To all my German Friends............I'm sorry to have to inform you that German engineering has finally failed you. Your cars are among the world's best, your machinery among the world's most ingenius.................................................Not having seen all your airports I have to reserve the right to adjust my opinion...........................BUT HAVING JUST BEEN THROUGH FRANKFURT AIRPORT, there is only one word
WOW!!!!!!.......What a relic. I'm not quite sure if they have ever completed building or if they are continuosly rebuilding this airport but in MY opinion, I can honestly say, that compared to all the other airports in the world that I have either landed at or transitted, Frankfurt is within the top three list of the worst. The only one that I can presently say was worst was Teheran during the 60's where when you entered the transit hall, the first thing that one would see were the old fashion ceiling fans with the paddle pads. The fans were used, of course to circulate whatever wind there was around the room to simulate air conditioning.....................what one did not know, was that the blades moved so slow that it circulated nothing and that even the flies had no problem hanging onto these slow moving blades and were able to spread their wings to cool their armpits. The other factor was that they served complimentary orange juice with one ice cube but I'm sure it was camel urine.
Frankfurt airport to my knowledge, has no jetways..........at least I did not see any planes parked at the gates. They simply part the aircraft on the tarmac unload the passengers and bus them into concorse ""B"" of the mail terminal. Here again, I saw no evidence of how passengers would be protected from the weather and can only visualize, passenger soak to their underwear in any kind of rain..............well, so much for wanting to look good for whoever might be waiting for you...............or caring about your comfort for ongoing flights.
We knew that our connecting flight to Vienna was leaving from terminal ""A"" but we still had to make it over to Terminal A from B and we had 3 hours to do it. How hard could that be??? WEll, let me tell you. Never in my mind did I ever sense I would have trouble with the alphabet. We knew we had to find gate A-15. Simple process....... We saw the sign tht said ALL A GATES............ we say the sign that said A51-A60, we saw the sign that said A20-A40 and also the sign that said A40-A51 now where the hell is the sign for gates A1-20. OOHHH Margot, here it is but why is it sending us down 3 flights of stairs. Guess we can only do what it says and find out why later. Down the 3 flights of stairs, throught the only door available elevator up one flight and down a corridor with a moving sidewalk .........however half of the 5280 ft. moving sidewalk was out of service so huffing and puffing our way through the bowels of this airport I decided that I had to sit for a moment.........now the best part.......I figured, I might as well kill two birds with one stone, so I began looking for a men's room. Well, my friends, that was not an easy chore. I couldn't locate one but I did find 4 portable construction type stalls,about 4 times the size of a HONEY BUCKET containing a toilet and a sink with a small mirror and a paper towel dispensor.............2 marked MEN...........2 marked WOMEN..............now where do I keep my handbaggage, certainly there was not enough room for that also. What would my answer be if someone was to ask me if I had left my baggage out of my sight? Thank goodness, Margot did not have to sit at the same time as me so she could actually watch the bags. Now that part of the trip to concouse A was almost complete........................but we still had not located A15.....................OH by God, there it is. Now, we simply go up to the gate agent, introduce ourselves, get our seat and get on the next aircraft and just think it only took 2 hours transit time.
The standby system leaves much to be desired. We were told by the gate agent to simply take a seat and we will be called when accepted. No problem.....................we knew the drill after some 50 years of standing by for flights. We sat like good airline employees and waited never disturbing the gate agents as we had learned in the early years...................................bad mistake. We watched as people were coming out of the woodworks and boading this flight, thoughts going through our minds that perhaps we would not make this flight..................but what can we do??? Finally the first acknowledgement from the gate agent." Aren't you suppose to be on this flight?" "Why yes. but our names have not yet been called, said I" Well, said the gate agent, If you would had checked the screen over on the wall next to the drink machine you would have seen you were accepted for the flight" " but no one told us that we had to do that, we were simply told to have a seat and we would be called" " we'll what do you think that means" I'm sorry, I must have lost something in the translation from German to Hungarian back to German and then to English. Now, the bus is waiting..............so out the door down a flight of stairs.......left.........no door....right.......OK Margot, there's the bus. Ten minutes later we pull up to our Aircraft, up the stairs. OH BOY! middle seats, OMG who are these wrestlers I get to sit in between . Excuse me............sir...............man, I can't move my arms and my hands are now between my legs, I hope these guys do not get the wrong idea. If need be, I don't think I can reach up to pull down my oxygen mask........oh well it's only an hour flight. I can hold my breath. I'll try to sleep the hour. Landing already?? at the gate thank goodness but my whole body is numb and I think I have retained water...........my feet feel swollen. Margot where are you? wait for me inside the building while I get my body unnumbed. OK let's get our baggage and hope that Lisa is outside waiting for us. Down esculator to baggage claim number 3. AHH this is how it is suppose to be. There's our bags.............no problem no customs just follow the green signs. I hope Lisa is waiting for us. Doors to the free world is now opening. Look at all those people outside. I hope Lisa is waiting for us. Will she be able to find us. Margot, perhaps I should call for her..................LISA!! LISA!!! LISA!!!! why are all those people looking at me. Can't they see, I'm old. Margot, hurry up. Lisa has found us. I told you calling her would work. Lisa over here,................................................let's go have a glass of wine and I will tell you about an airport like no other. Dad, remember, I just transitted that airport a few months ago.
I hope for Frankfurt's sake that it is reconstruction that they are going through even though I saw no signs to that effect. Just after experiencing a very nice flight with outstanding service all that was good was just taken away. Who ever controls German airports need a lot of help. ......FAST.
