Ben-Gurion Airport destinations board: Better here than there
Photo: Ofer Amram
In praise of Israeli efficiency
France, Italy, the U.S. and elsewhere have made travel a hassle. Not here
Today's intercontinental travel isn't for the faint of heart. Security concerns, ticketing complexities, airport navigation, harried crowds and wrenching effects of time-zone shifting make travel today wearying and wearing.
Therefore, it's a pleasure to say that we in Israel are doing something right for once.
I recently returned from a trip overseas, and can report with some satisfaction (and no hometown boosterism), that we are doing a much better job of it than a lot of other countries in the so-called developed world.
The first hint I had of trouble was when I stepped off the plane in Milan, en route to my connecting flight to New York. You know those TV monitors that are ubiquitous at airports announcing departures and arrivals? Well, every single one of them at Milan's airport was a riot of psychedelic colors. The sober rows of cities, numbers and times was nowhere in sight.
Wandering aimlessly
Topping that off, there were no helpful clerks to direct anyone to their next flight. It seems a power surge had wiped out the airport's computers. Oy. No one knew where connecting flights were. Hundreds of dazed passengers were wandering aimlessly through airport corridors.
Several hours later, I found my connecting flight and was checked in by harried security and airline clerks using handwritten forms.
When we arrived in New York a large group of us that had boarded in Milan waited futilely for our luggage. We eventually realized it was hopeless (once again, there were no airline employees around to assist), and filed claims. To make a long story short, four days and a dozen phone calls later my luggage arrived just as I was sitting down to Shabbat dinner with friends.
The way back was no better. The Delta Air Lines terminal at JFK in New York resembled nothing more than a dilapidated bus station. A nervous clerk kept moving a large metal rack back and forth to avoid clunking sweaty and bothered passengers.
Maze of corridors
I had to transfer again, this time at Charles DeGaulle airport in Paris. Maybe the French were distracted by the social unrest, but it seems to me that it should not require three lengthy shuttle bus rides, a walk through a maze of deserted corridors, and numerous ascents and descents of unmarked staircases to transfer planes (the planes themselves were parked near each other on the airport's vast tarmac). I didn't even have a chance to part with the Euros that were burning a hole in my pocket. At least I made my connection. A large contingent of harried travelers failed to make theirs.
It was such a pleasure to return home. I glided through passport control in a few minutes, even without the ultra-cool passport swipe card I need to replace. My luggage was on the carrel in minutes, and I even picked up my duty-free parcel in short order. I was out in the large, airy atrium and met by a friend in no time, and we breezed home without a lick of traffic.
Efficiency experts, Americans, and Europeans sneer at Israeli inefficiency. They note we fail to make way on the left of escalators and crowd in the doors of trains and elevators, making entrances and exits slower than need be. Such criticism only feeds our insecurities. We knock ourselves for our impatience on the road and our clunky bureaucracy.
But in one area at least - international travel, not to mention our use-it-at-home-even-though-you-bought-it-at-duty-free airport shopping - we have it all over the rest of the so-called developed world.
