The last time I flew out of Berlin\u2019s Tegel airport, I said \u201cnever again\u201d, as its squalid facilities would put even the USA to shame. \u00a0 But here I am, 10 years later, with another delayed flight (I blamed the EU's new rules). \u00a0Tegel is now, of course, even more inadequate. \u00a0The signage is appalling and it led us to what resembled a hanger \u2013 but it turned out to be the wrong hanger. \u00a0I expected the USAF to be dropping food parcels any minute (wrong airfield, I know!)<\/p>\n
Tegel has no train or metro connections and so you have to go there by bus. \u00a0The X<\/strong> in the TXL<\/strong> bus from main Berlin railway station (Hbf) does not, it turns out, mean \u2018express\u2019. \u00a0It means \u2018cross town stopping shopping service\u2019 where buggies and babies jostle for a stop or two amidst cabin baggage and hold luggage. \u00a0It\u2019s a nightmare (as is the signage at the Hbf). \u00a0I imagine Mrs M is ashamed of the whole thing, although I doubt she ever uses it.<\/p>\n We eventually got back to the well-organised, spacious, efficient, light and airy Heathrow Terminal 2. \u00a0What Germans think of this when they arrive is unrecorded.<\/p>\n Tegel is as much a joke airport as is Berlin\u2019s much delayed and ridiculed replacement: the Willy Brandt Airport. \u00a0This gives the lie to Germany\u2019s engineering and organisational super-prowess. \u00a0After 15 years of planning, construction began in 2006. \u00a0Due to be finished in 2013, and recently 'completed', WBA is still not in use and won't be until fundamental safety features are sorted out.<\/p>\n