Dalaman fiasco

[Ray1951]

Had an e-mail from friends who returned to the UK yesterday via Dalaman Airport.  They have enjoyed many happy holidays in Calis and this time was no different UNTIL they got to the airport.  They said that the check in procedure was horrendous and left many people terrified that they would miss their flight. My friends said that delays when you arrive are annoying but they can accept that BUT not the fiasco that ensues at check in for going home.  They said that this situation has really put them off and doubt wither they will come back to Turkey through Dalaman Airport.

[Anne]

When we arrived around 9pm last night the airport was empty.  Straight through with not a queue in site.

[Dutchie]

they can accept that BUT not the fiasco that ensues at check in for going home. 

What fiasco? Did they miss their flight?

[Bluwise]

I think the stress of thinking you may miss your flight is enough!  Our arrival was delayed considerably at Dalaman last Saturday but when you have 2 weeks ahead of you it's annoying rather than stressful.  Being held in a huge queue when you can see the time ticking away to your flight, well I may call that a fiasco too as we have to check in with plenty of time and spend most of it queuing - especially at Dalaman with the extra security on arrival.

[buddy]

We flew out of Dalaman to return home end of half term in June, and were advised by our regular Taxi driver Hasan that he needed to take us early as it was gonna be really busy round about the time of our flight, we thought that it was just an excuse as he had a pick up !! but agreed to leave half an hour earlier, thankfully.

We went through check in , passport control no problem just the normal times we did notice that there were four Thomas Cook flights all seemed to be leaving at similar times to various uk destinations but thought nothing about it.

We were flying with Onur air and did think our gate was quiet getting near boarding time, as we were boarding another passenger told us they were way back in a queue at passport control and the Onur air staff had gone down the queue asking if there were any passengers on that flight and brought them to the front of the queue, ( I know it shouldn't have been necessary) we left right on time, quite a good service from Onur we thought.

[Dutchie]

If there is a delay in check-in, you're not going to miss your flight.
They're charter flights after all. They'll hold the plane until everybody has checked in.

If you're stuck in the passport queue, you'll just walk up front and tell them that your flight is about to depart.
Quite often the airline handlers will look for its passengers because it is more hassle and much more time consuming to offload luggage.

Annoying...yes
stress....maybe
fiasco...no
in my opinion at least.

[Scunner]

And no different to Heathrow, Edinburgh, Gatwick at times...

[Bluwise]

Ok, so maybe not a complete failure so fiasco not the correct term. Ridiculous and possibly incompetent springs to mind whether Dalaman or any other airport.  Why, oh why do we have to spend so long In queues? It's hardly a rare occurrence and gets worse at peak periods.  Maybe they should charge more for flights and airport facilities so they can have more check ins, security staff etc.....NOT!!
Dutchie, you must be very chilled if queuing almost to boarding time doesn't stress you.  I would be very stressed 

[Dutchie]

I worked in the airport during five years so it really doesn't stress me.
Especially not in Turkey. They're rather flexible here  

[hillside]

If there is a delay in check-in, you're not going to miss your flight.
They're charter flights after all. They'll hold the plane until everybody has checked in.

Not always there case. There was a consumer program on TV recently whereby a group of passengers stood in the check in queue for an hour and a half, questioned staff, were told no problem and when they got to the check in desk were told 'too late'.  If that can happen in Manchester just think what could happen at Dalaman. We queued 80 minutes for our Easyjet flight home in May and passengers at the back of the queue were getting very worried and irate. Complaints fell on deaf ears. The plane took off on time with all aboard I presume, but it WAS a fiasco.