Airports
I now have a profound hatred for airports.
I recently visited Sao Paulo Airport in Brazil en route to Florianopolis for a linguistics conference. I hadn't been looking forward to this part of the journey, in fact I had been dreading it. My connecting flight (which was only 40 minutes long) would not leave for six hours and I would be left to kill time wandering aimlessly from terminal to terminal. Or so I thought.
On discovering that I was deaf, TAM airlines took it upon themselves to hold my boarding pass hostage. I was to wait for someone to escort me to the gate.
"My flight doesn't leave for a bit. I'll stay out here before I head to departures if you don't mind."
The attendant nods. It's clear my request is being ignored.
At once, I'm escorted to departures. I don't even have to go through the detectors because of my hearing aid - I know that this is codswallop - I've never had a problem going through before. Once in departures, I'm told to sit in an area that is cordoned off from the rest of the lounge. Looking around, I can see my fellow prisoners are old people and children travelling solo. Wishing to avoid humilation, I kindly request that they give me my boarding pass back.
"It can be very confusing catching a plane from here. Gate allocation changes all the time"
"No worries, I'll keep an eye on the information board. They'll change it there won't they?"
"No. Stay here. Someone will be with you to take you to the plane."
If that wasn't bad enough. My flight was four hours delayed.
That's six hours of my life I'll never get back.
I recently visited Sao Paulo Airport in Brazil en route to Florianopolis for a linguistics conference. I hadn't been looking forward to this part of the journey, in fact I had been dreading it. My connecting flight (which was only 40 minutes long) would not leave for six hours and I would be left to kill time wandering aimlessly from terminal to terminal. Or so I thought.
On discovering that I was deaf, TAM airlines took it upon themselves to hold my boarding pass hostage. I was to wait for someone to escort me to the gate.
"My flight doesn't leave for a bit. I'll stay out here before I head to departures if you don't mind."
The attendant nods. It's clear my request is being ignored.
At once, I'm escorted to departures. I don't even have to go through the detectors because of my hearing aid - I know that this is codswallop - I've never had a problem going through before. Once in departures, I'm told to sit in an area that is cordoned off from the rest of the lounge. Looking around, I can see my fellow prisoners are old people and children travelling solo. Wishing to avoid humilation, I kindly request that they give me my boarding pass back.
"It can be very confusing catching a plane from here. Gate allocation changes all the time"
"No worries, I'll keep an eye on the information board. They'll change it there won't they?"
"No. Stay here. Someone will be with you to take you to the plane."
If that wasn't bad enough. My flight was four hours delayed.
That's six hours of my life I'll never get back.
posted by Crackity Jones at 4:03 PM
