The BIAL Experience!!

Last week I had to go to Mumbai, and was excited and apprehensive about my trip. Not that I have never been to Mumbai, but I was flying for the first time from the new Bangalore International Airport. The most talked about and controversial airport the country has today. I stay in JP Nagar which is South of Bangalore and I had to travel 50KM to reach the airport.

I had weighed my option and traveled by Meru Cab to the airport. For a flight at 6.50 PM and keeping the hype and hoopla by the media, and the most talked about traffic in Bangalore I left home at 3.30pm, estimating that I would reach by 5.30pm.

I was disappointed, as the trip to the airport was smooth as a vanilla ice cream. No traffic, (people may say I was traveling off peak hour), roads were broad and had smooth ride to the airport flat in 85min. The first impression was barren lands all over, and the approach road to airport has been made pretty well.

At the entrance the gates are small and number of them too less. With the current eTickets and ID proofs to be shown, it makes it difficult to enter the airport lounge with ease, but makes up for the time spent to do baggage screening at the entrance in any other airport, as BIAL your baggage is screened only once you check in to get your boarding pass. What a relief!!!

With all the talks about international standards, BIAL is a let down, with 2 weeks of operation, they still have teething problems. Power fails at times, Barista unable to service customer due to ice shortage (again blamed on the power), toilets not clean enough, and the bins are overflowing and no attendant to take care of the same.

At the entrance, though you feel you have enough space to breathe compared to HAL but once you step up to the security check in lounge, its all the same. I guess with the increasing air traffic in Bangalore, BIAL needs to gear up for an expansion very soon else pray that Mr Praful Patel increases the air fares to keep away some infrequent travelers.

To this experience, paying Rs.650/- per flight UDF (user development fee) for domestic flights (still to start) and some Rs.1000 + for International flights is ruled out. And adding to the same, the government is bound to provide infrastructure to people of the country, if they are incapable of managing it on their own and privatize it is their problem, and why should common people pay the price of someone else’s profits!!! I have traveled across India, and used private airports in Mumbai and Delhi, so we pay a UDF there?

Overall the BIAL airport is good but could have been better, or is it all the media hype which had more to do with my expectation?