Slowest trip to the airport – is this a record?

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    DavidGordon10
    Participant

    This probably is a topic for Friday.

    Here I am in Luanda, in a hotel 23 km from the airport. The gate for my flight closes at 09.00 in the morning. I am being picked up by the driver at 03.00. I am assured by the driver, after repeated questioning, that it is essential to allow this length of time. Anything less would be a risk of missing the flight because of the near-permanent traffic jams. So that means that he is expecting that his speed might be as low as 23/6 = just under 4 km/hour.

    Can any forum member beat that? Have you been anywhere where your local driver has anticipated that he will not be able to go faster than 4 km/hour?

    The rules of this game are that it is time from hotel to gate closure, and road travel of some kind – car, taxi, minibus, and units are metric – km/hour. Has anyone been told to expect an even slower ride?

    I know, I know, I can walk faster than 4 km/hour. – but I don’t fancy walking down the “Via Expresso” in the middle of the night…..


    SimonS1
    Participant

    A colleague told me you need to be at the airport at least 4 hours ahead…..


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    South African friends have also told me the airport is a nightmare and they aim to get there, traffic permitting at least 3-4 hours in advance. Perhaps your driver is giving you the benefit of local knowledge David.

    I seem to recall though the journey from Giza to Cairo airport was about 2 hours in traffic. Not sure of distance though.

    Oh David, I hope you didn’t sleep in.

    Any snippet on Luanda would be very much appreciated. I have a thing about PALOPs, although I have only been to Mozambique. Hopefully one day I will visit Angola.

    And I wouldn’t like to be caught up in traffic between South Mumbai and the airport!


    SenatorGold
    Participant

    Like alexpo1 I’d love to hear any tales of Luanda as a prelude to my satisfying a long held urge to go there. David, you must tell us how this story ends. Happily I hope. I can lay claim to spending time in the transit lounge at the airport there on a couple of occasions in the early 70s when it was one of the few places the then South African Airways in their nasty orange, white and blue livery could land en route to Europe. However that doesn’t really count. In 1986 I met someone who managed to get a tourist visa (almost impossible then) to visit friends living in Luanda in the then People’s Republic of Angola. She flew on Aeroflot via Moscow. There were few airlines flying there then. Other trailblazers were TAP, UTA and Sabena. In Lusophone Africa I’ve been to Mozambique, São Tomé and Principe and Cabo Verde. Were it not for Ebola, I’d be very keen to visit Guinea Bissau.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    My last visits there were in the mid 80’s but I’d also love to visit Angola now, however the tourist visa business is a real hassle unless you know someone in the Government or Embassy very well. Business visa’s are also hard to get but easier if being sponsored by a local company.

    There are plenty of back door ways into Angola, but this involves road crossings and dollars to help expedite your way through any checks. I know plenty of people who’ve done this but would not recommend it unless very adventurous!


    DavidGordon10
    Participant

    Well, I did not sleep in, and I did make it to the plane. The car did not arrive until about 03.50, but as someone said “Angolan punctuality”.

    You are right, LP, the driver was not anticipating that the wee small hours traffic would be as bad as the daytime, but that the airport woud be very slow. It was 1.5 hours from being admitted to the check-in area to passing through passports and customs and getting airside. Later, there was very slow progress through the gate and onto the bus to the plane.

    I cannot tell anyone much about Luanda, I am sorry to say. I was in a hotel near a university campus where the meeting was held, and was ferried to and fro together with the other speakers staying in the same hotel. There was not time for any trip to the old city – which I was told was quite attractive – because the traffic would have made the journey there and back far too long to have been attempted. The closest I got was a good view of the city and the bay from seat 1J on the TAP flight to Lisbon.

    Despite the traffic and being stuck outside the main part of the city, I still came away feeling positive, mainly because of the charm and hospitability of the people. Even security at the airport had a cheerful smile.


    canucklad
    Participant

    Morning David, You’re story reminds me of my African adventure some time back.

    Whilst holidaying in Malindi (north Kenyan coast) , my girlfriend and I decided to split our 3 week break up with a flying visit up to Nairobi and the highlands to visit friends and relatives during the 2nd week.
    We had ordered a taxi to take us from our hotel to the small airport in ample time for our KQ flight.

    The taxi duly arrived, slightly late but with no real worries. It was a rust bucket of an old 70’s Datsun hatchback, mongrelised sort of thing, but clearly the drivers pride and joy. Lorraine and I jump in the back and look forward to the short hop to Malindi airport. Driving through the dust bowl main street, it hits a pothole and comes to a steaming stop in the midday African heat. With reassurances that we would soon be on our way again, our man disappeared into a nearby shop.

    A little time later and now anxiously watching the big hand on my watch relentlessly march towards departure time, he reappears with a mallet. Removing the coat hanger doubling as a bonnet holder downer contraption, he disappears under so said bonnet and seconds later………Bang-bang-bang …………………..Silence……………… His face re-appears with a broad re-assuring smile, that didn’t work on Lorraine, …….bang-bang-bang and then the coat hanger gets re-attached, hammer returned into the shop, chin wag, chin wag with Malindi’s own Mr. Benn, then key in ignition, and with Mr Benn and a couple of his pals cheerily shoving, our ancient Japanese chariot bounces over another pothole and then reluctantly sputters back to life.

    Minutes later and a short cut through some palm trees and we arrive at the airport with moments to spare. Our cheery chappy unties the rope holding our doors shut and with a $5 tip our metal camel disappears to become an ever lasting memory.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    Thanks for the update DG and Canucklad how typical of Africa. It’s still pretty much the same today. I love it!


    SenatorGold
    Participant

    Thanks for keeping us posted, David. I’m glad that in spite of the long delay at the airport you remained positive.

    How did you rate your TAP flight to LIS? Would you recommend them for long haul flights? My experience of them has been confined to short and mid-haul flights. All were reasonably positive although LIS airport could benefit from refurbishment.

    LP, I’m impressed you visited Luanda in the 80s. Those were turbulent times for Angola to say the least.


    DavidGordon10
    Participant

    Well Canucklad, what a wonderful story and …. could happen today.

    Senator, I would rate the TAP flight LIS to LAD and return highly. Thanks to the generosity of my hosts, I was in business. The food was excellent, and being Portuguese, the wine was even better. Service was attentive but not obtrusive. I can’t report on the IFE as I never bother with that.

    Departure southbound was very late in the evening so the dinner service was at about midnight, and was well done – quick for those wanting to sleep, but not already dozing.

    The seat was all right for me – when fully extended I found it comfortable and slept well both ways. But it was not fully flat: OK for me but I know that is an important negative for some forum members.

    For those considering other Europe based airlines, there were modern-looking aircraft from LH and KLM on the apron at LAD, and a slightly older-looking BA 747. I was there with three colleagues from Portuguese universities who had travelled with the Angolan airline (TAAG), and who said it was perfectly reasonable.


    IanFromHKG
    Participant

    alexpo1 – 08/11/2014 10:30 GMT : I wouldn’t like to be caught up in traffic between South Mumbai and the airport!

    It’s a lot better since they built the new road across the harbour, alexpo. I will be going there in a couple of weeks and looking forward to experiencing the new airport as well!


    ChrisJR
    Participant

    I remember I was in Dhaka a few years back, in Gulshan (which is maybe 10-15km from the airport) and had a flight out at around 11pm. I was told I had to leave my guesthouse by 6pm to give 2 hours to get to the airport and 2 hours to get through the airport. Because we “beat the rush hour traffic” it took no more than 15 minutes to get there, and because I beat the late evening flight rush, I navigated check-in and security in ten minutes. This left me the best part of fours hours – not so bad until I found that they were charging $20 per small can of beer in some dodgy little bar upstairs in the departure area (I’d left a party at the guesthouse where free beer was flowing). Mind you, better safe than sorry. It was an expensive evening.

    Another story “a friend told me” was of a Brit in Lagos – his driver dropped him at the airport for a night flight back to London (BA at almost midnight). Not sure what time he got to the airport in Lagos but suffice to say it was in time to catch the flight. He flew back to London (6 hours), got a taxi home (I’m not sure where he lived), and on arriving home he rang his Nigerian driver – who was still stuck in traffic trying to get home from the airport……Having worked in Lagos on and off for the last four years, I can fully understand this.


    MrMichael
    Participant

    Cannot beat the record (thankfully), but a tad under 3 hours from Giza to Cairo airport in the afternoon. I had allowed two hours, so made my flight, just. What made it memorable was the fact my car was slightly to the right and rear of one of those obnoxious locally built busses for about thirty minutes. The bus exhaust was inches from the aircon intake of the vehicle I was in, so no matter with aircon on/off, every possible combination of windows closed or open made little difference, choke on fumes we most certainly did. I did get very uncomfortable and a little panicky and requested the driver stop for a couple of minutes to allow a little distance to open between us and the bus. We then had the problem of being the target for every horn in every vehicle in the vicinity, but personally I prefer the ability to breath than hear.

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