If you ever think of using the King Abdul Aziz International Airport to travel domestically or internationally then remember that you have to make your preparations and reservations at least one year in advance. My advice is not directed to VIPs who use the VIP lounge at the airport or to the Civil Aviation president or the general manager of Saudi Arabian Airlines or even the airport’s director.
Advance preparations are necessary. This old airport has lost many of its basic facilities. Only a few worn out counters are left for airport employees to sit behind to either fiddle with their mobile phones or smoke cigarettes. These employees give the least attention to travelers who want to reach their destinations without waiting in long queues. How could they even want to wait since the airport’s lounges contain very few chairs - definitely not enough for all the travelers and people, who use the airport, to sit on?
However, it would be improper for us to deny that some Saudia employees are trying their best to complete their duties efficiently. These employees are doing an extraordinary job in overcoming the airport’s inadequate facilities. The northern and southern terminals are always crowded with passengers and their families, especially during the summer vacations and the Haj seasons. The atmosphere there tends to be rather chaotic and you end up having to shout to talk to anyone standing next to you.
In addition to the mad throngs of people who gather there and the old airport equipment, some procedures are extremely old-fashioned and so worsen the situation even more. For instance, luggage is weighed using the same technology that butchers use to weigh meat. For instance, imagine there is a passenger who has an international flight departing in three hours. He ends up standing in a very long queue at the gate to have his luggage weighed and receive a boarding pass. To make things worse there are only four employees behind the counters to help him and the hundreds of other passengers who are gathered there. What do you expect the service to be like in such a situation?
When the passengers are done with all the normal rigmarole, the next phase is also daunting. Passengers have to ask airport staff or run from one gate to another trying to find their departure gates. The reason why travelers struggle to realize their gates is because monitors at the airport generally don’t work, there generally are no signs on the airport’s gates that give useful information and the boarding pass never contain important information.
The King Abdul Aziz International Airport needs some temporary quick solutions. We honestly don’t know how long it will take to complete the building of the new airport. So would it be possible for the Civil Aviation Authority to do something for the short term to make life just that little easier?
