I am not the first one to report or photograph the arrivals screen at Queen Alia Airport. But I could not resist taking these picture. Who said we in Jordan can’t use technology. We use Windows and we have the blue screen of death to prove it.
I’ve written about the Airport and technology before. So I am actually a bit bored of this subject..
But..
I recently heard that a new airport terminal is being planned. A super-duper-high-tech-computerized-we-are-like-dubai thing, as far as I’ve been told.
Why is it that in Jordan, we always promise ourselves and the world that we’ll do state-of-the-art stuff while we cant get the BASICS right.
Here is what the CURRENT airport needs NOW.. Some of that stuff I’ve been noticing for a decade now.
1. A SIMPLE, LARGE SCREEN, nothing fancy, just LEDs, that tells incoming car drivers where the heck arrival flights are landing. In Terminal 1 or Terminal 2. How hard can this be? Come on! Why do we always have to stop the car, hoping we don’t get in trouble with the policeman, have someone run into arrivals, to discover wether the RJ flight from Frankfurt is landing in T2 today.
2. A PROPER RAMP from the sidewalk to the asphalt of the parking lot. Why do we have to ALMOST DROP the bags from the trolley while going down that damn little ramp. I swear that a small supermarket should have a better ramp than that. OK so the sidewalk is is now marble but the stupid ramp is still there. Give me a break!
3. CLEAN BATHROOMS. ALWAYS. The bathrooms have improved. But today I was told by a visitor that one of the bathroom was is in a SHAMEFUL STATE. Instead of having a useless guy stand beside the parking ticket machine to ‘assist’ me in pulling out the ticket, have him stan by the bathroom to clean it all the time. Is that too much to ask for??
4.MORE VISIBLE ATMS. A guest today told me that he could not find an ATM upon arrival. Can we please ask the banks to make their ATMs more visible please!
5. Enforcement of stated none smoking policy. I know that a Jordanian will reach planet Mars via a JASA (Jordan Aeronautics and Space Administration) rocket before anyone in Jordan respects no smoking signs. So please ignore this point. It is here just to make this a 5 point plan. It just sounds better than 4 points..
Terminal 3 can wait for all I care.
Comments
9 responses to “Airport blues: Fatal ‘crashes’ and new terminals”
Yeah, we have witnessed you rpoint so many times, to no avail.
” Itfadal ”
I especially like the expat worker who actually hands you some toilet paper when you exit the toilet
If I were to suggest motos for the official jordanian establishment and all its promises and tanzeers I would say:
ALL GLOW AND NO GO…or how about ALL FLUFF AND NO STUFF…or in Arabic…FASHAL BELAA KHAJAL.
In the absence of democracy there is no pressure on anyone to deliver anything and they just content themselvs with saying nice things just to be adored.
I feel that the problem is that there is a huge gape between Jordan and other more high-tech countries, that even when we try to fallow up , we are shocked to find that those countries has improved even more.
I also feel that another problem is that the Jordanian citizen cant easily adapt with new ideas , and high-tech falsities.
Any how nice post, and if I may take this chance to invite you to my new blog
http://callmesheikh.blogspot.com/
and know what you think about it
Maybe it’s a little OT but I’ve found information about problems with Skype in Jordan.
The link is:
http://isam.bayazidi.net/archives/2006/09/skype-blocked-in-jordan-a-big-step-backward/
Is it true?
the problme in Jordan is that the Jordanians are smarter than the government but have no say and cannot control their country’s destiny. the performance of jordanians in the diaspora is impressive. Think of jordan as a race car with two sets of steering wheels, brakes, and accelrators. On one side, the jordanians steer their country forward full throatle. On the other control you have the government that does not know how to drive hitting the brakes and trying to steer us off the road. this is why jordan is so full of contraditcions. you have pockets of progress and pockets of corruption.
call me naive, but i LOVE the jordanian airport. i have been to airports world-wide, and although the jordanian one is not as technologically advanced, nor as big, nor is the shopping as elaborate, it’s straight to the point. its’ nice and small. you check in. you go up stairs, and you are at your gate.
OR, you land, you walk 30 seconds, you stand at the arrivals, and then you’re out. no distractions, not very tiring considering the carryons i typically carry, not a lot of walking—its perfect.
SO. call it corruption, slow government, whatever, i dont care. In this case, i LOVE IT and i hope it NEVER changes.
“A super-duper-high-tech-computerized-we-are-like-dubai thing” airport for $ 400 million ??
can’t be. Dubai airport cost is exceeding $ 5 billion
I just want to say to all those who posted their comments about Jordan and Jordanian Airport, and some of them talking about democracy and acting like lecturers; Jordan is ahead of many countries in the world in many fields while Jordan own nothing if compared with these countries BUT we have the Human, the citizen, the Jordanian Citizen who build a modern well educated country and nation in less than 50 years with a very limited resources. Every one of you must feel shame because the passport in your pocket, the degree on your wall, and the blood in your body without Jordan you will never dream to get it and now with this passport and the degree (which Jordan gave you); you thought you become that guy who should born in another country and Jordan doesn’t suit you any more. But in Arabic we say IN LAM TASTA7Y FAF3AL MA SHE’T. I have advice: if you don’t like Jordan and the Jordanian Airport try to find another country and another country airport to travel. By the way I am Jordanian living outside Jordan in Dubai for the last 20 years but ever time I visited Jordan I feel very proud about what Jordan reaches and what Jordan will be soon, because I will never forget what Jordan gave me!.
well idont think the airport is that bad ofcourse a new one is good and would really contribute to the imahe of jordan because it the first thing anyone sees wehn arriving to amman but for the new airport thier should be a different managing style not the old one which we have