After experiencing airports in Manchester, Houston and Auckland over a 24-hour period, it seems to me that the airport business has not yet dragged itself out of its COVID restrictions meltdown, failing to come back into the commercial world. Understaffing is for me by far a significant issue, seemingly wherever you travel.
Currently at Manchester Airport they insist on you being at the airport at least three hours ahead of your flight departing but when you’re there you cannot get served anywhere in the terminal departure lounge area, with long, long queues at every restaurant or coffee shop. So frustrating!
The experience at Houston Airport was mirrored where on arrival at Terminal E, I had to collect my bags and take them to Terminal D, rather than have them automatically transferred like for example at Dubai or Doha. I had to go through immigration to actually enter the USA officially, even though I was only transiting through for six hours and then re-enter the terminal to be subjected to the delights of successfully getting through the security system once again.
Having never been to Houston Airport before, I found that there was absolutely no airport staff about to help me or direct me to the right location. In the end it was down to talking to other passengers who were in the same situation that enabled me to get from Terminal E to Terminal D and ready for my next flight.
I was really lucky that I met another solo traveller, a guy from New Zealand, who was travelling on the same flights as me from Manchester to Auckland and he had done this trip before so he actually knew where to go. Naturally I tagged on to him (whether he wanted me to or not haha).
The frustration and time delays caused by understaffing continued on arrival at Auckland Airport. I managed to get through the passport check quite quickly but my excitement of actually now being in NZ was soon tempered as I hit the queues for the biometric tests, which were shocking. Bearing in mind that this was 6:30 in the morning after a really long flight from the UK, it seems that all the passengers, on all the early incoming flights to Auckland, were together in one place, logjammed at this point in the airport building.
There were only eight biometric terminals open for processing approximately 1000 people. Over two hours later I managed to get through this part of the immigration process but it severely tested my patience as well as so many others. The atmosphere in this part of the airport wasn’t good. Definitely a potential flash point.
And finally..... I had to go and find the car hire company before driving for a further 5 ½ hours to Turangi. But that’s another story!
Comments