tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1707444165003305798.post721798959208850475..comments2023-10-24T17:21:16.565+02:00Comments on Sounds in the Hickory Wind: On Buying Plane TicketsThe Hickory Windhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02099970252405596982noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1707444165003305798.post-80218883425971047752011-06-15T11:45:30.378+02:002011-06-15T11:45:30.378+02:00This comment has been removed by the author.The Hickory Windhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02099970252405596982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1707444165003305798.post-13702353455009448442011-06-15T11:43:05.028+02:002011-06-15T11:43:05.028+02:00In some ways it's getting easier, yes. The air...In some ways it's getting easier, yes. The airlines are finding ways of shortening the queues they can control by effectively eliminating check-in, and the time spent comparing prices and the discomfort of the usual hour's delay while standing in line waiting to board are the price I pay for wanting to travel much more cheaply than 20 years ago. That's fair enough. What i object to is the constant personal intrusion, the repeated excuses to demand information and to control every aspect of your movements. It could all be much simpler.<br /><br />Clearly I should have worked for Eurotunnel. Now that is what air travel should be.The Hickory Windhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02099970252405596982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1707444165003305798.post-60201105480571273382011-06-14T19:58:10.433+02:002011-06-14T19:58:10.433+02:00I get tickets over the Net from Expedia. The lates...I get tickets over the Net from Expedia. The latest thing, with EasyJet anyhow, is that you print your own boarding pass, and if you have just carry-on baggage of the right dimensions, it doesn't get much simpler. And in Lisbon, you don't have to queue to have your passport looked at. You go to a kind of turnstile, put your passport into a scanner, look into a camera and then the turnstile opens to let you through. We didn't know how to do it of course, but there is always a first time.<br /><br />But the best was when I was working at Eurotunnel, a year before the opening. One option if I had to spend the day at the Calais offices was to fly from Biggin Hill. You would sit in the lounge drinking coffee till your Captain came to collect you, then you would walk out to the 6-, 7- or 8-seater. And if you forgot your passport, there would be a tut-tut don't do it again from the combined immigration/customs man.Vincenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18297306807695767580noreply@blogger.com