Hail All! 
I've got a comment/topic to form regarding airports in general, but thought I'd "recycle" Coxters thread to save board resources and the environment. 8) Anyhow...My reason for posting here is to pose the following question:
Why do airports - And air travel in general - Have to be so immensely complicated? :roll:
Although I can well appreciate that passenger and baggage security/scruitiny is a necessity - Especially following 9/11, and the fact that aircraft can be directed anywhere in three-dimensional space anyway (As opposed to trains that can only go forwards and backwards) - I just cannot see why there has to be such an immense palava involved in using air travel, when all it is is basically a way of getting from A to B...Just like any other form of public transport! :roll:
Now to clarify what I mean, here's how air travel compares (In my opinion) to other forms of public transport in terms of ease of use and complexity:
- When catching a Bus or Coach; I simply wait at a bus stop or terminal for the next one to come along, stow or board with any luggage that I may be carrying, and buy my ticket off of the driver (Or show any pass that I might be carrying) before taking my seat. A process that's very quick, very easy, and very simple.
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- When catching a Train; I may buy my ticket either in advance or just before travel, according to my own choice. Either way I only need arrive at the station around five minutes before the train is due, wait on the platform for a few minutes for the train itself to arrive, then lob my bags aboard before taking my seat...Assuming that there's one available of course!
Either way though...Catching a train takes me less than five minutes - Even if I'm purchasing my ticket right before travel - And aside from the handy and sensible news kiosk in the ticket hall, there's rarely a retail development that one needs to negotiate en-route to the platform! 8)
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- So why then - Whenever I travel by Air - Do I have to buy my ticket at least three months in advance, arrive at the airport at least two hours before departure, have to negotiate a replica of the nearby Bluewater Centre (I normally fly from Stansted) as I'm making my way to the gate, and have to hand most of my baggage over to a team of people who I've never met or known, and may not be able to trust with anything that I may be carrying in my baggage? :roll:
Now I normally fly with Ryanair, and I'm very well versed in the lexicons of cut-price, budget airlines as a result...And I'd be perfectly happy (If not happier) if the terminal itself was simply a strip of tarmac and a few Portakabins, I was carrying my own baggage through the terminal, walking up to the side of the aircraft, and stowing my own baggage in the aircraft's hold myself before boarding.
So what I can't understand is why airports have to be such heavily overcomplicated and luxurious places ("Luxurious" being a relative term), as opposed to simply working on the bus-station principle - Perhaps with the stands and a waiting area located inside a secure cordon that passengers would enter via the security lanes before waiting for and boarding their aircraft? :?
Now I do acknowlege that between 1950-1980CE, air travel was still a relatively new thing for the majority of people, and therefore I can understand that some people may still view the whole experience as a luxurious and "high-class" activity...But personally speaking, I use airlines with the same kind of regard as a normal bus or rail service, and I just can't understand why the heck the average airport has to have about 75,000 high-street stores and all manner of unnecessary diversions located within. :roll::?
I mean...Personally; I'd rather have a simplified terminal with just check-in and security desks, a covered waiting area, a snack-bar or resturant, access to lavatories, and do all of my own baggage handling at both ends. Either way, it'd mean that I could boil the "lead" time for my flight down to a reasonable 45 minutes before departure, wouldn't have to walk 25 miles to the departure gate, and wouldn't be paying so much in airport taxes/fees either! 8)
Does anyone else share my view that airports are far too overcomplicated for their own good, or am I rare in airline passenger terms?
--- New bit above / Old bit below: ---
Manchester Airport
At approximately 13:30 this afternoon the wing tip of a Futura Boeing 737 struck the tail of a Lufthansa Airbus A320 whilst the former was taxiing away from terminal one at the start of it's journey to Tenerife. The Futura flight had 180 people aboard and was due to take off at 13:15, with the Lufthansa plane carrying 108 passengers enroute to Frankfurt with a scheduled departure time of 13:20. Reports suggest that there have been no injuries to passengers or crew onboard either plane.
Hmmm...I know that a big fuss is normally made of
any kind of incident in the air industry, but personally I'd say that low-speed "wing to wing" contact like this isn't anything to be made a serious issue over, as pilots are just as human as the rest of us, and humans make mistakes. If Id've been on board either aircraft, Id've probabally wondered what that *crunch* was...But seeing what had happened and noting that both aircraft would be kept grounded pending further inspection, I'd be happy to return to the terminal building and take an available seat or standing position on the next available flight.
To summerise: I'd be happy that it was a relatively minor incident - Presumably caused by natural human error - And that it occurred on the ground and not at 30,000 feet! 8)
Farewell...
>> Death <<
