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travel and airport culture

Filed under: travel — February 14, 2005

Thirty-eight hours of travel later, I’m finally home; Unfortunately, the trip wasn’t meant to be this lengthy. Trouble began in northern Europe. A three-hour delay for a mechanical problem meant I missed my connecting flight back to the States. Missing that flight meant that it was not possible to get home in one day. Fortunately, the airline was somewhat willing to move my flight schedule around, giving me the chance to do my evening layover in a city where a friend could pick me up from the airport. I say somewhat willing because it took three calls to the Executive Platinum desk before one of the customer service representatives would actually help. The first two told me I had to get to an airport with an American desk and let the locals do the re-ticketing. “Uh.. sorry, no. How about you just sort this out for me instead?” Oh well. At least I got home.

Even with all the chaos, my biggest take-away from the trip had nothing to do with travel planning. Instead, it was simply the cultural difference between how customers are treated in Zurich, Switzerland vs. the JFK airport in New York. These two airports couldn’t be any different, and I really felt sorry for a non-English speaking passenger I met along the way. In Switzerland, life was met with a smile and friendly conversation. Even the security check-points were pleasant. But JFK.. well, you can imagine.

Travel tip of the day: make sure you’ve got some snacks in your carry-on bag in case your flight schedule goes very, very wrong.

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