Indianapolis airport: The old and new

Among all the airports in this world, I used to hate the Indianapolis airport the most. Wait. I take it back. I used to hate the Indianapolis airport the most among all the airports in this country. Too bad I forgot this world is not only about the United States: How can I not register there is also India? That Indian trip requires a separate post…

The old “Indy” airport is horrendous. Yes, it was a small airport, but had the longest taxi time ever. Normally expect a 15-minute pleasant runway time after the captain happily pronounced “we have landed at the Indianapolis international airport”.

It also had the dirtiest carpet and passenger seats that I had ever seen. Ironically, the seats were in the colors of red, blue and white, and were arranged in the exact order of these we see on any American flags. Unfortunately, I cannot call that white chair white: It looked like grey to me. I also cannot call that blue chair blue. Ignoring all these coffee stains and scratches, it looked like another shade of grey — “blue” grey — to me.

There were no airline lounges either. Hummm, pardon my ignorance. I need to do a bit more research before asking the question how an “international” airport had not a single airline lounge. But again, it depends on how we define “international”, right? Isn’t it very often the scope of that word depends on our ego?

One thing I hated the most in that tiny airport, was that special security machine — not these we see day by day, but the one that blows air on you, which gives you the longest time of pass-through: you have to enter into this cube-like machine, wait for the door to close, the air to blow on you, and then the instruction for you to step out. On top of that, the air smells. I am not a chemistry major, but I was told pure air does not smell. Every time I was asked to step into that machine, the popped air smelled like some sort of metals, and almost made me puke. “It is just air. There is no chemical in it”, the TSA agent insisted. In the end I shook my head and walked away. They should go back school.

One time, around 12:30 PM of a week day, I was rushing for a flight, and was shocked to see the extremely long line snaking all the way out of the security check point at Concourse A. Apparently, their system was down, and the person who can reboot the system was on lunch break and could not be found. So the only security check through machine that was still functional was this air-blowing “granny”, which took forever to screen a passenger. Hence the long line.

One gentleman ahead of me joked that he once waited 40 minutes to go through the security check point here. Much longer than all the major cities he has been through, including the Reagan National. A lady behind me agreed and added that even at airports in New York or DC she had never seen that kind of air-blowing machine at the check points. So a third passenger wondered why the airport administration at the Indy airport worries so much — “Why would a terrorist bother to attack this pathetic place in the first place?” he mocked, “What can they bomb? some race car tracks?”

Now in the mid November opened the new Indianapolis airport. Not a renovation from the old, but a brand new airport. It is modern, trendy, bright, clean and spacious. Finally, some much-needed hardware upgrades.

Well, still no airline lounges, but there is a free WIFI. Still no many trendy restaurants, but at least more Starbucks. And thank god they now have all the seating in black, similar to these seats you would see in the Detroit International Airport.

I like the new airport. Yes, parking is a headache, but at least I have not seen that special air-blowing machine at the check point so far.

Let’s just hope this feeling lasts long enough to conclude my ranting and to cross the old impression from my top ten most “hate” list…