DIARY: Ruminations, Occasional thoughts & happenings - as they arise
Christmas at Belfast International Airport - Letter to the Managing Director, 20 December 2004
Monday, 20 December 2004
Mr Albert Harrison,
Managing Director,
Belfast international Airport,
Belfast
BT29 4AB
Sir,
On the evening of Saturday 18 December I travelled to the Belfast
International Airport to meet my son, returning from university in Scotland.
His flight was delayed so I consoled myself with the thought
that I could meet with him in the comfort of the lounge bar that I knew existed
in the departures area, which I had used on many occasions while waiting for a
flight to be announced, usually enjoying a coffee and a cognac.
The lounge bar had disappeared.
"Oh that’s closed!" said one of the information
ladies, when I eventually found their discreetly hidden kiosk. "It’s
being replaced by a beauty salon!"
"You’re Joking!" I exclaimed. "A Beauty
salon – where one waits for flights to be called! That will really
refresh many’s the tired traveller!"
A vision of males with briefcases and mudpack faces popped into my head.
"So where can one get a drink now?" I asked.
"Away up there, in the corner," said one of the
girls, pointing. "It’s designed as an Ulster Pub."
And sure enough, when I walked a hundred yards or so to a
remote corner of the departure area I found the "The Aldergrove"
- as genuine an Ulster pub as you might find in America or Australia.
I entered the pub and ordered a Hennessy Cognac and a coffee
- noticing the complete absence of comfortable seating that had existed in the
old, well placed lounge bar.
"Sorry," said the barman, pouring a cognac.
"We don’t sell coffee – just alcohol."
"So where do I get a coffee?" I asked.
"Over there," he said, pointing in the general
direction of as genuine a Burger King as you will find anywhere in Ulster – or
perhaps it was the to self-service restaurant with its spindly plastic seats he
pointed to – closed I noticed.
"So, how do I handle this?" I asked. "Do I
bring my brandy over to Burger King, or do I go over to Burger King and get a
coffee and bring it back here?" It was only a short walk.
This evoked only a stunned, confused silence, so I took my
cognac beyond the row of non-smoking tables and rolled myself a cigarette.
"You can’t smoke here!" said a stern faced young
Ulster woman as she passed by, unmoved by the fact that I was sitting near the
permitted smoking area of the closed restaurant. She was the first Airport Guide
I had stumbled across – or rather, who had stumbled across me - since I
visited the barren Arrivals Area on the floor below - where for some time I had
searched for arrivals information before discovering two small blue screens
planted in a back wall. No human being was available to explain.
The Tourist Welcome desk in this dreary waiting area was
deserted – well, what else would you expect in Belfast International Airport
on a Saturday night just before Christmas?
Was a genuine, fake, coffee free Ulster Pub not sufficient?
Did I expect groups of carollers or a small ensemble
orchestra - a Quartet perhaps - or a live local band, with fiddlers and guitars
to welcome returning Ulster folk and their international visitor friends?
What did I expect in this Christmas season? The sound
of the Friendship or Salvation Army Bands lifting the spirits of returning
émigrés?
Come to think of it – did I really expect holly
& ivy and colourful Christmas decoration with twinkling lights? Come off it
Mick!
But at least there was a large colour television set
suspended over a row or two of plastic chairs anchored to the ground, and on
this screen an image had arisen, telling me to "Think BIG! Think
Wales!" - a soundless advert repeated ad nauseum.
No invocation to think big about Ulster!
I did, however discover a coffee bar where I could buy a
coffee and a Danish pastry - two varieties available – for a mere £2.45! What
a find! Though on the cusp of refreshment I had to refuse the coffee because it
was offered in a cardboard cup. A passenger, who suggested to the young man
behind the counter that it could be served in a cup, as if it was a cup of
Ulster tea, saved the failure of this sale.
Waiting for my son’s Christmas return was a spiritless,
grey experience.
You, dear Sir, and your management team, badly need the help
of an architectural and environmental design specialist to humanise the place.
Belfast International Airport, as it exists? Pathetic!
Yours sincerely,
Michael O’Shea
Copies: to media, government, business and tourist agencies
NOTE: I do hope for the sake of Northern
Ireland the MD of Belfast International Airport takes note of the content of
this letter and acts upon it. At present the image of the Province presented by
BIA is quite simply woeful!
Versions of this letter appeared in the Irish News and I was also able to
reinforce the point in a call to our local Radio Ulster 'Talkback' programme.