Re: [81attendees] The perennial air connection/ hub airport discussion (was: Re: are we getting complacent? Good job!)

[John C Klensin <[e-mail]>]

--On Sunday, August 07, 2011 15:29 -0700 Randall Gellens
<[e-mail]> wrote:

>>  I'd much rather do a change from plane to train at Brussels
>>  that a  transit between terminals at ORD.
> 
> In my experience, the problem wasn't changing from plane to
> train at BRU (which was, in my opinion, about the same as
> changing terminals at ORD).  The problem was that to get from
> BRU to Maastricht required two subsequent trains changes,
> without benefit of escalators or elevators.

And, since people are comparing Maastricht to Hiroshima, therein
lies the difference.   In the latter case, people who looked at
advice on the relevant mailing lists and the web site were told
to fly to Kansai.  Those who did had relatively convenient train
connections (even though some of us had a time-consuming
"experience" in the airport train station when following those
same directions).  Those who did not often got to experience
Narita in all of its convenient glory, including the opportunity
for overnight stays.  Maastricht was a little different.  The
advice was to fly to BRU because it was closer and because there
were direct trains from BRU to Maastricht.  Available train
schedules also showed direct trains.   There actually were no
such trains, at least at the time of our meetings, there were
multiple train changes and, at least in my case, there was
little information on the trains and instructions from a train
conductor in what I believe was Flemish... a conductor who
discovered that he spoke English only long enough to berate
folks for not understanding his language.  Avoiding that
situation doesn't require research -- which several of us tried
to do-- it requires omniscience.

    john