Passengers Continue
To Suffer Long Lines At
San José Airport
Although the Dirección
de Migración
(immigration service)
has added more officials
and more countersat the
Juan Santamaría (San
José) international
airport, the long lines
continue and the wait
can be up to 2 hours at
times.
Although a total of 36
new immigration
officials are working at
the airport's 18
counters checking in
passengers arriving at
the airport, up from 12
last December 1.
However, the long lines
continue.
The director of
Migración, Mario Zamora,
explains that the
airport should really
have 28 counters instead
of 18 and the problem
lies in the failure to
complete the airport
terminal.
"When the airport was
designed the intention
was to have the new
immigration hall open by
now, however, Alterra
has yet to deliver on
the promise", said
Zamora.
Zamora explained that
between 6:00am and
6:00pm 18 immigration
officials are on duty,
however, the weakness
comes between 11:00am
and 1:30pm when groups
of four officials go on
a hour long lunch break.
And it is precisely
during those hours that
a large number of
flights come in. A check
of today's (Friday)
arrivals schedule
indicates 10 fights
landing between 11:00am
and 1:37pm. A similar
situation is repeated
between 8:15pm and
9:15pm, when 10 flights
as well arrive within
the period of an hour.
The losers are the
passengers that face
long waits to check in
to the country.
Zamora added that adding
more personnel will help
the situation. The
director said that this
paid period 10 more
officials are on the
payroll and 12 more will
be added on May 1, with
the intention of having
a staff of 158 from the
current 136.
The problem hasn't gone
unnoticed by the manager
of the airport, Alterra,
and the president of the
Aviación Civil, Viviana
Martín.
Fernando Lara, Alterra's
corporate affairs
director, said that in
some cases passengers
have not only complained
of the long lines, but
have taken to yelling
and insulting airport
staff.
For her part, Viviana
Martín, said Aviación
can only act as a
coordinator, asking
immigration to add more
personnel to reduce the
lines and has asked
Alterra to add more
customer service to help
passengers expedite the
process. |
|
