A tale of two airports

The Easy Jet flight between Malaga and Glasgow was fine and on time both ways.

Malaga airport, though absolutely  inundated with arriving and departing tourists managed pretty well.   The longest queue was 15 minutes and even then the surroundings and efficiency were good both on the way in and the way out.    There were also lots of e-gates , though still in their packaging.  Once they are in place getting through will be even quicker. 

Alas not so at Glasgow Airport.   Certainly the security hall on the way out has gradually improved over the years and the new machines that do away with emptying out much of one's  hand baggage are greatly to be welcomed .

But returning  through the airport today wasn't a pleasant experience.

Firstly a dispatcher was not on hand to allow the passengers off the plane, and  even after the doors were opened everyone  had to wait 15 minutes for him to turn up.   Then we were bussed to the far side of the terminal and after the twists and turns of rather dingy corridors, we arrived at the "UK Border" signs.   

The queuing there was  badly  managed - cramped  with poorly laid out lanes.  Though the numbers must have been two or three times fewer than Malaga - and of course there were no electronic gates at Málaga for Uk passengers - getting through still took more than  twice as long.    Although there was a token attempt to do so, in fact children  - and particularly younger children - weren't well catered for which added to the noise and tension.  For a start there  needs to be an effective - as opposed to clogged up - families lane.

In addition more space could also be had by removing the option to purchase "premium" access - in these circumstances it amounts to little more than a bribe to buy one's way out of  experiencing a shoddy public service yet there was a whole  (largely unused) lane devoted to that option  further cutting available space for the vast majority of passengers .   There were also far too few electronic gates available after one had got to the actual point of having one's passport checked. 

Very little of this is Brexit related .  It is lack of investment (presumably by both the UK Government  and the airport itself)  poor management and a fairly basic lack of knowledge of how to make queuing if not enjoyable at least tolerable.     

Unfortunately Glasgow is still  behind Edinburgh in facilities  and given the ease of access to both for most people in the Central Belt, this type of experience can only encourage more people to choose east over west..