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| - I think the pictures speak for themselves. This place is a dump. Donald Trump called LaGuardia a "Third World," airport, and he could have easily lumped CLE Hopkins into that description.
The airport's PA announcers play the part too. The one gentleman sounds as if he just hopped off a plane disguised as a head of lettuce from a third world nation. His English is so bad that you wonder who in their right mind would allow him to pick up the microphone--and he's been here for over a decade. They have a woman that's simply annoying..."boarding and deeeeeeeeeeppppppppaaaaaaaaaarrrttuureee," trust me, you'll know who she is when you hear her. This is all mixed together with the "Johnny Von Voice Over," recordings they have patting their own backs and slapping their own booties about how great they've made this airport.
This airport manages to take great concepts and ruin them. The biggest problem is that they're managed by the City of Cleveland, and not an independent group. So all of the problems of the city are seen at the airport ten-fold.
Their parking garages, the ones connected to the terminal, they lack any kind of RFID tag, EZ-Pass, FastPass or any other automated payment system. So, I write the airport website. The assistant manager for parking operations gives the standard form letter reply..."we'll look into it." BS, two years later it's business as usual. There's further layers of bureaucracy when you look at the broken clock on the wall. The airport's response is that their contractor for the "airport's time management system," would replace it. No wonder the place is in disrepair.
They've just recently began ripping out the carpet in C terminal, replacing it with terrazzo flooring. Now this carpet is covering tile that was originally installed a decade ago. The airport posted signs that this was an improvement demanded by customers and that they're listening. Yet, a high level airline official speaking on the condition of anonymity said that the mold growing as a result of water damage to the carpet was the real reason for the replacement.
Case Western Reserve University started an ambitious project to offer free-WiFi at the airport...but most of the time it never works. Passengers routinely complain that they can't connect in some of the most common gate areas, frustrating them and making it worse than if they just offered nothing in the first place.
For decades CLE's B terminal had a fantastic observation deck just above what are now the Southwest Airlines gates. This area offered a wonderful indoor/outdoor observation area of the entire field. By far it was the best in the nation. Yet, after 9/11 the airport and security bureaucrats took their mission too far and closed off this airport gem to the public. Further, airports of similar size continue to operate their observation decks. MSP for example has a wonderful D terminal deck that's still open to the public. The sad part is that CLE could easily plexiglass or fence in the outdoor area similar to the Empire State Building or Top of The Rock, in addition to re-opening the indoor observation area.
Perhaps one of the worst aspects of traveling through CLE is the wild variations in temperature throughout the concourses. They keep it hot all of the time. In winter it's horrible as passengers are traveling carrying coats and jackets. In summer it's horrible because the outside temperature keeps the place boiling. It doesn't help that C terminal has skylights that give a greenhouse atmosphere.
The food offerings at this airport are average at best. There was one local sandwich and coffee shop that airport management drove away. Replacing them with nasty chain food. There's one place in the entire building to get a Coke. Hudson News used to sell an alternative to Aquafina water at $3 a bottle, but all of their employees would try to downsell you to the $2 bottled water--and now they don't even offer the $3 water spring water anymore...they only sell the bottled tap water. Petty, I know, but it's one of many things that add up to grade this place with one "Methinks not," star.
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