I was at Pune Airport yesterday, a 620 take off and had to leave early from the guest house. There are 8 flights starting at the same time in a gap of 5~10 mins. A regular 320/737 can have a capacity of 180~210 seats. This leaves the airport to handle between 1400 to 1700 approx passengers on any given morning between 530am and 630am. Baggage check, checkin and security check for each passenger before final boarding. With 4 security staff doing the checks, there was fairly large line up and it could put Tirupati darshan to shame. I waited for my turn and moved with the pace ensuring i don’t stamp the one ahead (or get stamped). A lady staff from one of the airlines (being discrete as thats not the point) started calling people who were in the line behind to come ahead as they were about to depart. It was already a mess and this was turning to be the icing on the cake. People traveling on this Airline started breaking the line and squeeze their way pushing others like me around. My mind wanted to scream, but my heart said "All-is-well". A lady who looked similar to Mamta Banerjee with a Bengali accent was the first to stand up to protest. In a queue of 500 or so not one to stand by her. I stood up. My reason for being annoyed was I had got up at 4am, and checked in at 520am to ensure I am well on time and beat the traffic at the airport but am still in line, and here I was being confronted by losers who slept an hour longer and managed to check in just about 15 mins before their departure, but want to push people around and break the queue so they don’t miss their flight. So, I call the lady staff from this Airline and ask her to stand down cause she was disrupting Order. My thing worked and lady was never to be seen again. However, now is the turning point. A guy from behind the queue protest and tells me to shut up in his Hyderabadi accent. He tells me how inert I was being to these unfortunate people who were going to miss their flight by not giving way as per the rules laid out by Airport Authorities. He further goes to tell me how he cooperated and allowed people to move ahead although he had been in the queue long before I was. I finally figured out his IQ, how could he have been behind me in a queue if he had been waiting there well before I was, and didn’t he know that all Airlines ask you to check in at least an hour before departure to ensure smooth movement of traffic. Later on I overhear him telling a friend of his how it would have been if this was Atlanta, and how the authorities would have asked me get-off.
I want to know would this moron ever break a rule in Atlanta, or arrive 15mins before departure. I am confident, whether its Atlanta, Moscow, Sydney, Pune or Timbuktu, rules are rules and its worth every bit to stand up for what’s right!!
My point here is, our airports are evolving, lets face it, we start planning for 2005 capacity and build the same in 2010. So we still have a long way to go. The only way we can ensure the system does not break down is by following some processes laid down to accommodate the deficit in form. Our system gives us room for being lethargic, and out laziness makes our system sluggish.
Who is to blame, the passenger who arrived late, the person at checkin counter who still issued a boarding pass, the several people standing ahead in queue, our inadequate infrastructure, the lady airline staff who managed to push people ahead, my dear friend from Atlanta who thinks I am ruthless, or a fool who stands up for a cause!!
Finally I got my turn and boarded the ATR.
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