Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Shifting gears (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/)

-   -   Bengaluru International Airport (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/39910-bengaluru-international-airport-9.html)

Can you guys imagine what a pain in the *** keeping those carpets will be in our dusty conditions? Not to mention further problems for people with dust allergies & all that.

But Ishan even the old hyderabad airport had them. The Kolkata airport is carpetted on the 1st floor (I suspect its only for the international passengers though). So carpets are not exactly unheard of. But I guess they are costly to maintain and in a private setup anything that needs money to maintain (like carpets) will always be kicked out in favor of a cheaper option (like tiles).

Agreed Zappo IMO, places where the footfall is relatively lower they can be made to work (like 5-star hotels) but for most other places the cost would be prohibitive in our conditions & especially with the kind of footfalls airports get today.

Remember how most carpeted places (especially in Govt. establishments) got that stale, must smell in them permanently?

If carpets - vacuum daily
If tiles - clean daily

But you don't have to replace the tiles frequently as in case of carpets.:)

If you look at KL - all marble, Changi, marble on the outside, carpet beyond immigration, your shoes should be clean by then!

I didnt see any Pay and Use toilet outside. Had to pay 80 bucks to enter the visitor lounge just so i could pee. After nearly two hours of driving to the airport, in the rain, you can imagine the pressure!!

Please, someone tell me that there is a Pay and Use there and i just didnt see it.

There is a toilet outside and you need to walk a bit. Just come out of the terminal and follow the sign till the extreme end of the covered walkway. The good news is that it is free and the bad news is that it is not clean.

That's the most expensive fees one must have paid to pee!:eek: I am sure there would be some provision for a public toilet at a reasonable cost.

Okay so I thought I would put in my inputs on the airport. I travelled on the second day of opening and came back on monday morning. My dad has been to the airport 4 times in the past 24hrs.

The international departure was a disappointment on the second day but it was not the fault of BIAL exactly. The ATC gave wrong info to Air France that their incoming flight was late and the check in guys were trying to accommodate passengers on alternate connecting flight from Paris. As a result check in took an excruciating 1hr 20mins. The new system is like any other international airport and one does not need to x-ray the baggage before check-in. I am told that if there is any suspicious article in the bags they will call you during boarding.

There are weighing machines before you enter the departure gate so you can see if your bags are overweight before itself rather than during check-in.

Once check-in is over you have to pay the Rs.1070 UDF charges. There are 2 counters, one below and one above. The one below is always crowded whereas the first floor is generally empty. After that immigration is a breeze with ample counters. Security check is also very smooth with 3 queues and 2 X-rays.

Once that is over you enter the arrival lounge. The gates are easy to locate and there are 3 cafe's there. Cafe Illy, Times Bar and kingfisher sports bar. Didn't try any of these out. There's also a small shoppers stop for last minute shopping.

The flight ended up coming early and the staff from globe ground who are teh contractors for ground services were very courteous. They kept asking if there was any deficiency and the steps they are doing to cope with the initial bugs. Getting into the craft with the aerobridge was easy as well. Overall good departure experience.

Arrival was also pretty smooth. The aerobridge was connected very quick and passengers were able to get out fast. The passport control was smooth with 14counters operational. Baggage belt was a tad slow and there were not enough trolleys although outside they have no dearth of trolleys. trolleys are brought in through the main entrance and not through a service entrance.

Arrival outside was smooth with no mob attacks and a nice demarked area where one can easily see the placards and the person waiting for you. still a few cab guys asking for cab.

One thing you would notice is that there are no autos at all. the volvo buses have removed the need from autos. Outside there are counters for the airport cabs(meru and easycabs), counters for the leading hotels. Once you walk out you reach the BMTC bus stop and the staff are very courteous helpful. They try to convince you that bus is green and you can sit in AC with no traffic worry and one bus keeps 20 vehicles off the road.

The parking lots are big and nicely arranged with a not so good exit. Although there is a queue for the parking exit, no cabs(read yellow board qualis and indica) follows them. They cut you off and go through ahead.

My dad used the BIAS bus on his 3rd visit and he was very impressed. They helped him with the bags. The bus waited 10mins to fill up and it took him 1hour 5mins from BIAL to indian express circle. The conductor helps you with your bags as well. It cost him 100 rupees for the bus ride.

Overall good experience from BIAL and they are improving from the one week I saw from my departure on second opening day and a week later.

The roads now have reflectors for all lanes with the reflective paint. It looks amazing at night. The street lights are being put up still. The speed breakers at some junctions which were there teh first week have now been removed.

It's between P2 and P3 on the left of the covered walkway in the middle.

Now thats a first in Bangalore! Usually, speed breakers are only added, never removed.

Rs.80/- for a 30 second basic need of the body ??!!! That is converted into Rs.4000/- per year if you go to the international airport once a week ! Which is equal to more than 70 litres of petrol thrown on the road. India is shining and Bengaluru is growing and life is no more affordable !!

He spent 80 for going into the the visitor lounge, not for satisfying the basic need.

Now you can take back the rest of the rant.

LOL. Thanks diabloo.
Its amazing the "conclusions" some people can draw!

There are high density carpets available for areas with heavy footfalls like airports and railway stations. One such product is marketed under the brand name "Flotex". (Bonar Floors - Flotex) If I remember correctly the HK airport has used it.