Cork Airport Incompetence
Posted on March 12, 2008, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Ireland.
I meant to write this post a few months back and was finally reminded to yesterday when I was in Cork Airport yet again.
The old airport carparks had the most unreliable equipment on the planet, pure third world garbage. I spent more time stuck in queues trying to get out of there due to malfunctioning barriers than any other airport, including Dublin which I have used more.
So you’d think, when spending €180m on a new airport (and hoping we taxpayers will stump up the money for it), that they’d find a supplier of equipment that, ye know, actually works. Silly me, of course they decided to use the same rubbish as before. Does Cork Airport Authority understand that the phrase “competitive tender” does not mean “cheapest” or “close personal friend”, it means “competitive”?
In the past six months:
- I was locked into the carpark at 1am for 40 minutes. The barrier ate my ticket and the intercom system would not work. Of course if you embed an intercom into a barrier then the intercom will fail along with the barrier. What incompetent morons [a] designed this and [b] purchased it? A Thomas The Tank Engine Walkie Talkie duct-taped to the machine would be a more intelligent engineering approach to system reliability. I ended up running down to the terminal TWICE to ask to be let out and still failed to exit. Only the arrival of the hotel shuttle bus saved me.
- On another occasion, the ticket machine printed my ticket so badly that it could not be machine-read when I returned to pay. Of course the support desk was not manned and multiple calls had to be made before someone turned up and printed me a new one so I could leave.
- I have seen queues of people stuck coming out of the short term car-park due to equipment malfunction.
- One of the ticket machines has been broken for months. In fact, it’s been broken for so long that they have erected a permanent “temporarily out of service” sign! Has the airport not got an SLA in their service contract with the equipment provider? Or is that too complex for them?
A few simple steps:
- Dump the incompetent supplier
- Demote or fire the person who re-ordered this rubbish
- Replace the equipment with something that works. Maybe ring Frankfurt and ask them what they use
- Look up the acronym SLA
If Al-Qaeda wants an easy way into Ireland then Cork Airport is the route to take. There are obviously no CCTV cameras in operation or else these constant problems would be noticed far sooner by staff. If the Airport Authority is interested, I know a guy who could set them up with a reliable mesh of wireless enabled webcams for a few hundred Euro. Not everything has to cost €180m and reliability can be a default.
15 Replies to "Cork Airport Incompetence"
conor on March 12, 2008
The walk in the rain to the machines drives me mad. The proximity of long-term to short-term tho is a real plus (I’m sure they hate that!).
In their defence, the non-use of airbridges is driven by the airlines. They can achieve faster turnaround without them. That’s why RyanAir was trying to take over the old terminal when it appeared the Authority was going to make the airbridges mandatory.
I get the feeling that they have refused to enter into service agreements for anything. Presumably the same type of people run most of the public playgrounds in Ireland too.
Mark on March 12, 2008
Joe Public suffers again.
Interesting, I forgot about Ryanair trying to takeover the old terminal. Although I am not a big fan of travelling them, as I am not keen on being bombarded with all sorts of offers when waiting for the plane to depart, I have to acknowledge their huge positive impact on low cost air travel. They would probably re-invent the “terminal experience” if they were given a chance.
On a seperate topic, as I have benefited from a number of your food reviews (still using the Boots Specialities on Forge Hill), have you tried “italistro” beside the Munster Arms yet?
conor on March 12, 2008
I sometimes find myself criticizing RyanAir when they are not being as hyper-aggressive as they could be. e.g. it’s long proven that a single queue into multiple desks for anything is the most efficient, so why do they split flights by desk?
And the queue at the Ticket Desk in Dublin the other night could have disappeared if they’d put up a hand-written sign saying “the chances of the Cork flight taking off are almost zero, you may want to make alternative arrangements”. Instead we all had to queue and wait to be told that in person.
Italistro is still on my to-do list. Have a few lunches overdue in Bandon so I’ll use it for one of those.
Michele on March 12, 2008
Conor
You do realise that Cork airport is built on about the only patch of land near Cork city that is prone to fog…
Michele
conor on March 12, 2008
What are the bets that the same geniuses are still running the show?
Des on March 12, 2008
The Short-Term bugs me - the signage is not illuminated and the markings on the road surfaces are all but invisible.
There’s no official short route to the hotel end of the Long-Term which is a pain.
What moron decided that the walkway from the short term should have slatted sides so that the wind/rain is only half blocked ?
It’s a pity that the airport authority can’t manage the small things which are on public view and which are in _their_control.
conor on March 12, 2008
I tried walking from Europcar to the terminal yesterday (to get a Starbucks, one of the things they got right!) and ended up meandering through a hotel carpark to get there.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
JD on March 13, 2008
It makes me sigh (sigh!) when the repeated complaints about the running of Cork airport are made again and again. I am in complete agreement. There is a perceived problem with management in the airport and God nor man will change the ‘work practices’ there. We took a charter out to Lanzarote last Sat week. All went to plan, checked in, went through security, spent far too much money in Hughes & Hughes bookshop (I strongly recommend a book called ‘Ruinair’). We were called to board and all went down the stairs to the apron to access the steps to the plane. A luggage tractor went past pulling 4 trolleys laden with luggage (!) and included some cases on the roof of the last trolley. The tractor hit a bump and a case fell off. The trolley continued on. Noone picked up the case, 2 chaps refuelling watched and stared, a ground navigator walked past it. Last I saw it was just laying there. It wasn’t mine needlesstosay. A shocking display of care and attention. I was livid. It was for me a representation of the setup in Cork airport.
Rant over. Great holiday. Recommend the Iberostar Costa Calero in Lanzarote!
conor on March 13, 2008
In my innocence I thought the break-up of Aer Rianta involved getting rid of all the old bozos and putting new organizations in place, each with an unrelenting local commercial focus.
Silly me, it was just an excuse to hire more middle managers.
Oh, a top-tip for Aer Lingus travellers. You don’t have to stand in a queue for 30 minutes. See all those machines over to the right? You can use them too! I really do despair for the intelligence of the human race when I see them sitting there idle. What are people afraid of? If you can use an ATM, you can use those machines. Ah well, it means I always check-in in under 30 seconds when flying Aer Lingus.
Mark on March 13, 2008
Anybody experience the following in Cork………….arrive in on the last (or next to last) flight, wait at baggage reclaim, 5 or 6 show up…….. and then you wait a few minutes for the next 5 or 6 to appear!
conor on March 13, 2008
Can only be one thing.
“I……am…….smoking………a……….fagggggggggg”
JD on March 13, 2008
… We are taking the ferry next trip abroad…
Bernie Goldbach on March 17, 2008
On several occasions, I have driven around the barriers at car parks when the technology failed to work for me. The other thing that works effectively is parking your car under the barrier, locking it, and walking away to have a coffee somewhere. It helps to attach a clamp to your rear wheel when you do this.
conor on March 17, 2008
Given that it was 1am and I had been travelling all day, I started weighing up the pros and cons of driving into the barrier to knock it down. Since no-one came to my rescue, they clearly don’t have CCTV there so I probably would have got away with it.
We’re now trying to figure out how much time we would have before being towed away if we parked at the front door and ran in for a Starbucks.
Mark on March 12, 2008
I agree completely, notwithstanding that they bought and installed rubbish, why are they not being replaced or repaired? Since the airport became operational, there have always been a number of machines out of service, plus they are poorly located i.e. outdoors with limited shelter. Which brings me neatly to why are we still having to walk airside to embark and diembark? Surely if you install jetways (airbridges) you use them? Lost count of the number of times I have arrived in on the last flight having to walk to the new terminal in the wind and rain.