[Idyllchat] RE: JFK, Alitalia, Delta

[Barb]

We had a very similar experience in Amsterdam this past week.  And that surprised us because that one has been a very "friendly" airport in the past.  We purposely chose to leave from there so we could enter the US at our final destination and not have to go through customs, recheck the luggage, etc. at a US gateway.

Well, we didn't have to claim and recheck luggage going through Amsterdam, but we did just barely make the plane.  Like JFK, the screens in each concourse only show flights in that concourse, so we had to hike for a while to even find out which gate we were heading to (our flights were with different airlines so, while they did check our luggage through, they couldn't give us the specific gate before we left Italy).  We still had time to get from "B" down to the end of "E" - until we ran into Passport Control.  That took about 45 minutes.  I think the agent was either very new or over-zealous because he was cross-examining everyone, sent 2 families to the "supervisors," and I had given up on making the connection.  When we got up there and asked if there was any chance of making the plane, he told us we had "plenty of time" (15 minutes before the departure time).

We had to jog down to the gate (about 8 minutes) and then had to do security all over again!  Another interview with an official about who packed our bags, what were we doing in Italy, etc. and THEN had to go through the whole x-ray and metal detector security again immediately prior to boarding the plane.  The very annoying part about that was having to throw away our water and, since this was right AT the gate, plus we were the last ones on the plane, we had no opportunity to go get more.

I appreciated those who helped us make the flight at all (the "gate closed" light was already flashing when we got there but there were still people in the security line and they kindly let us go through) but it seems that, given all of these security complications, airlines and agents really have to start allowing considerably more time to make connections.  An hour on an international flight or at a major hub is totally unrealistic now.

However, except for that time crunch, I have to say that we flew on Alitalia, Delta, and NWA on this trip and had very good experiences with every flight.  All of the airline personnel - both at the airports and on the planes - were helpful and considerate.  They couldn't magically create empty seats or more leg room, but they did everything they could do to make it a better experience.

Barb  






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