Check-in was relatively pain-free - in fact I arrived almost exactly 3 hours before the flight, so I was one of the first to check in. At Brisbane, there are 10 'rows' of check-in desks, and there was basically no-one anywhere. At least until I got into the check-in queue, at which point two MASSIVE groups of schoolkids (one of which was a group of Australian baseball players) queued up behind me. At least I didn't have to wait for them.
Once I gave check-in my e-ticket, they printed me out a Qantas boarding pass for both sectors. An Air France boarding pass for Honkers to Paris would have been better. They asked me if I wanted a window or aisle seat. I opted for a window seat, knowing that I would only have to climb over one person if I had to leave my seat.
After check-in, I went to the upstairs seating, which gave me a first-hand look at Brisbane's 'transformations'. Good thing the 'holding pens' had a view of the apron, otherwise you wouldn't be very happy:
Would you like a view of the construction site with that coffee sir?
And there were about a dozen TV screens that were just plain broken. Hope they fix those up before the grand unveiling:
Summing up Brisbane Airport perfectly and succinctly.
At screening, there was an American lady who was doing her best to keep the stereotype alive. She had a hardcase bag with "save the sharks" stickers plastered all over it, and had samples and camera lenses and the like all carefully packed into said bag. Security staff zero in on the bag and start to take residue samples. At this point the nice American lady launched into a spiel about "this is the only airport in the WORLD where I've had a problem like this. I hate this airport, can I speak to a supervisor please? I'd like to file a complaint". GROW UP! The security people are doing their job.
What made me laugh the most was her manner. When the security people removed the camera lens, it was all "that lens is extremely valuable and it's worth a lot of money, you'd better not scratch it, I can't have it scratched." Let me translate that into nice-people speak: "Could you please just make sure you take good care of that camera lens? Thank you, I appreciate it".
Sitting in the holding pen at Gate 83, waiting for departure, I have lost count of the number of people that have walked past with every one of their personal possessions in their carry-on luggage. Seriously people, one roller bag plus one suitcase-sized hiking backpack plus one laptop bag plus one camera bag plus one handbag is overkill.
Unfortunately I missed the Emirates A380's departure to Auckland, but there were still a couple of exotic birds left. The Qantas LA flight still hadn't left, so there was a 747, and an Airbus A320 belonging to Solomon Airlines. Rounding out the apron were EVA Air, Etihad, Air Niugini and Virgin's 777 to LA.
Some birds on the apron in Brisbane
Off to board QF97 to Honkers - detailed trip report upcoming...
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