h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: 10 principles of airport design and operation - A1009586
Author: sprout - underguide anyone? - U192568

I wrote most of this at Brussels airport at 6:30 in the morning, while waiting for my plane to be called. I hope it's not too bitter.

There's more that could be said in fact - the 'entertainment' facilities in Peruvian regional airports (serenaded by a full volume pan pipes band while you're waiting for your bags) or the magical dissapearing staff in the event of lost luggage or overbooking on a flight. But this is probably enough bile for the moment...

Sprout

...I should not have read this before flying to Florida...

excellent.

Malaga is another excellent example of best seating practice. Wire mesh seats with thin square plastic pads to sit on and lean against. If you fell asleep on them you'd wake up with a nice waffle pattern engraved on your flesh every eighteen inches. Nairobi arrivals goes one better - no seats! Not when I was there anyway. And Birmingham has an added feature to discourage you from trying to use public transport - you're not allowed to take their trolleys on the sky train to the station.

Malaga's good at check in too. They have plenty of space but you know how you can shake a kaleidoscope to get new patterns? They do that there by driving great floor cleaning/polishing machines through the queues at irregular intervals. At speed.

As you say there is more that could be said (such as the warm welcome form the passport inspectors) but it would probably overdo it. This ought to able to go into the Edited Guide, don't know if it would but it should.

for a good read,
Waz

The Orlando airport has the nicest view from the train I've seen. It takes you over a garden, some water and the train is glass, so you can see everything

I thought I'd share that with you, 'cos I won't be flying for a while

Thanks, Waz, Jodan

I agree there are some well designed airports, but not as many as there should be...

I don't think this could head towards the EG. When (if) the UG gets going, I hope this might qualify.

I'll add your suggestions a bit later Waz.

Sprout

I agree. I don't see why UG entries can't be real, original, gap filling, planned, informative, balanced, etc as long as it somehow "isn't". Actually, if you spiff it up a bit, it could make it to EG

Hi Sprout - just reread this, it's a mining week. I suspect you could add a great deal more now from your own experience! I don't know that you want to make it too much longer though - Malaga's wire mesh seats are just another example of seating where cool design is at the expense of comfort. It might of course be deliberate, to discourage campers .

I think it's UGable

Congratulations! Your piece has been picked from the Alternative Writing Workshop (AWW) by our miners and has been accepted by the editors for inclusion in the H2G2 UnderGuide! It will be featured on H2G2's front page in due course and then be displayed on the shelves of the UnderGuide.

More information on the UnderGuide can be found at A1103329. And to check what happens next go to 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at A1096544. A helpful friendly Gem Polisher will be dropping by your personal space soon to talk to you about the next stage of the process. Eventually, your entry will be included in the UnderGuide Archives at <./>C1233</.>.

Thank you for contributing to the UnderGuide!

Thank you!

At least it's a small contribution to the UG I never did get round to integrating other people's comments - doesn't matter too much I think.

I don't like the title any more either 'how to design an airport' or the 10 commandments of airport design' would be better - what do you think, future polisher?

sprout

Hi sprout,

I've been selected to polish your gem. I copied it and started a new page at A2356085, but the only changes that seemed important were adding an apostrophe to the 747's, and a few inconsistencies like "Here the passenger should be clearing their mind." By changing it to plural passengers and minds, it looks more consistent. "Here the passengers should be clearing their minds."

Do you still want to change the title? I didn't notice a problem with the original title, but "Ten Commandments of Airport Design" sounds nice.

Later,
Deidzoeb

PS - do you still want to update it to include other people's suggestions?

Hi Deidzoeb

Definitely prefer the 10 commandments title. After thinking about it, I really should add other people's suggestions - there are some good ones in there. I don't want to make it much longer but a few choice additions would be good.

I'll make them on the old version and then point them out to you.

sprout

Done now. Should have done it earlier in fact - sorry. I made quite a few changes in the end, so it's probably easier to cut and paste the new old version.

Why an apostrophe on 747s?

sprout

Hi sprout,

I thought that apostrophes were always used with numbers, but now that you mention it, I looked up a few different webpages that disagree on this question. Purdue University seems to feel that apostrophes should not be used with years or numbers, while BGSU says that years are acceptable with or without the apostrophe (although this is a slightly different situation anyhow). More importantly, the "English Usage in the Edited Guide" says no apostrophe when referring to decades.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/SubEditors-Style

So maybe it's British thing? For the Underguide, we usually like to keep to UK standards unless there's some artistic reason to deviate from that, or the author prefers something different. Sorry. I should have looked it up in the Subeditors style page before.

I'll take a look at your new stuff and update everything (especially taking out the apostrophe).

Later,
Deidzoeb

Looks good, sprout. I copied and pasted it to A2356085. Does it need anything else before I turn it over to the UG editors?

Thanks,
Deidzoeb

Looks great - thanks very much for your work on this, Deidzoeb.



sprout

Done! Submitted to the UG eds, not sure when it might pop up on the front page, but it's on its way!