Airports

About Airports;

You should never be surprised about what you find or run into when traveling between airports, especially large and international airports. I was curious about the airports we traveled through and where they ranked in size, etc.
We left Chicago’s O’Hare International and changed planes in London’s Heathrow International before finishing in Berlin’s Tegal. Based on the most recent information on the web (google), O’Hare is the second largest airport in the world, just behind Atlanta, and Heathrow is right behind O’Hare.
The major differences between the two is that O’Hare is a very large airport, however the majority of its traffic is domestic. The international terminal for O’Hare is not huge, and if you don’t need to change terminals or O’Hare is your originating airport then getting through O’Hare is relatively easy. The international terminal has 21 gates for about a dozen different carriers throughout the world.
Our gate was right past security which only took about 10 minutes to get through. Very simple and easy. The challenge with that terminal is that aside from snacks and bottled beverages there are no restaurants or real food vendors past security. Translation: No Starbucks!!!
After getting halfway through security and being told that, be backed out of the line to find coffee, only to realize after getting out of line that the only place that sold coffee had drip coffee only. Then we laughed because you can’t take drinks through security so back in line we went.
The average flight time from Chicago to London is about 8 hours and we did it in 6:55. That was a great flight time, which only meant we had a longer layover at the airport. The last time I passed through Heathrow for a transfer only was two years ago and we went through Terminal 4. There was much talk of British Airways new Terminal 5 that was being built. Because we were passing through, and on British Airways, through terminal 5 we went. Let me share with you what passing through this city was like.
I do use the word city, because that is what it felt like. Terminal five is huge - kind of to Las Vegas standards when it comes to hotels. There are currently two buildings that are part of T5, and a third one us under construction. Between the two buildings currently open, there are 60 gates. 60! We are not talking about the entire airport, just T5. While we were having breakfast, I counted eleven 747s lined up on only one side of the building. All gates are capable of handling the A380, which is the largest passenger plane in the world, so yes, city is the right word. They had over 30 million people in T5 alone in its first year of service.
For some reason, even though you have been through security at the airport that you left from, they make you go through again, even if you are simply changing planes. The reason I come up with is that they fly to airports that places like the United States don’t approve of. So they need the extra security to fly their planes in/out of the US.

The next airport was Berlin, Germany. The simple way to describe this airport, especially after coming from the two we just did is; baby. Even our taxi driver called it a baby airport. I think there are 10 maybe 12 gates total, and only one level. I can’t remember the last time I was in an airport that did require you to travel on at least two sets of escalators! It was however very simple. We exited the plane and at the end of the jetway was Immigrations, they simply pass scan and stamp your passport, welcome you to Germany, and send you on to luggage. Perhaps because we were all coming from London, I don’t know, but there was no Customs. We picked up our luggage in the same area as we got our passports stamped, then walked outside and picked up a cab to the hotel. The simplicity of getting into Germany was amazing. Its like they simply trust everyone and don’t worry about anything. Going to every country I have been to, there is that nice long form you need to fill out asking you all sorts of information, and then you have the travel visa, some countries like India require you to have one in your passport, other countries simply issue you one when you enter, but they almost always give you a time on your length of stay. We filled out no forms, they gave us no limits on our stay in Germany, they only said welcome! Actually they said “Willkommen!”
On the way out, each gate has its own security and once you pass through you are put in a large room to wait for the plane to board. I don’t know if they are all like this, but ours had a duty free shop and a small cafe so we could get some coffee while we waited. However, because of this setup, you could only shop or eat at those two places if you had passed through that security for this gate. I don’t know what they do when there are no planes using the gate. Close up, or sit around?

On our way to India we once again had the extreme pleasure of passing through T5, this time arriving on a small 737, and moving into a 747 for the flight to India. The airport in Bangalore is a new one from the last time that I arrived there two years ago. It is a beautiful airport, very modern and up to the most recent standards. The only thing that really stood out about this airport, especially since we were in India was that the gate we parked at had two jetways to service the 747. First class and World Plus passengers exited the first jet way, and Business and World traveler took the second jet way. British Airways uses the words World Traveler for economy and Traveler Plus for an upgrade between economy and business. World Traveler Plus is the same as domestic first class seats. They are larger with more leg room. Business class on BA has seats that recline all the way into a level bed. First class, you get your own cabin. (I wish!)
If you read my blog two years ago about when we left Bangalore and how short the runway was, well, we shall see if they improved that at all. To read it, just go back to the entry; India - Goodbye.
I will be writing about Berlin in the next day or two...