Footnote: Travel Update

Experiences, observations, and random commentary on int'l travel in Nov. 2024

As long-time readers know, I occasionally pen a few lines about my international travel experiences.

And since I’ve been in Slovenia this week, I’ll share a few comments now.

First of all, air travel is becoming more of a hassle.

I flew out of Norway to Amsterdam to get to Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Amsterdam is a huge construction site masquerading as an airport for what seems years without any end in sight.

Second, for whatever reason, despite regular gates, one still has to get out of places and board them by stepping onto the tarmac and climbing into the plane. I took the below picture to illustrate this feature of our time and day earlier today before boarding my flight from Ljubljana to Amsterdam:

Then there’s the ‘service’ aspect: some flights do not even offer water or coffee, such as Transavia’s ‘service’ from the Netherlands to Slovenia.

While I personally could care less, it’s quite strange and in many ways a result of the proliferation of subsidiaries of flag carriers: I used a travel agency to book everything (courtesy of my employer’s store policy), and while I received emails from KLM, the flight to Amsterdam was operated by KLM ‘Cityhopper’ (a subsidiary), and Transavia is another ‘low-cost’ subsidiary owned by KLM.

Fun fact about Transavia: I could check in online via KLM’s website on my way to Slovenia, but I couldn’t check in online on my way back: KLM’s website referred me to Transavia, and the latter’s website didn’t work.

I checked in in person at the airport.

Then there’s the ‘other’ things one sees and hears: many cancelled flights, which leads to overcrowded later flights and delays (as it’s apparently not too easy for globally operating carriers to re-book passengers in time).

Oh, lest I forget, the flight crew on my trip to Amsterdam—which left, with an hour of delay, a bit after 2 p.m.—mentioned that this was due to de-icing of the wings ‘in the morning’.

Air travel is a spectacular bubble, by the way: it’s expensive, airports look like US commercials in the 1990s (mostly ‘white’ people travelling), and due to the hickups and the like, connecting flights might not be available without long layovers (I’m spending 6 hours in Amsterdam, provided my flight to Bergen is actually taking place).

So, enough with the rant; regular content resumes tomorrow.