FRA: Not so good with the efficiency

Frankfurt Airport could learn a lot from Munich in terms of how to run an efficient German airport. Although, admittedly, this was partly my own doing because I had two separate tickets today, it still was a rather unpleasant experience.

For various reasons, the overseas portion of my itinerary had to be booked separately from the intra-Germany/Switzerland portion. That meant that today I had a HAM-FRA flight on LH and then a separate FRA-YUL-YOW itinerary on AC.

HAM-FRA went well. Arrived at FRA and went to the Lufthansa transfer desk, assuming I'd get my boarding pass there. But no. They only issue LH boarding passes, not AC. I should go to the gate (not possible... no gate number on FIDS, even now... just "B"), or I should go back to the AC check in area (which would mean getting screened again by Frankfurt security, who are also not very efficient, but are very thorough... if John was getting screened and got the pat-down, he would say "I'll give you 20 minutes to stop that"). So I went back to the AC check-in. Little did I know that it would be at the exact opposite end of the terminal from LH. Huh? I arrived at an A gate, which is where most of LH's business is, but had to check in at a C counter. (And we're using a B gate!)

To make matters worse, but somewhat funnier, I discovered a new airport species. If you're like me, you're often frustrated by people who are travelling. A common species of annoying traveller is the Moving Sidewalk Blocker (sidewalkus movus blockus). You know the ones... They stand on the moving sidewalk, not even bothering to move to one side. My favourite experience with this species is in MSP, where the walkway not only has signage that says Walk Left, Stand Right, but they also have a yellow line down the middle of the walkway to help you figure out what you should be doing.

So today, the new species ... Everyones in a hurry in FRA, so the moving sidewalks help you get where you're going a little faster. So I'm truckin along, following another guy in front of me, trying to catch the 9:15 to Ljubljana, and suddenly the pace slows to a crawl. There's a large group all bunched up, so I can't see who the problem is. Hmm, I think, must have been a "stander". It happens. I'll pass him between this sidewalk and the next one.

So I try. But between walkways, everyone is moving at a quick pace. Getting back on the walkway, it slows down again. There's a group of three guys (clearly wide enough to block the whole walkway) who actually slow down, but keep moving on the walkway. They're not "standers".. They're slowpokes. I observed their (and thus, my) moving walkway speed compared with people who were just walking without mechanical aids. No noticeable difference, thus defeating the purpose of the system. I still need a good name for this new species.

(I also saw a good Worrier today. She was more than an hour away from her departure time and she was starting to panic at Passport Control. But I digress.)

And then, in the LH Business Lounge, there were no seats available. All seats were full so I joined the small group of pinstriped nomads wandering the lounge, looking for a place to settle. Found one eventually, and that is where I now sit waiting for my delayed flight. Which means I'll miss my connection in Montreal.
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