The Airport Waiting Room: A Final Goodbye & Screw You!

maury

I actually am putting together some notes on my whole trip, but did want to post a comment about something that really annoyed me on several levels. It was my last bit of ‘business’ in India.

I had figured my rupees pretty carefully with just enough for my ride to the airport remaining. And of course that meant that I had forgotten about the 30 INR charge for sitting in their waiting room. OK, so I’ll change one US dollar, right? Wrong! The little guy at the gate did not accept dollars. But his friend at the magazine stand would change it for me. Right. Only his rate was exactly 30 INR to my buck! This when the bank rate was around 48 to the US dollar.

So, after a month of dealing with “tourist” prices and attempted rip offs at every opportunity, my last bit of ‘business’ in India turned out to be a final example of their not loosing the smallest chance to scam a tourist. Not a pleasant last memory.

edwardseco

Time will enable you to overcome this tragedy..

zoltan

This problem seems endemic at the airports.

It's a way of "forcing" people to accept lower exchange rates.

I had a situation at Mumbai international where I purchased some products before going through to the waiting area.

The man at the counter, instead of giving me notes in (the change was around Rs.50 gave me coins. As no one at the airport exchanges coins (only notes), I couldn't do an exchange. But knowing that I was going to return to India, I laughed and walked away.

Things like this can rankle (annoy) you, but this is something that you have to laugh off and just forget or, go to areas where tourists don't frequent and, tipping is not a common activity, where people don't differentiate between tourist and local and prices are the same for all.

Cheers
Zoltan

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Aishah

Mod Note: maury - I have moved your thread into Scams and Annoyances Forum.

Very annoying, maury, but if it's any consolation it happened to me at Singapore airport too with an Australian dollars exchange buying a smoothie! And there's not much you can do when your reporting to departure gate is in 5 mins.

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wabat

I dont find this bad at all - try changing $1 in Australia, UK etc etc etc ... you will find there is a min fee of $x to make the exchange .. so 30Rs to the $ is pretty good ..

dhans

Take a deep breath...

Sigh....

Relax...

Lay back...

And think of India.

Hans

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PeakXV

Airports and their clientele are major moneygrubbers - no matter where you go in the world. Suprisingly in India, I've never found it to be quite so bad. Once you learn how to navigate past the obvious 'front men' that is. I bought some sundry items from the chemist at IGI on my last trip - and they were at normal cost ...... fair & rare for an airport retailer to be sure.

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Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

vireya

Which airport charges you to sit in the waiting room? Just want to be prepared...

AwayFromHome

Err, cough, cough - sorry, something got stuck in my throat. So, you were saying that you were given Rs. 30 instead of ....... wait you are from New York City. right?

Bonitag

Hey Maury,

I haven’t been to India yet, we are going this December, but to make you feel a bit better, I live in NYC too, on East 50th Street between 1st and 2nd to be precise; on 1st Ave. between E. 54th and E. 55th there is a "bodega" (for the non-newyorkers, a bodega is a little convenience/corner store), every single time I went in there the shopkeeper/cashier would "by mistake" give me the wrong change, on his favor always, of course! I eventually stop going into his store… The point is that it can happen everywhere, I know it doesn't make you feel any better, but try and think about all the good moments you had in India...

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Cardamom

hahha. I Just found my expense report from a recent business trip. I had a receipt for a bottle of water at JFK pre departure - SEVEN DOLLARS!!!! It was purchased after a few drinks at the bar, but dang. Airports will get you anywhere in the world $$$.

-C

maury

Lots of good times and great memories of India. Unfortunately, many others of being ripped off specifically because I was a foreigner. Like, it really is anoying to watch the guy in front of me being charged one price for a bottle of soda and then being charged double for the same. And their practice of hitting us for admission prices that are 10 times higher than what Indians pay. I know, it's their country and we are all very rich by their standards and.......yeah, right.

OK, so I just have to figure that the next Indian client who comes my way is going to get charged 3 times my regular fee. Maybe 5 times.......... now I feel better!

Bodega owners part of some evil cult. They do awful things in the back of their shops. Things that involve rubber animals, bicycle pumps and bathtubs full of Jello. Best to avoid them.

Hal

I was a bit peeved at having to pay Rs30 for a bottle of water at Delhi Airport. Then I stopped in Frankfurt and it was 4 Euros!

Whichever way you look at it, India is incredibly affordable. I do what I can to avoid getting ripped off, but when I do, it's not for much and I just think of it as part of the price of admission.

dhans

Have the exact change ready, put in on the counter and 9 out of 10 times they don't even bother.

Hans

Bonitag

We visited one of the British Virgin Islands for the weekend this past 4th of July, and the hotel charge us $14 dollar for a small bottle of OFF-mosquito repellent!

About the admission difference between locals and foreigners is not only in India, in Dominican Republic is the same thing, the price for foreigners is much higher and it is always paid in US dollars or Euros. I think it is a way to make some money to keep the "attraction" looking good (maintenance, security, etc...) but at the same time keeping it affordable enough for the locals to visit it too.

By the way, I visited my family in Dom. Rep. last Summer and while there I took my husband to see some of the monuments in the old city, since I didn’t have any "Dominican" documents on me, I too had to pay the foreigners fee, in my OWN country! How about that!?