Have you ever struggled through a chaotic airport security queue, all hot, bothered and stressed 🥵😡 only to find out most the shops and restaurants in departures are awful?
In Departures is a crowdsourced website designed to provide essential airport departure information. It offers ratings for digital nomads, by digital nomads, with a strong emphasis on accessibility.
Let's make our airport departures a breeze.
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Hi guys,
After struggling through a packed airport security, rushing to the gate and finding out that there's no restaurants, toilets or facilities before a long flight, I thought it was time to crowd source information on what's available at airports around the world.
I'm bootstrapping In Departures so that we can have a far better airport experience. The project is ever evolving/improving and we are adding airport data as we go (if you want a particular airport featured just let me know in the comments).
It's early days, so feedback and suggestions are welcome. :)
Thanks!
Hi Paul, thanks for sharing your project with the Travel Massive community, it looks great!
Early morning or late night departures can also add some uncertainty to opening hours - I’ve also found this on arrival on the other side.
Can you explain a bit more about your accessibility ratings? How are they determined and what are your criteria?
Hi Ian!
Thanks for commenting.
Early morning and late night departures definitely change opening hours. Very good point and something I need to keep an eye on. I'm also considering if there's a better way for me to handle amenities... I'm planning to have the option for users to flag outdated info and edits etc.
I'm attempting to gather general information but also rely mostly on crowd sourced data and information.
For accessibility:
It's basically the collective wisdom of travellers, so we have categories for a whole host of accessibility categories where users can rating and leave tips. Each category has criteria for rating too:
Boarding Help - Rate the assistance provided during the boarding process. Share your experience with boarding staff and any special accommodations offered to passengers during boarding.
Check-in Desks - Evaluate the accessibility and convenience of the airport's check-in desks. Share your observations about any assistance provided to passengers during the check-in process.
Easy Navigation - Rate the clarity of signage and wayfinding features within the airport. Share your experience with navigating through the airport easily and finding key areas without confusion.
Family Facilities - Evaluate the accessibility and availability of information desks or assistance points. Share your experience with obtaining information and assistance from airport staff.
And the other categories:
Food/Retail Access
Hearing Services
Help Points
Information Desks
Mobility Assistance
Parking Accessibility
Quiet Zones
Restroom Access
Seating Availability
Security Screening
Service Animals
Transport Access
Visual Services
Wheelchair Access
Obviously there are challenges with crowd sourced information in terms of reliability etc but hopefully I can gather useful tips and ratings that give users a good guide to an airport experience.
It's very early days so far with a group of early testers and the website is evolving with feedback and suggestions so I'm shaping it and adding features as it develops. :)
Thanks!
Thanks Paul! Definitely need a field for accessible restrooms... unisex or male/female, and locations, especially of restrooms with adult change table/hoist (Changing Places). These facilities are game changers for people who need them!
Hi Yasmine!
Thanks for commenting.
Yeh I think it's really important information.
The website is a bootstrapped/side project by myself and is open to feedback so I'm still tweaking categories etc as and when I get suggestions.
For each of the categories users can add tips, so it's up to the members/community to offer up tips/experiences from their airport visit... for example certain locations of restrooms etc.
You've already mentioned some great categories I can look at adding for accessibility. Thank you!
So far, I haven't developed this area too much so it'll improve as we go I think. :)
Also, if you think of anymore... I'm happy to add them etc.
I second Yasmine's idea. Most times I cannot use the toilet on the plane, so having an accessible toilet near my gate is very useful.
Thanks Josh! I'm going to look at adding accessible toilets as a category this week.
Hopefully as we grow, we'll get good information/tips from other travellers added to the website for these accessibility categories.
Great, I've added accessible toilets to the website. You can now rate them overall and also add them to a map for the terminal too.
🙌 🙌
Amazing! Thank you for that quick implementation!
Great info which is needed for frequent travelers. Knowing this info will make travel a little bit better and a little bit easier. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Rick!
The site will be evolving and improving all the time. So are where getting some super useful tips from other people airport experiences.
Hi Paul - great idea! In the intro you say "It offers ratings for digital nomads, by digital nomads" – is there a specific reason you are targeting that market? Is "digital nomad rating" only a part of the platform or is it the main messaging you're going after? I couldn't figure it out.
Seems like the platform is useful for any frequent travelers and there's probably more of them that are not digital nomads. Excluding all other groups might backfire unless the platform offers something specific only for digital nomads?🙄
Hey!
Thanks for the comment.
Yes, I probably should have taken that bit out. It was from some old copy where I was promoting to digital nomads specifically. :)
The site is open all of course.
Thanks,
Paul
If you want an invite to test out the site properly, just add your email to the waiting list here and I'll send an invite asap! :)
indepartures.com/#join-us
I could've used this recently in Bangkok. The post-security and pre-security amenities are worlds apart!
Thanks for the comment Triv! Yeh would be super useful for airports like that, especially when we have more tips from users.
Let me know if you want an invite! :)
Hi guys,
Thought I'd post an update as the website has involved massively since I posted here!
We have all kinds of new features including:
- Leaderboards
- Reward Points for contributing
- Monthly giveaways
- Airport FAQs
- Improved profiles
- A whole host of new airports added
If you'd like to give the set a whirl on your travels, let me know and I'll send you an invite.
indepartures.com/#join-us