I can certainly see why Berlin needs a new airport. Had the misfortune to fly out of SXF this morning, and what a miserable experience it was. Of course being German it was clean and efficient but I can say nothing else in its favour. It was a potent reminder of why I travel by train whenever feasible.
The train from Alexanderplatz does a circuitous route to the airport, but only two intermediate stops and about 20 minutes. Then there is quite a long walk from the station to the terminal building. The terminal appears grossly over-capacity, at least at 0830, with huge but fast-moving queues, that German efficiency noch ein mal, and then once airside, throngs of people blocking the passageways, people sleeping and lying all over the place, and only one decent place to have a coffee or breakfast (Marché), which was packed and with a long queue snaking out of it and blocking access to the boarding gates, the other options being a very grubby looking Burger King or a massively over-crowded Irish Pub full of beer swillers early in the morning, nein danke!
The terminal was, I suppose, designed by the communist regime to serve Interflug and the Komrades heading off on their holidays to the resorts of Bulgaria and Romania in the days of the Iron Curtain.
But Berlin is a fantastic city, so much to see and do, excellent food, and friendly and helpful einwohner.
Last edited by Capetonian; 17th Feb 2014 at 18:28.