A. MADHAVAN writes: I have read recent complaints about the Bangalore International Airport, but did not believe how bad it was until I went through it.
Trundling in our laden trolley through a narrow dirt path beside construction works, a uniformed porter led my wife and me into the international terminal.
Through a miasma of gritty dust and smelly smoke we saw two officials perched on a low ledge in the cavernous hall. They curtly asked us to go to the domestic terminal and sit on our trolley till the counters opened.
We had been vastly relieved to reach the airport from Mysore by 7.30 p.m. on April 12, with Bangalore still eerie from the destructive spree by the ‘mourners’ for Raj Kumar. Our Indian Airlines flight was scheduled for just past midnight.
In the domestic hall we found a milling crowd and a companion cloud of mosquitoes.
We grabbed two just-vacated seats and stayed put till 9 p.m. Our porter had gone, promising to return and see us into the departure lounge, even declining my proffered tip. He did not return.
We got another man to help us carry our luggage to the departure area upstairs. We joined a winding queue of trolleys and outward bound passengers.
One family had despaired of getting a taxi to the airport and had been saved by calling up an obliging friend to give them a lift. The security check for the luggage x-ray started half-an-hour late. There was no announcement and no apology by ‘Indian’ (which has shed ‘Airlines’ in its name).
Some passengers muscled in ahead, by prior ‘arrangement’ with the staff.
The check-in was another test of patience. The computer-savvy assistants were inexplicably slow to complete procedures, and push in the boxes with the right labels, slower than in any previous airport where I have checked in, slower than in the pre-computer era.
Then came the scramble for filling up the emigration forms and passport checks. Though relatively efficient, our government’s official surprisingly asked a young Indian to show his letter of invitation from abroad before letting him through, as if India should be solicitous on behalf of the foreign country which had issued a visa to him.
Perhaps there was an element of bureaucratic one-up-man-ship in it.
The next ordeal was the queue, a queue winding four lengths, to the security check for the hand baggage and frisking. One of the x-ray machines was out of order. So the wait was that much longer.
When we got through to the departure lounge, we had spent a good two hours on our feet.
Bangalore International must be among the worst in terms of facilities, airline ground-staff service and self-awareness of what it needs to do. It is no consolation to passengers going in or out to hear that the city is building a brand new airport.
It is not the grand buildings and the glittering shops with consumer goodies at fancy prices that count so much as the awareness of travellers’ needs by the administrators and the airlines that can make a real difference for the passenger, who, after all, has to pay a sizeable tax on the ticket to Abroad.
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Have more horror tales about Bangalore “International” Airpor? Drop a comment.
To be fair, of all the Indian international airports I landed in or departed from, the best experience was at Bangalore.
In Mumbai, I had to fight a team of solicitors and was also harassed by some of the airport staff. In Chennai, even though the staff was efficient, I found that the waiting area was a joke. The people wanting to see off travelers had to wait in the rain. In Delhi it was a case of over zealous security officials.
At the Bangalore airport, even with the problems, I was pleasantly surprised to be very politely treated by immigration staff, waved off from customs and receive roses as soon as I left the baggage claim area. Added to this there were no solicitors or people wanting to ‘help’ you.
As for checking in, it is as bad as in other Indian airports.
Of course, the facilities at Bangalore airport still are in need of some work.
The area outside Bangalore airport and the roads leading to the airport could do with some cleaning up. But when I think of the approach to the airport in Mumbai or the chaos that prevails outside the Delhi airport, I am inclined to be more forgiving.
Hi All,
The Airport in Bangalore is a make shift international airport, please bear with it till the new big one comes into action, have patience you will get a good airport and good service.
Airports in many places I have seen are good, but all airports or most airports have problems including many US Airports, for example Miami, I have gone through this 3 to 4 times and I have NOT MISSED my BAGS ONLY ONCE, what do you say for this.
So have patience and co-operate, you will get better service.
Shivu, Hasn’t this been a ‘make-shift’ airport for years now ? I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as a new airport is concerned.
Coming back to Madhavan’s article. Hmmm….I wouldn’t rate Bangalore airport as the worst. No sir. I definitely have had torrid experiences there (and I am gonna list them out shortly). But, I don’t see how Madras airport is any better than that of Bangalore, for that matter.
Now, coming to some really bad experiences at Bangalore airport.
1. Once I was travelling with an American friend of mine. He was standing right behind me in the immiration queue. One of the officers called me for the immigration check. Being an Indian citizen, I didn’t have any problems. He was looking at my visa stampings and what not at his own pace. The next officer called my American friend. This briliant immigration officer starts talking to my American friend in Kannada. Can you believe it ? Such an idiot. My American friend had to explain that he understood only English. How can these ‘officers’ be so pathetic. My firend was a white dude and it was so obvious for any idiot to realize that he wouldn’t know Kannada.
2. I was flying out of Bangalore airport once. There were a group of 3 to 4 ‘security’ officers at the entrance of the terminal. I put my hand baggage in for security check. Everything was fine. One of the officer looks at my passport and exclaims “Oh you are a Bengali !”. I said “Nope, I was just born in Bengal….I am from Mysore”. So, he says “Oh Kannada baratta”. I nod my head and the officers immediately echo a “oMdu swalpa coffee koDsappa”. I acted as if I was a really dumb teenager and said “Yeah, you can go ahead,and drink good cofffee…there is a vending machine right outside”. They couldn’t ask me for money directly…They tried all tactics and since I ‘really didn’t understand’ what they were saying, they just left me. Infact, one of the officers commented to the other “biTbiDappa, ivanige EnU gottAgalla'”
3. Another visit to India….I was about to get through the dreaded customs. Nobody was allowed to go through green channel even though I specifically said I didn’t have anything to declare. Now, the officers were opening all the baggages. One officer came to me and started asking all kinds of questions. Basically, they were ripping the pther passengers. Out of the blue I started of with “Uncle, hELi keLi student nAnu…nanna hattira Eniratte hELi ?”. I guess the elderly customs officer was pleased……Iw as perhaps the only one who was allowed to get out without my bags being opened.
4. One more visit to Bangalore airport…Thsi time I ahd cleared immigration and customs and this idiot security guys started hassling me saying I had to give him some money since I was carrying a ‘digital camera’. I was so pissed, I started interrogating him and asked him who his boss was and when would his boss be in his office. I am sure he got scared. But, later a lot of my frineds advised me NOT to do that.
At the end of the day, a smiling girl gives you a rose whenevr you come into Bangalore with a mouthful of “Welcome to Bangalore”. And, it’s just so nice to be there. Sure, basic infrastructure and facilites can improve a lot. But, I have no complaints. I am sensible enough NOT to compare JFK with BLR. I agree with Shivu…with time, we will have a better airport.
Bangalore airport, is there a question like its worst or not?
I mean its bad enough and there is something to be done immediately, the way International Airport is being constructed its too far someone had written no end of tunnel.
Dont try to make it as beautiful as Incheon, Changi or any other international port but atleast cant we make it little more decent, agreeing to the fact like roads and most of the facilities are crashing due to over crowding but still there can be quick and at the same time nice work can be done there are malls and big multi-floor office buildings constructed in Bangalore in months time. Its highly agreeable that people with power dont want it to be changed soon enough whatsoever be the reason, Bangalore cant be said to be in money crunch its place where money is flowing even in a slum there is an office of some big name.
Please dont fall into questions of superlative BEST/WORST its bad enough to DO SOMETHING QUICKLY, for that matter most of our airports.
Note that most of the people who complain about stuff in India are those that now live outside India. The same people, if they saw NRIs or Foreigners complaining about their country earlier would have thought, “What do these people think of themselves? Were they here to solve our countries problems? Just because they now live in a country in which the government and its rulers offer them better facilities, does that give them the right to complain?” People staying in our country have every right to complain because they are liable to pay tax towards its development. People who have left the country, did so because they felt no personal or moral responsibility towards its development, but now, they are the ones that complain the most. The very same place that you swore by earlier now becomes shoddy, second hand and derrogatory to be associated with.
Ironical to say the very least. All you Indians who are complaining about Bangalore being the world’s worst airport — what are you doing to change the situation? Just remember, that this country gave you your identity and no matter how much you think you belong to the outside world and associate yourselves with the outside world, you cannot change the facts. The infrastructure that you are so proud of in the ‘other’ country was not developed because of you and you do not become a higher being just by prescribing to this ‘holier than thou’ attitude. Period.
u speak the words of wisdom… bengaluru airport is a good airport.. with lots of air traffic inside and road traffic outside as well.. ha ha
i go by airport road everyday to office.. trust me.. i’ts one hell of a ride.. feels like Trinity from Matrix revolutions driving on the wrong lane facing oncoming traffic.. still keeping up the pace…
man.. the waiting time at the unmanned signals is also fun… whenever i start off late to office.. i get punished by getting delayed by almost an hour… ha ha… man traffic teaches u a lesson after all…
We bangalorians will miss all the noisy planes and crowded roads…. not to forget the rude drivers and the occasional potholes and flat tyres.. coupled with the the lon wait at the signals…
it’s an ecosystem out there guys… lets save our ecosystem
Lets all unite and revamp our make shift airport into a world class airport…
Long live Bangalore
Sneha Cool down Sis and are you jealous?
i agree to wht mr. longlivebengaluru stated.. i’ve hd many similar xperiences as well… once i fell of my bike on the airport road, sum guys rished to help me.. but the traffic dint allow them to help me out.
i lay there hopin.. sum plane would take off.. some signal would clear out.. hope our airport gets a7/8 lane airstrip.. so that more planes can commute without queing up…
long live bengaluru to u u too…
adios:-)
Bangalore is the worst airport ever! Customs (if you want to call them that) routinely make tourists pay bribe money to get some of their own items out of the airport. They wanted a payment of almost $10,000 from two people with their equipment and the proper papers to get out of the airport. The taxi service is a sham, and it smells like a toilet. Even though this is no reflection of the general population or the culture of India, you couldn’t pay me enough money to go back to that airport.
Sneha,
The Indian government seems to love the direct (from gulf etc.) and indirect (from us, uk etc. etc.) investments that NRIs are bringing in. They love India as much as you do.
Of course anyone can complain about the pathetic conditions in the Bangalore airport – especially the arrivals. Even foreigner who pay for air travel and generate revenue for the airport and pays for the government and people who work there have every right to complain. After all if you had a horrid experience everytime you travel abroad in a particular airport – wouldnt you complain? The ‘international’ airport serves anyone who paid for the ticket. If you never or rarely use the airport and dont ever want progress to be made fine. If you dont care if Bangalore airport arrivals shows to all guests to our city how callous we are fine. Let the others voice their opinion in the hope that efficiency, cleanliness and service which is a taken at other airports all over the world is also seen at ours too.
too many typos…
wah wah
inspite of having all valid documents necessary for travelling to uae , I was prevented without giving a valid reason by the chief emmigration officer of bangalore airport who was on duty on 6 th feb 2008 at around 4.30 am.
dear Sanjay Sundaran Nair,
Churumuri is not the place to address your problem. please contact authorities. Here general Macro level problem is being discussed. Individual problems find some other blog!
There is a very interesting and enlightening posting in here (http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/is-the-mysore-airport-jinxed-before-takeoff/) by some forum member called Dr. Karanth that explains the status of the New Blru Intl Airport in Devanahalli. He explains a personal visit to the new and already ‘grounded’ airport and experience.
Well, the posting appears to have created a lot of bickering, typical of these ignorant Kannadigas who perhaps need another Deve Gowda and family to rule them.
The Business Standard dated March 17th reveals that HMSHost, which creates customised shopping and dining spaces in travel venues and has annual sales in excess of $2 billion, has won the seven-year contract to manage the stalls in the new Bangalore International Airport.. Their strategy in the airports of the third world and emerging economies is to win the tender through kick-backs to politicians, bureaucrats and then sublicense.
A big sized Kingfisher Sports bar will be serving tap beer. If beer or sports is not your cup of tea, there will be an overdose of coffee through Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Company, Café Coffee Day, Barista and Illy Espressomonte (a premium brand of Italian coffee) outlets at the airport. (Looks like the authorities expect the Itallian Aunty to be visiting Blr often from Delhi)
Passengers keen on the harder stuff — they may well need by the time they get to the airport — can head to the Time Out bar, a ‘hot spot’ for the young, urbane cocktail crowd, with a sleek long gleaming bar and jazz music.
While Delhi airport’s terminal B offers Nirula’s desi stuff, the travelers in the new airport at Hyderabad can eat local food at the “Indian Paradise Hyderabad Biryani” outlet. The Indian Paradise will also offer curries from the south and the north.
Commenting on the deal, a spokesman of the UB group said excited travelers can now ‘enjoy our beer and sports while waiting for the flight in style’. If not for beer there is Café Au Lait, Espresso, Cappuccino, Macchiato, English Teas and American Hot Chocolate to cater to true connoisseurs.
Well, looks like it is time for the king of good times to run the airport too…and…Time for the Cothas Coffee, Coorg Coffee, Mangalore Bajji, Masala Dosa, Beesi Baelae Bath, MTR’s and Dosa Corner’s to retire in Nama Bangaluru!
S M Krishna speaking in Bangalore yesterday. “I am appalled that Bangalore’s connectivity to the airport is in the doldrums. When we planned for the airport, even at that point of time, connectivity had been given a thought. I wonder what happened and why successive governments after me could not visualise the bottlenecks”
He said that the indifference of successive governments towards the connectivity issue amounted to a “cruel joke” on the people. Krishna said it was at his invitation that IT czar N R Narayana Murthy had agreed to head BIAL. “People had trust and faith that he will will do something. But was treated so shabbily that he quit,” Krishna maintained.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bangalore/Krishna_takes_off_on_airport/articleshow/2879524.cms
Not to be outdone by Krishna’s statements, his arch rival and former PM of Hassan (Deve Gowda) has gone on record as claiming to take all credit for new Bangaluru Airport which is ill-fated and now grounded. All this after stalling S M Krishna’s major projects like the NICE, 4 lane Blr-Mysore freeway, New Mysore Airport and the New Blr International Airport. During both his periods of powr, Gowda was dominating and interfering in the administration, carrying his personal vendetta against Krishna and others, especially the IT firms in Bangalore to ridiculous lengths and placing his dream of making his son (H D Kumaraswamy) the chief minister above all other considerations.
Air passengers don`t want HAL airport to die, finds Feedback survey. Poor connectivity to the new international airport near Devanahalli from the city has emerged as one of the strong reasons for demanding that the existing HAL airport be retained. A majority (81%) of the air passengers want the HAL airport to be kept open even if the new international airport opens.
http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=BO&autono=317322
Last week, the ‘interim’ government in Blr floated a special purpose vehicle — Bangalore Airport Rail Link Ltd (BARL) — to design and implement a dedicated high-speed rail network between the city centre (BRV Grounds on M G Road) to the new international airport passing through Raj Bhavan Road, Bellary Road, Cauvery theatre junction, Mehkri underpass, Hebbal and Yelahanka.
Assuming this takes off in three to four years, it will still take two long hours to go to the new airport from the main IT hub at Electronics City — 90 minutes to get to the Cantonment station and 30 minutes by high-speed rail thereafter
Even as the Karnataka government is planning to invest a whopping Rs 3,716 crore over the next three years to provide dedicated railway connectivity to the new international airport near Devanahalli from the city, according to TOI, DH and Business Standard all the experts consulted feel that the Indian Railways’ network in and around the city can be utilised to ferry passengers at a fraction of the cost!
At present, two railway tracks (towards Hyderabad and Hindupur) run close to the new international airport, just 4 km from it. To use these tracks the government has to lay only 4 km of fresh track to connect to the new airport. In contrast, the high-speed link proposed by the state government will involved laying 34 km of fresh tracks.
Both existing tracks touch the Yelahanka railway station, which is well connected to all four corners of the city, including Whitefield, Sharjapur Road and even Electronics City, which hosts most of the IT offices.
The time required to travel between Electronics City to the new international airport can currently be approximately 80 minutes.
“However, we can augment the tracks for optimum use by trains and cut down the journey time to 50 minutes,” sources in the South Western Railway (SWR) headquartered in Bangalore pointed out.
From the west (Rajajinagar and Malleshwaram), a track running from Bangalore City railway station through Malleshwaram joins Yeshwanthpura railway station, which is linked to Yelahanka railway station.
From the south, the Salem railway track running close to Electronics City, crosses Sharjapur Road and then bypasses Krishnarajapuram railway station (easily accessible from Whitefield), eventually connecting the Yelahanka railway station.
From the south west, the Mysore railway track passing through Kengeri and Vijayanagar connects to the Bangalore City station, which connects to Yalahanka and goes on to Hyderabad.
From the east, the Bangarpet railway line connects to Krishnarajapuram railway station, which connects to Yalahanka. These apart, a railway track originating from the Cantonment railway station and passing through the city, connects to the Yeshwanthapura-Yelahanka railway track.
This network can also ease some of the load from the highway that will now be the only link and reduce journey time, by rail or road, to 50 minutes from the current 90 minutes or more.
Sadly, corruption is still the primarily factor in all the most important, long term decisions, be it with a interim govt or that run by the Gowda clan or Cong-I or BJP or any other party.
As to why the various state or central politicians and government officials are not interested, a source familiar with the current Governor’s personally selected top three advisors with decision-making powers said, “Please realise where the incentive lies. Spend Rs 3,000 crore or more on your own — imagine the rich contracts that can be awarded and money siphoned off— or give the Railways Rs 100 crore or maybe less to do the job.” (Remember how many millions, the former car dirver of Indira Ghandi, a.k.a Jaffer Sharief made with his nationwide broad-gauge conversion idea)
Well, whoever wins the next election, there are pots of black money waiting to be tapped in Bangalore’s Booming Infrastructure, which will sadly remain years behind all the other metros in India.
Much of the futile debate and behind-the-scenes lobbying by crooked politicians (especially a few from the Karnataka Congress-I), stakeholders, airlines and bureaucrats over old airport vs new airport, user charges, passenger levies, using old airport for budget carriers is farcical. Everyone living here knows that the airport is a extremely unplanned, bad infrastructure that has no consideration to user needs.
Given the highly lucrative and monopoly nature of the business of running airports, it is obvious that major kick-backs are involved. While officially it is all being decided by the Chief Secretary, Karnataka who is a flunky of the current Governer (ex Congress-I politician), the Civil Aviation Minister and the senior officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the actual decisions are now remotely managed by the Italian Aunty lead ministry in Delhi, Congress-I goons in Bangalore and the three so called ‘advisors’ nominated by the Interim Govt in Karnataka.
With elections in a few weeks, the kannadigas now have an opportunity to kick-out the corrupt politicians. However if the past is an indication, more than real-day to day issues, it will probably be other secondary issues that will be in people’s minds.
Incidentally the current MP from the region H. T. Sangliana, where the new airport is located belongs to the BJP. He has been completely silent on the raging controversy. While he obviously will not be nominated by any party again, it is a sad reflection of the kind of people slected by the parties or elected to represent people’s problems.
Parvathi Amma,
Nimma point ella sari, mathra bangaluru ali kannadiga andaare yaaru? Kannada mathu rare, and kannadigaru an almost extinct race!
Nodi, first of all, major decisions maduvaru kannadigaru alla.
For example, none of the three advisors of Governor Rameshwar Thakur are Kannadigas! P P Prabhu and Krishna Prasad (both are retired IAS officers, Prabhu is from Tamilnadu), P.K. Hormis Tharakan (IPS officer from Kerala).
Well, as far as Bangaluru or Kannadigas are concerned, the common man neither has a truly international airport (temporary grounded) in Devanahalli ‘near’ BLR nor a proper airport in HAL ‘within’ BLR!
Grachara-vae?
With the new international airport commencing operations, the brand image of Hyderabad has gone up, it will soon attract more investment in IT, biotechnology and other industries. The new airport with the longest runway in South East Asia (considered much more advanced and far better than the new mini airport in Blr) and A380 compatible, can handle 12 million passengers a year in the first phase. Its ultimate capacity is 40 million passengers and one million tonnes of cargo per annum. The new airport is also expected to become a cargo hub in Southeast Asia.
The govt is racing ahead with mega infrastructure projects like world class Outer Ring Road and Elevated Expressway and Metro Rail.
When will Bangaluru catch-up? Or is it hopelessly retarded for ever?
BMTC, Blr’s famous bus service (some busses run without doors or windows) has introduced a new fleet of Volvo buses appropriately called as ‘Vayu Vajra’ between various points in the city and the airport. The Vayu Vajra will begin after the airport opens. The governor’s special adviser, P K H Tharakan from Kerala, will inaugurate the service on March 30 while there is still no news when the airport will take off.
New Intl airport or no airport, we now have Vayu Vajra’s. Time for the A380 to take a back seat!
I have visited to many countries, big and small, rich and poor, there’s one thing I can say about Indian airports, everyone of them stinks – stinks of urine, corruption, inefficiency, uncivilized behaviour of officials, etc.
It would take several centuries for India to progress to any good standard. Even after so much of progress on the economic front has not done any good to the public. It has only enhanced the pockets of corrupt officials, politicians, cops, etc.
WHen one is in a critical situation at the airport, you don’t know who or where to seek help. Police are accomplices of corrupt officials, and thugs. It is hard to trust anybody but for a good spirited citizen, who is also helpless. What can one do? Travel to and out of India is just another nightmare.
Welcome to the new airport. (and it just got worse! )
Bloggers
nimgeenu
Kannada barudillava??
Bengaluuru antha bareyiri , Bangaluru alla.!
Sarjapura antha bareyiri, sharjapura alla!
Bangara PETE Bangara pet alla
namma nagaragala hesaru haalu maadabedi.
@ Huruli Man
”one thing I can say about Indian airports, everyone of them stinks – stinks of urine, corruption, inefficiency, uncivilized behaviour of officials, etc.”
Well said dear friend. Very true. Very true.
May be we can add to the list “uncivlised behaviour of officials and sometime the users as well’
And what you said about airport is true of any public place, perhaps including temples
Dear friends, I’m varun and i’m working for the project of Navi Mumbai International Airport. I saw your all comments over bangalore airport… Please advise me to avoid such things and provide better facilities to u all people in this airport.
I am disgusted with the behaviour of the Bangalore Airport customs officials. They should be taken to task for the harassment that they mete out to the tired passengers from abroad just for getting bribed. In 2007 they harassed me for carrying kitchen knives in my checked in luggage bought as gifts and in 2009 they harassed me for carrying two laptops. This nuisance must be stopped. They must be monitored and clear customs rules must be clearly displayed in the airport. Can anybody tell me how and where I can lodge a formal complaint against these assholes??
There are lot of errors in air port cisf staff it looks like one type of baya giri cisf staff always chewing tabaco and gutka on duty and most worse is they dont have any respect of working at international airport.it seems like they are doing there job at local bus station. now they dont even check the cars and persons and their belongings while entering the air port. they just doing like for a name sake of their post no seriousness and alertness. also they started to impliment their own bayagiri rules as you bye a water bottle in the airport and the officer checks it at entrance and aloows you inside the airport and once you cleard the check in and gets the boarding card and reaches the customs clearence and reach the security check they just say you are not allowed to carry water botle inside the waiting lounge. even if the seal is not broken” it seems like they are part of their own bayagiri rules to advertise and promote inside shops items to force passengers to leave the things which are purchased in side the airport and force the passengers to bye again the shops after security check at passengers lounge. i dint understand are they sleeping to notify passengers of rules and to keep signages tonot to bye in the airport unless you are in side the final check point before entering the waitting lounge. well the most strange thing is you dont find an airport duty officer in the waitting lounge once you crossed the security final check…well i hope they should understand that its an international airport and not to spoil the country name for their own interests…. hope officers of airport and cisf wokes up to check their staff errors which are passing bad name for airport and country.Well i forgot to tell you i just left the new water bottle at security final check point due to cisf staff bayagiri….