5 ms·
Best way: close the actual city airport that was functioning like a well-oiled machine and was loved by the city population. Even better, do it against their ex
by odiroot 4y ago
Best way: close the actual city airport that was functioning like a well-oiled machine and was loved by the city population. Even better, do it against their explicit wishes with a shady decision that reeks of corruption.
Any follow-up to that will always end up being "fucked up".
- cyberpunk 4y agoI mean, sort of. The A gates which all had the separate security for each gate worked great. You could rock up 25 mins before your BA flight and just cruise right onto the plane. That stopped there though, did you ever fly from B or C? Tolerable enough if you're catching a commuter to Munich or something at 7am, but once it's filled with tourists it was appalling, far too small, far too crowded. Living in the west of the city, I'm quite happy having the airport moved further away for noise reasons though :}
- odiroot 4y agoI flew a lot from there, because I lived 10 minutes away from the airport (by bus). I mostly flew from C (cheap EU flights), sometimes from A and D (Asia, UK). I don't recall ever flying from B. I agree that A gates was a sweet spot but even C was great. The airport optimised for getting you out of there ASAP, both for departures and arrivals. I usually managed to get from the plane to my living room within 30 minutes (just with a carry-on, naturally).
- bobthepanda 4y agoAt least my experience visiting Berlin, A was a bit of a nightmare to fly non-Schengen from. Totally disorganized since having only security in the little gate area was already a tight fit.
- ben_w 4y agoRegarding noise, something I recorded under the flight path before TXL closed: https://youtu.be/OIu-dDKCBoI https://youtu.be/OIu-dDKCBoI
- ido 4y agoTegel was only well functioning for inner-EU flights. Every time I had to fly to Israel via either Tegel or Schönefeld it was a huge hassle that required going through some obviously-late-addition terminal somewhere far and inconvenient. BER was also a shitshow but the old airports badly needed replacement. I’ve flown through BER 3 times so far and all of them went fine and much more convenient than the old ones (with the exception of inner EU trips which I anyway prefer to do via train instead when possible).
- chrisseaton 4y ago> functioning like a well-oiled machine and was loved by the city population You can’t possibly mean Tegel? I’ve never met anyone who has used Tegel who didn’t think it was clearly the worst airport in the world. I used to literally avoid doing any business in Berlin because Tegel was so painful.
- odiroot 4y agoYou have a very weird circle of associates. Schönefeld was always the bad airport and now the Brandenburg airport took over that title. Tegel was always the quick and convenient one.
- chrisseaton 4y agoI thought Tegel was notoriously the very worst airport in the world? The facilities were atrocious. A security setup like cattle pens. It was like a bad bus stop - grim and dark and raw concrete. It didn’t even particularly have good routes did it?
- jhugo 4y agoI used to fly between London and Berlin a lot, and absolutely loved Tegel then. LCY-TXL was a great route. From my apartment to sitting on the plane at LCY took 20 min; from my desk in Berlin to sitting on the plane at TXL took 40 min. Probably the best two airport experiences I've ever had.
- com 4y agoLCY seems to have gone to the dogs recently too. I like the redevelopment they’ve done on airside, but it’s all so … full and unpleasant now. Food options seem to have gone downhill now that the ok airside restaurant only does burgers. I’ve had delightful meals there in the past, making delays more than bearable.
- piva00 4y agoThe facilities were atrocious looking, grim and raw concrete on the outside, nonetheless it was very easy to fly through TXL and get to the city. I always preferred going to TXL from ARN, felt like I was getting a flying bus to my destination, very close to the center so it was a matter of disembarking and getting to the center in 30 minutes or less. Flying to Schönefeld had the same atrocious facilities and another hour of a train ride to the city...
- durnygbur 4y ago> close the actual city airport that was functioning like a well-oiled You mean which Berlin's airport? As Berlin-native for few years I used the Schönefeld numerous times... and the staff there was some mixture of rude primitive sadists. Behaving towards passengers as if they're taking revenge for something. I just want to fly out of here, you cunt.
- odiroot 4y agoWell, Tempelhof closed ages ago so there was only one city airport. Schönefeld is not in Berlin.
- durnygbur 4y ago> Tempelhof closed ages ago Too many too important entities invested in real estate on the Tempelhof's approach routes to keep it operating. Now the very area of Tempelhof is pure goldmine. Tegel is next. > Schönefeld is not in Berlin. Neither BER is in Berlin.
- morelisp 4y agoIt’s just Berliner Schnauze, don’t take it personally.
- paganel 4y ago> and the staff there was some mixture of rude primitive sadists And I thought I had picked up the wrong person to check my papers that one time when we flew out from Schönefeld.
- bettysdiagnose 4y agoThat's just German people. If they don't know you, and they're old, and they see an excuse to harass you, they'll probably go for it.
- durnygbur 4y ago
- raverbashing 4y ago"functioning like a well-oiled machine" No, not really, no. Actually the newer (low-cost) terminals worked better than the original one. No frills and less crowded. The main terminal had an interesting design but it was slightly better than SXF (the one that had communist efficiency - take it as you will)
- looperhacks 4y agoI think TXL should have stayed open and know that BER is a terrible airport, but "well-oiled machine" and "loved by the city population" is a stretch.
- okr 4y agoBER works just fine, if the problems get resolved. The last time, i got picked up by someone. Walked a little, stepped outside, into the car, and out of the airport area. Done.
- TedShiller 4y ago> BER works just fine, if the problems get resolved They've been saying that for a very, very long time
- ivan_gammel 4y agoThe people of Pankow cannot agree with you. The noise from Tegel was a torture.
- odiroot 4y agoAnd yet the people from Reinickendorf and Spandau, who were more affected, voted for it to stay. Go figure.
- top_sigrid 4y agoIt was in need for a big renovation itself and the whole of north Berlin will disagree with your statement. Since its closed, every place, flat/house and especially parks/lakes etc. are so much more livable. Having the airport for a city of this size a little outside of the city and not the outer part of the city centre is very reasonable in my opinion.