- Why is it so difficult to get to the airport, and so costly?
- Why can’t I pick up my wife and kids at the door?
- Why do I have to pay more for a cab at the airport?
- Why should I bother checking in online when it’s quicker to check in at the airport than it is to drop a bag?

Here we have a situation where it seems like every effort is made to make the customer experience worse! Because we have no other choice in airport we have to accept what we are given! Of course we have a choice to choose airlines, so pay attention Mr Branson!

The disappointing part in all of this is the inability to embrace change and to think of new ways of doing things. Airports have been doing things the same way for so long they can’t think of any other way of doing it. We need to challenge this thinking by approaching it from the customer experience and by not accepting that it is good enough.

- TPN

Comments

[Ken Burgin]

And the taxi queueing is worse - laughably bad. This can be done well, even with large numbers - see it brilliantly handled at Las Vegas etc. Here it's a joke and no-one at SAC cares...

[Alec Sharp]

Brilliant!
As with any process-oriented post about air travel (or dealing with a telephone company) you first laugh, then realize just how depressingly true it all is, and wonder if crying is a better choice. As you say, it's astounding how airport authorities are apparently unable to grasp the concept that from arrival at the airport, though departure and on to eventual return should be treated as one, integrated process for the traveler's benefit. Instead, we get this hodge-podge of dis-integrated activities, each optimized for god-knows-what. You didn't mention the joys of airport security, which of course is SO important that there's no need to actually design a physical layout that is appropriate for what's going on there.
And can we talk about my personal pet peeve? Airport signage! Who designs this stuff?
I'm getting worked up - I'd better go have a drink...
Thanks for an excellent but painful post - as a 150,000 mile a year flyer, it was all too familiar.
Alec

[The Process Ninja]

Thanks for your comments guys...Alec I feel for you...this was my first flight in 2 years...if I had to do 150K a year I would cry!! Or drink!!!

[Karen Wardle]

One of the advantages of living on the Central Coast is that Newcastle Airport isn't that far away. The drive up is a lot more relaxed and the parking prices are reasonable, compared to Sydney.

Over the past 3 years or so I have managed to get most of my flights out of Newcastle. Recently though I had to make two flights out of Sydney. Not a pleasant experience for all of the reasons you have mentioned.

Another thing that gets me with Sydney airport is the cost of the food. A few years ago my brother and his family visited from interstate. My daughter and I went to meet them. The flight was due in at 9:15am so I go there with plenty of time to spare at 8:30. Due to weather problems and a LOT of airline 'stuff ups' there flight did not arrive until 9:40pm!

I spent over $150 in parking and food for my daughter and I (and we ate as cheaply as we could). Parking was over $70 and when I spoke to the airline I was told that there was nothing that they could do. I also had to pay $5 each to stay in the Virgin Blue room so that I could keep my ten your old amused for the day.

The worse part was every time we asked how long the flight would be they would say it would be arriving within 30min to 2 hours. For it to be within 30min would mean that the flight would have to be in the air. Surely they would know if it was or not.

It was frustrating because we couldn't leave the airport as we didn't know what time they would be arriving so just had to sit and wait all day, and all night.

People were sitting on the floors everywhere. Many missed their connecting flights. One guy I spoke to missed his connecting flight from Melb to Syd. The result was he missed his non refundably flight from Syd to Dubai at around $2200.

The staff cannot control the weather or the delays caused by it. But they can control how those delays are managed.

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