Quoting DAL763ER (Reply 12): What's wrong with the airports being like shopping malls? I think it's great that you can pick stuff up that you might have forgotten to bring with you on a trip. Or at least you can waste some time on a long connection. |
I, too, think people should be free to shop to their heart's content on a layover or before departure if they so choose.
What I resent is the lack, in many cases, of much realistic alternative for those of us who don't particularly feel like wandering through overpriced Duty Free shops after getting off a 9-hour redeye and waiting for another 5-hour flight. Some of us just want to sit quietly and read or rest, and I have often found it difficult to do that in most of Heathrow's terminals.
Quoting DAL763ER (Reply 12): As for comfort - how/why would the public area be comfort-oriented? Provide couches and the like for everyone? |
No need for "couches and the like." I'd settle for some more seats - just seats - preferably in a calm, quiet area.
Again - it has long seemed to me that Heathrow's terminals were intentionally designed with too little seating to effectively force people into restaurants and shops. Not to mention - in T1 and
T3, there is often far too little seating space at the gate, and of course that's after the potential maze of hallways and tunnels just to get to said gate so you can either grab a precious seat (if lucky) or stand around until boarding, and of course that's after you have to take an escalator down to a bus to drive across the airfield to take another escalator up to re-clear security to get to said maze of hallways and tunnels to get to said gate if connecting.
It still never ceases to amaze me that this is considered normal, let alone acceptable, at Heathrow - which is the United Kingdom's single most important gateway to the world.
Trust me - you would be hard-pressed to find a person who loves Britain - it's history, it's culture and it's people - more than I do. I'm a complete Anglophile. But Heathrow is a complete embarrassment to such an exceptionally wonderful city and country - even it's nicest terminals, with or without Samsung branding, simply do not compete with far, far nicer alternatives both far (
HKG,
DXB, etc.) and near (
MAD, etc.).
Quoting DAL763ER (Reply 12): Whoever wants a comfortable airport experience can pay more and take a seat in the airline's lounge instead. |
Is that the standard now? You can enjoy "comfort" at the airport if you get access to a lounge through flying in a premium cabin or buying a day pass, but otherwise just deal with discomfort. Wow. Sadly, I think Heathrow's owners agree with you.
As I said - I find it incredible that this standard is considered acceptable when the example of numerous other airports all around the world tells us it doesn't have to be this way.