Dryxanne’s Confessions

Today (16 Nov) I flew to Manila for a business trip. I’ve never been to this country, so I felt a bit worried and anxious. When arrived at the Jakarta airport, I was too early, the check-in counter was not opened yet. I had to wait for 15 minutes, and made acquaintance with a nice elder lady, who said she was from Manila too, and happened to be on the same flight with me from Jakarta to Singapore (because it’s a connecting flight where I was supposed to change to another flight in Singapore). But, on the connecting flight, her flight was different than mine, hers was 4 hours later. So we parted in Singapore airport.

Anyway, the topic is not about that.

It’s about, DELAY.
It’s about, GATE CHANGES WITHOUT NOTICEMENT.
It’s about, COURTESY,and PROFESSIONALISM.
It’s about, PRIDE AS AN INDONESIAN.

Let me tell you what event that made me a bit pissed off and ashamed to be an Indonesian.

We, me and the lady, were sitting waiting in front of Gate D2, because the Gate was closed. We waited and waited, until it was 15 minutes to boarding time, as written on the boarding pass. And the Gate was still closed. Impatient, I looked around to see any authorities that probably could explain to us. I saw one coming, and I approached him, asking why the Gate wasn’t opened yet.

You know what was his response?

Calmly, I repeat, Calmly, without any apologize or regret expression, he just said, the Gate for my flight was moved to another Gate, Gate D7.

I was surprised. There was no announcement, no noticement, no nothing. If I hadn’t asked, when would they think the right time to tell the scattered-around passengers that their flight’s Gate was changed to another Gate? My friend, the old lady, she was very surprised, and I had to say, I was ashamed of such manner in a so-called International Airport of my Beloved Country. Maybe it wasn’t the man’s fault, maybe he thought so, but at least, I thought we, Indonesians are known for our hospitality. At least, a word of sorry, even if it’s not your fault that the gate was changed, could relieve us a bit, and you could have explained why that happened, so we wouldn’t be wondering.

More so, when we walked to the Gate D7, the Gate was, again, not yet opened, so we had to wait another almost 10 minutes. Not just that to sit outside the Gate (the Waiting Room) was a bit unconvenient, but it was just annoying, especially with the no noticement prior to that.

A bit of comparison would probably emphasize it.

Let’s compare our International Airport with Singapore’s Int’l Airport, the Changi Airport. I know it sounds very unfair to compare like that, our country is not as rich as Singapore, so there’s no way to provide such luxurious and convenient services to passengers. But I’m not talking about the facilities, although I do feel that our airport facilities is an issue too. I’m talking about the services, the attitude, the professionalism. Where one little example was, I didn’t know what my Gate number would be in Changi airport (it wasn’t written yet when I checked in at Jakarta airport), but I could also listened to the repeated announcement, if reading on the provided screen was too hard for me.

I heard that our Jakarta Airport will be renovated in major scale, and will turn into a similar type of Changi or Kuala Lumpur Int’l Airport. But, deep inside of me, I doubt that the change of physical appearance would do much to change the already bad image of our airport. The issue lies on the attitude of the people who are running the airport, every single person there. I’m not saying that the people there don’t work their best, but majority they don’t seem to be providing services that can be called an International class of services.

I think it’s time we question ourselves, if the renovation will be done, and assume it’s done successfully, how long will it last before it goes back to similar situation like current one? How long will it last, if the attitude of people there remains the same?

For the 1st time this morning, I actually wonder what the foreigners think the moment they step to our Int’l Airport, and I think, some of them that had not very good experiences, would probably think twice to choose landing in Jakarta, if only that wasn’t an unevitably situation where they are forced to transit or whatever. Or if they haven’t had such thoughts, perhaps someday they really will, if the situation don’t change.