Pandemonium at Delhi Airport
I feel sick. It’s now 2:30 in the morning and I’m finally sitting on board our Jet Airways flight back to London. The sad thing is we arrived at the airport just before midnight, and it took over 2 hours to get into the airport, through the security check, check-in, immigration and hand baggage check. There was total chaos outside the airport with what looked like over a thousand people waiting outside, unable to enter the building due to the incredible slow security checks. So the first hour was spent just trying to get into the airport building, let alone get to the Jet Airways check-in counter!
Everything that followed was also extremely snail-paced – up until now I’ve had nothing but praise for Jet Airways, but their check-in staff at Delhi are far too slow, and they also need some assistants on the conveyor belts to help the luggage along, since it’s ludicrous for the check-in counter staff to have to get up and push the luggage along if it gets stuck somewhere.
So much stress, just to board a flight! Delhi really needs to sort out its International Airport fast – clearly the airport is far too small to serve the passengers that pass through it with any degree of efficiency. During our stay we saw lots of signs up saying “Chalo Dilli (Come to Delhi) – from Walled City to World City…” – I don’t see how Delhi can be classed as a world city when the basic infrastructure is so poor. I really hope things improve before the Commonwealth Games that are being held here in 2010. I’ve passed through a lot of other airports in Asia in the last few years, and never come across anything as hopeless as this.
I was just talking to one of the cabin crew and I asked her if there is this much chaos every day. She told me that it’s a regular problem, and even they have trouble getting into the airport. I think the worst problem is that there isn’t an orderly queue to get into the airport – there are people pushing trolleys from all angles. I really feel sorry for some disabled passengers we saw who were experiencing extreme difficulties in getting wheelchairs – they were told that they couldn’t get assistance until they got into the terminal building. That really sucks 
Whilst I’m on a rant, I got so annoyed with various rickshaw drivers and nosey locals earlier today who just keep on pestering tourists and trying to take them to places they don’t want to go. What frustrates me most is when they ask “Where are you going?” – in the past I’ve ignored them, but today I couldn’t help yelling MYOB to several of them 
These folk really are a total nuisance and are spoiling the city’s aspiration to be a tourist-friendly destination.
Well, the flight’s about to take off so I’d better end here for now. We expect to land at around 7am UK time – then it’s back to work! I’ve got a few more photos to share from today – will post those a bit later 
February 28th, 2006 at 5:32 pm
I am not one bit surprised at your story Neil, I just got used to it all while I was back there, try booking a rail ticket on the rail stations there yourself, you’ll be in for worse treatment! The problem with that airport as the locals too have concluded is that it needs to be privatised, fast. The airport is falling apart and there is no concept of customer service whatsoever. The staff are all employed by the state and since their jobs are automatically secure they are lazy and slow to put it bluntly. The decision to privatise the airports was met with resistance and these same lazy staff went on strike for a week, thankfully they will all be sacked when privatisation hits and a concept of customer service will hopefully be born. Yeah, the Chalo Dilli thing is a bit optimistic, I think they even want to bid for the Olympics 2016, plenty to be sorted first before such a bid is made.