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"William Black" a écrit dans le message de
news:g0mgst$80o$1@registered.motzarella.org...
>
> "Alan S" wrote in message
> news:7sat249oi4v4um4jj2n5jh20dsj95cge94@4ax.com...
>
>
>> Arrived at 3:30 am for the 6:20 Royal Jordanian to Amman. At
>> that time I expected things to be quiet. Wrong. A large
>> crowd was milling about on the sidewalk outside the doors.
>> They were outside because I found that I needed my passport
>> and boarding pass just to enter the building. The sergeant
>> on the door had apparently not heard of e-tickets. So I
>> rummaged through my luggage until I found the email with my
>> Qantas itinerary on it. He begrudgingly let me in.
>
> Normal practice at all Indian airports and has been mentioned here, by
> myself, at least twice in the past.
>
>> As I entered the door a guy appeared from nowhere and
>> grabbed the larger of my two bags, literally out of my
>> hands, and immediately threw it on a security x-ray scan
>> machine where it disappeared into the bowels of the scanner.
>> As it appeared at the other end a security man sealed a
>> plastic strip around it to indicate that it had been scanned
>> for checked baggage. I wasn't impressed because I had
>> intended taking both as carry-on; that had been OK on the
>> previous five flights. The security guy would not give the
>> bag to me but only to my helper who had put it in the
>> machine. He wouldn't give it back until some rupees appeared
>> in my hand.
>
> Very odd. You must look like someone from 'not here'.
>
> The scanning and banding is normal at all Indian airports.
>
>> I eventually found the Royal Jordanian desk, but only after
>> another unsolicited helper showed me where it was; for a
>> tip. There was a remarkable absence of signs, and the only
>> working TV displays in that area did not show Airline
>> counter locations. Maybe they do on other days...
>
> Again, normal. Ask a passer-by wearing an airport badge. You'll find
> they all speak English and are all keen to help.
>
>> I should mention that I'll be calling the blog entry on
>> India "Work in Progress". It's a fascinating country and I'm
>> very pleased I went, but the place is just chaotic. The only
>> airport I've ever arrived at with more stuff hanging from
>> the ceiling, more damaged walls and floors, and less things
>> working was Darwin when I arrived with the damage assessment
>> team after Cyclone Tracy. And every unfinished repair had a
>> "Work in Progress" sign on it. I never actually saw a
>> workman near one of those signs. Not in the airport, nor on
>> the roads nor in public buildings.
>
> Try Bombay. It has been being refurbish for at least two and a half years
> now. The place is still a building site.
>
>> OK, I've checked in at Royal Jordanian; she whisked that
>> second bag away on the conveyor as soon as she had my name
>> to make up a tag. It was only later that I realised that
>> she, and the first guy, had done me a favour. She told me to
>> go to immigration queue. But I was unaware that she missed a
>> very important point. She didn't give me a carry-on bag tag.
>
> The carry-on bag tags are not issued by the counter staff but by a person
> (probably not uniformed) who'll be walking up and down the check-in queue.
> If your bags were banded they'll have assumed they were both hold luggage.
>
>> There was another sergeant, or maybe a corporal, checking
>> passport and boarding pass before you could enter the
>> immigration queue. It was set up with ribbons into one of
>> those "snake" affairs. The sort where you could slip the
>> ribbon out of a supporting post if necessary. Which is
>> exactly what the cop did about 40 minutes later when a VIP
>> of some sort arrived, showed his passport and a few hundred
>> rupees, and went to the front of the queue.
>
> I find that 100 rupees is quite adequate to get me to the front of the
> queue.
>
> CISF cops don't have a 'corporal' rank.
>
>> Then I went through another passport and boarding pass check
>> as I left immigration, to enter the queue for the gate
>> lounge security scan and carry-on check. That was when I saw
>> the "Only One Carry-on Bag Allowed" sign and silently
>> thanked the people who sent my other bag to be checked.
>
> Normal anywhere outside of the USA.
>
> Try turning up at Heathrow with two carry-ons heading anywhere but the USA
> or South America and you'll get one slung in the hold as well.
>
>> Eventually, I reached the sergeant at the front of the
>> queue. That was after the laptop incident I referred to. The
>> sergeant became agitated and would not let me pass. He spoke
>> no English. The English tourist behind me told me that he
>> wanted to stamp the tag on my carry-on - and I had failed to
>> put a tag on the bag.
>
> I have never been through an Indian airport security check where at least
> two of the staff, one man and one woman, didn't speak English. Anyone
> in an officer's uniform will speak good English because they're all
> graduates and you can't get on an undergraduate course at an Indian
> university without a decent command of English.
>
>> I have a vague feeling that I've missed one of the security
>> scans in that description; but I think you will understand
>> that I was immensely relieved when the plane took off for
>> Jordan with me on board.
>
> The first time I went to India there were eight or nine checks, it has
> got a lot better in the past two or three years.
>
>> If I visit India again, I may go by ship:-)
>
> I looked that up (I like Indian airports about as much as you do) but it's
> too expensive.
>
> On the other hand Indian airports are a good introduction to India in that
> they're a lot more efficient than most of the rest of the country...
>
> You don't 'visit' India, you 'experience' India.
>
> You'll find the place either addictive or repellent.
>
> Most people find it addictive...
>
> --
> William Black
>
>
> I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
> Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
> I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
> All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
> Time for tea.
>
>
>
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