Saturday 18 August 2007

Cairns Airport has no customer service

This morning I had to pick up my mate Richard at the Cairns Airport as he arrived from Gove, NT where he works at the massive bauxite mine.

I've been following the various incidents at the Cairns Airport over the last year or two.

It is largely to do with when locals pull up outside the terminals to pick up / drop off their loved ones (or not-so-loved ones), and to help passengers that need extra assistance and need to be close to the terminal, only to be greeted often by an arrogant and attitude-driven parking attendant (under the guise of a "security officer).

Before you can set your foot out of the car to open a boot or help granny to the sidewalk, they have announced a day in court for an infringement.

Well, readers will be delighted to learn of the latest development at "our" airport. The arrival terminal has now moved to the end of the entire domestic building, past Virgin and Jetstar's departure lounges.

The thing that will get you wound up is that no private vehicle is allowed alongside the arrival area at all anymore. Only taxis, buses or if you have a disability permit.

No doubt under the pretext of terrorism, and protecting us from the evil-doers, no cars are allowed to pull up and pick up passengers. The boys who flunked the Parking Inspectors Graduation Course, seem to think that if your vehicle is heading towards an idle position for more than 23 seconds, you are going to spontaneously combust.

Of course this will direct you to pay for parking every time you visit the airport now. That's another pet hate I have. Why on earth should we pay for parking at an airport? With an airfare at the very minimum of $250 return from Cairns, why should we be giving this greedy airport authority more money, just to drop off / meet their "customers"?

As the second most visited tourist destination on the continent, Cairns will have a very non-personal and unfriendly environment to greet your visitors. And don't give me the line that we need all the protecting we can get and that our Government needs to look after us, blaa, blaa, blaa.




- Cairns Airport in Google Maps

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