One of the airline business’s dumb moves
I was watching a program and happened to agree and feel the same way about this subject...The fact that if domestic flights here were opened up to international carriers the airline business would be better.
It’s just like with any other business. Competition makes the market work.
I have heard that airports internationally are not as nasty and unpleasant as being in a US airport. Which if was opened up to international carriers could change I would think. It would be that “blue ocean” that southwest once provided. We also restrict our flights domestically to in-house folks. This kinda defeats the purpose of free market. Its like being one of the good’ol boys. But it really reminds me of how the rail system is.
But then again as a free market we we dont have competition in things like education (outside of college), mail delivery, or even our money supply (which is by private bank). Anyway that was a ramble, but you get my point.
Posted by Airport News on 01/31 at 02:03 PMChicago Terminal
I returned home yesterday from a five day trip to Chicago. I’d been there before but never spent much time exploring the city. I was impressed.
The city is hot because it has the feel of a very big, metropolitan, exciting city. It has huge buildings, including the Sears Tower, the tallest building in North America, great architecture, a fine rapid transit system, and lots of conveniences. Chicago is very clean and the streets, buildings and people for that matter, were well kept.
The point of this is to compare the rest of the city to O’Hare Airport.
I flew US Airways in and out of Chicago. The flights were on time and the flight attendants were shall I say unique, but I regress…
Anyways, once I got off the plane, I didn’t really pay attention to my surroundings in O’Hare. But I did notice on my way back.
I arrived at the airport early because I was traveling with a friend whose flight left about an hour and a half before mine. That, and my desire to always arrive at the airport, any airport, early, gave me a lot of time to explore. (I like to get to the airport about an hour and a half before my flight so I don’t get stressed out with any lines or other challenges that might come my way.) On this trip, I had about of total of three hours to check things out.
Now, I understand that the United area of Chicago O’Hare is nice. I don’t know about that because I never made it over there. However, the US Airways area which it shares with Northwest, Continental and I guess other airlines needs help. The ticket counter was cluttered and not very clean. Going thru security wasn’t any special or not special; I guess you’d say it was fine.
The main concern I had was the gate area. It was extremely dated and too small for the traffic it receives. It looked as if the terminal hadn’t seen a new coat of paint for decades. It was very dirty and unkempt. There weren’t nearly enough seats in the waiting areas for all the passengers and what seats that were there were old and not arranged in a convenient manner.
The US Airways gate podium was still using the plastic signs (that give the flight number and city name of the flight) that were popular about two decades ago. And, by the way, these signs had to be the original signs from back in the day and didn’t age very well.
I needed to charge my battery of my computer. That was a challenge. I’m one of those guys that doesn’t mind sitting on the floor as long as there’s an outlet. I searched for outlets throughout the Terminals E and F. What outlets there were there were few and far between. Most of these outlets didn’t work. As a matter of fact, they didn’t seem safe. The few that did were being used by other people like me.
The reason I’m writing about this is because the city is great. And this classy Midwestern city deserves an airport that complements the rest of its impressiveness.
Posted by Phoenix Husker on 08/12 at 09:26 PM
So Close (to the gate) Yet So Far
Long day into night is the best way to describe an incident that happened to me a couple of years ago.
I had attended a convention in Las Vegas, Nevada and was returning home along with a lot of other Phoenicians. I was looking forward to take the quick I hour fly and then be home.
I was scheduled to leave on an America West flight around noon. A buddy of mine, Steve, was scheduled to leave on Southwest about an hour later.
When we arrived at the Las Vegas airport both of our flights showed they were on time, even though we had both talked to friends in Phoenix and heard the weather in Phoenix was nasty: rain and wind.
Steve and I said good-bye to each other and went our respective gates.
When I got to my gate, all of the sudden, my flight had been delayed for two hours due to weather in Phoenix. I called Steve by cell phone to see how his flight was doing and he too was delayed.
Time went by and after about two hours, Steve called me from his gate and said he was boarding his Southwest flight. Even though my America West plane was sitting at the Las Vegas gate and was suppose to leave about an hour before Steve’s, I was still waiting to board. Out of curiosity, I asked him to call me when he landed so we could compare arrival times.
While those of us waiting for the �weather� delayed America West flight to leave Las Vegas, Steve called about an hour and a half later after getting off his plane in Phoenix. As us passengers on America West were still being told to stay in the boarding area because we could board at any minute. We were told this same line about every 10 minutes.
Finally, after waiting for about four hours, my America West flight finally left Las Vegas. We landed safely in Phoenix and yes the weather was terrible, at least by Phoenix standards. Once off the runway, the plane was sent to a �waiting area� because there wasn�t a gate available for us. Annoying, but no big deal. I thought, this can�t be to long of wait because America West had 30 plus gates in Phoenix. Boy, was I wrong.
After sitting in Phoenix a few hundred yards from a gate for an hour, I started getting impatient for the following reasons:
� America West had plenty of time to plan for us, we were already hours (!) late arriving.
� America West could have pushed back another plane from a gate pulled up let us out, we were home, and then put the other plane back at the gate.
� Southwest had a flight from Las Vegas come in and land and the people off the plane in Phoenix, why couldn�t America West? So don�t tell me it�s weather related.
So sitting on the tarmac for an hour waiting for a gate doesn�t seem that bad, frustrating but not that bad. Well, it continued. The flight attendants told us we couldn�t get out of our seats because we might move at anytime. Hour after hour went by, not an exaggeration, so I decided to call the media. I called a local talk radio station, Channel 12 TV station and the Arizona Republic and told each my situation.
Finally, after 8 hours from our original arrival time, we pulled up to a gate in Phoenix. At that point we had been sitting on the tarmac in Phoenix for over 3 hours. The delay I can handle, but the waiting on the tarmac for over 3 hours once we landed in Phoenix was totally unacceptable. Remember, during those 3 hours we were told we couldn�t leave our seats and the flight attendants couldn�t serve anything because �we mighty move toward the gate any minute�. That was true, we did move in about 200 minutes! And don�t forget when we were in Las Vegas we were told for hours on in that we couldn�t leave the gate area because we might board at anytime.
Anyways, when I got to baggage claim a reporter for Channel 12 met me and did a story about America West�s screw-ups as the first story of the night. I was glad because this was a Thursday and on right after the TV show ER that was (and still is) one of TV�s most popular shows.
In the morning, I woke up and went out to my driveway to get the Arizona Republic and found myself quoted in a story on the front page.
So my point is that airlines try to blame weather for delays, which I understand. It�s when the airlines don�t plan for situations like mine that happen frequently.
Posted by Phoenix Husker on 04/02 at 01:27 PM