Airports.....

jujube

jujube

SF VIP
Location
I think I'm in Florida, but I'm not sure any more.
My granddaughter called me last night. She was sitting in the Atlanta Airport, waiting on a delayed flight that might leave in two hours...or maybe not at all. Maybe they were just building the plane and had taken off for a long lunch?

I suggest they just go ahead and rename it "Purgatory International Airport", because when you die, you have to go through Atlanta, and there WILL be a delay.

How long? Well, how many sins do you have to atone for?

How many times have you tried to slip 15 items past the 10-items-or-less cashier? That's good for a 20-minute delay.

White lies? No delay, but you do have to stand in a boarding line in front of an idiot who constantly nudges you in the back of your knees with their carry-on steamer trunk.

Parking in a handicapped spot because you just-had-to-run-in-the-store-for-ONE-minute? Oh, boy, you're going to be in the middle seat between two members of the Berzerkistan Olympic sumo rasslin' team and the plane will sit on the runway for two hours.

Yep, Purgatory.
 

jujube said:
My granddaughter called me last night. She was sitting in the Atlanta Airport, waiting on a delayed flight that might leave in two hours...or maybe not at all. Maybe they were just building the plane and had taken off for a long lunch?

I suggest they just go ahead and rename it "Purgatory International Airport", because when you die, you have to go through Atlanta, and there WILL be a delay.

How long? Well, how many sins do you have to atone for?

How many times have you tried to slip 15 items past the 10-items-or-less cashier? That's good for a 20-minute delay.

White lies? No delay, but you do have to stand in a boarding line in front of an idiot who constantly nudges you in the back of your knees with their carry-on steamer trunk.

Parking in a handicapped spot because you just-had-to-run-in-the-store-for-ONE-minute? Oh, boy, you're going to be in the middle seat between two members of the Berzerkistan Olympic sumo rasslin' team and the plane will sit on the runway for two hours.

Yep, Purgatory.
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This is the new "normal" in air travel.
 

hollydolly said:
It's put so many people off from flying... people like me who usually love to fly... but the horrendous Airport experience is just so difficult now to even contemplate .
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Not enough, our airports are as crowded as ever, and they keep getting bigger.

Kinda like the Yogi Berra quote, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
 
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Pecos said:
In two days we fly from Columbia SC to Seattle, and of course we have to go through Atlanta with our dog. I can’t think of a large airport that I like.
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Believe it or not there are some good airports out there. Now, what do I mean by good airports? I really look at airports that have fewer cancellations and late planes. I also look at airports that are rated by passengers. You can find information just by using Google. Some sites contradict other sites, but being an experienced pilot, I can use my knowledge to sort them out by not only using my experience, but also listening to or having conversations with other flight crews, including flight attendants. Here are a few that I think do a good job on turnarounds. A turnaround is measuring the time from when a plane pulls into the gate until the time the airport and flight crews can get the plane back in the air.

Good Airports:
1. Charlotte
2. Philadelphia
3. Raleigh-Durham
4. Pittsburgh
5. Minneapolis-St. Paul
6. Kansas City (except weekends)
7. San Diego (Except if military are boarding. They are usually slow and have a lot of stuff to stow.)

Worse Airports:
1. BWI (Baltimore)
2. IAD (Washington and my home airport when I worked.)
3. Kennedy (New York)
4. LAX (About half the time.)
5. Denver (Most always.)
6. SFO (San Francisco, most always.)
7. Atlanta (Good Luck)

There other airports that fit into the "You never know what to expect" category.
John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA would be one of those. They also used to have a Noise Abatement rule, We burned a lot of fuel taking off from there because of that rule.
Cleveland. If it's snowing, reschedule if possible.
Buffalo. Same as Cleveland
O'Hare, always iffy.

If you want to leave on time, usually, I think taking the first flight of the day is your best bet. Please keep in mind that if you are sitting on a plane and wondering why your plane isn't being pushed back, it's probably because the pilots have a lot of work in the cockpit to do. Most of it is paperwork even before they can call the controller and let the person know you're ready for pushback. Even then, you may go into a que, if other planes are also waiting to be pushed back.

I did this chart
hollydolly said:
It's put so many people off from flying... people like me who usually love to fly... but the horrendous Airport experience is just so difficult now to even contemplate .
Click to expand...

just for fun, but using your own best judgment is the better advice. For frequent fliers, they can also be of help.
 
hollydolly said:
It's put so many people off from flying... people like me who usually love to fly... but the horrendous Airport experience is just so difficult now to even contemplate .
Click to expand...
The whole airline industry needs updated and starting with the airports would be a good place to begin. A lot of them are outdated and need to be replaced. I know we are talking about billions of dollars, but instead of using that money they charge the passenger for takeoff and landing to buy new airport parking lot buses, they should be starting an account to put the money into a building fund and not a renovation, but a new terminal and concourses. I think Denver's newest airport would be a good model, but even that airport is quickly turning shabby in some areas.

Please don't make this part political, but it is the truth. The government determines how much airports get. The airlines got billions twice I think during COVID. It wasn't a loan. It was free money. Was that money well spent? How would we know. No one reported to us where the money was spent. Telling me it was used for this and that doesn't make it so. Show me your balance sheet. I would first bet anyone two snowcones that one category will show up. "Bonuses." Unless they hide it in the salaries paid account.

To get this job done, we need an experienced traffic secretary, airport managers, designers, the FAA and whoever else they need to sit down and make a draft of how a new airport would look. Until then, we will all continue to suffer.

What do you think?
 
jujube said:
"Purgatory International Airport"
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Last week we made our rounds through several airports, ONT, PHX, DCA, BDL, and back from BDL -> DFW ->ONT.
ONT is OK, pretty small as an international airport, sure beats going to LAX. Didn't like PHX, had a weird 'vibe' and was uncomfortably warm. Plus, TSA was practicing their storm-trooper show, and delayed our departure by 1/2 hour, due to disorganization. DCA was uneventful, has good free WIFI. BDL in Windsor Locks,CT is small like ONT, all the shops close by 11PM though. DFW is a monster like Atlanta(ATL), you have to take a tram which is much like the train in Atlanta, to get from one terminal to another....there is actually no way to physically walk from one area to another, not that you'd want to.
 
My worst airport experience was Krasnoyarsk, a dismal place in Siberia. I was trying to get to Novosibirsk. First had to take a redeye to Moscow, then after a 12 hour layover in Moscow a second redeye to Novosibirsk. However Novosibirsk was fogged in so we got diverted to Krasnoyarsk and stuck there all day.

Flying Aeroflot was no treat to begin with, but that unscheduled layover was awful. The Krasnoyarsk airport was the worst of the old Soviet places, big absolutely packed with people, cold, smelly, dirty and without any amenities. No idea why all those people were there, very few planes were landing or taking off. Everything, announcements included, in Russian, and I speak not a word of it. Everyone except me was smoking non-stop, I could find no place to sit or rest... It was more comfortable outside but I didn't dare leave the airport for fear of the flight taking off without me, no way to get any information about anything.

When the plane finally boarded I did get a laugh. An old soviet style farm tractor pulling a beat up wagon with "Business Class" hand painted on the side transported us to the plane. The Russian passengers had to walk. We did finally get to Novosibirsk, almost 48 hours and 12 time zones after leaving home.

Anybody who thinks our airports are bad needs to do some traveling in Siberia...
 
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jujube said:
My favorite airport is SEATAC (Seattle). Good food, interesting shops. If you get delayed, at least there's something to do.
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Agree with you. I always enjoyed the stop at SEATAC.

YVR has a good reputation. It’s really attractive, especially in the international terminal. It’s been 5 years since I flew through there.
 
oldman said:
Believe it or not there are some good airports out there. Now, what do I mean by good airports? I really look at airports that have fewer cancellations and late planes. I also look at airports that are rated by passengers. You can find information just by using Google. Some sites contradict other sites, but being an experienced pilot, I can use my knowledge to sort them out by not only using my experience, but also listening to or having conversations with other flight crews, including flight attendants. Here are a few that I think do a good job on turnarounds. A turnaround is measuring the time from when a plane pulls into the gate until the time the airport and flight crews can get the plane back in the air.

Good Airports:
1. Charlotte
2. Philadelphia
3. Raleigh-Durham
4. Pittsburgh
5. Minneapolis-St. Paul
6. Kansas City (except weekends)
7. San Diego (Except if military are boarding. They are usually slow and have a lot of stuff to stow.)

Worse Airports:
1. BWI (Baltimore)
2. IAD (Washington and my home airport when I worked.)
3. Kennedy (New York)
4. LAX (About half the time.)
5. Denver (Most always.)
6. SFO (San Francisco, most always.)
7. Atlanta (Good Luck)

There other airports that fit into the "You never know what to expect" category.
John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA would be one of those. They also used to have a Noise Abatement rule, We burned a lot of fuel taking off from there because of that rule.
Cleveland. If it's snowing, reschedule if possible.
Buffalo. Same as Cleveland
O'Hare, always iffy.

If you want to leave on time, usually, I think taking the first flight of the day is your best bet. Please keep in mind that if you are sitting on a plane and wondering why your plane isn't being pushed back, it's probably because the pilots have a lot of work in the cockpit to do. Most of it is paperwork even before they can call the controller and let the person know you're ready for pushback. Even then, you may go into a que, if other planes are also waiting to be pushed back.

I did this chart


just for fun, but using your own best judgment is the better advice. For frequent fliers, they can also be of help.
Click to expand...
very helpful info, @oldman ... putting this in my notes section of my Iphone for reference next trip

PS: One thing I *LOVE* about Savannah airport is it's small and not crowded. Unfortunately, you can't get most places non-stop from there, so it kinda shoots all that loveliness in the foot.
 
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I'm so glad I haven't had to take a flight in decades. I personally boycotted the airlines during most of that time. I've only ever flown out of Newark International and Washington DC.

Jujube, how did your granddaughter make out?
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I'm so glad I haven't had to take a flight in decades. I personally boycotted the airlines during most of that time. I've only ever flown out of Newark International and Washington DC.

Jujube, how did your granddaughter make out?
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Oh, they finally got out, got into Orlando way after midnight, still had to pick up the kids and drive a couple of hours.
 
All the more reason my last trip was a car trip.

Do you know what my next trip will be? Yap! A Car trip.

They say that there is a sucker born every minute but I have lived and I have learned.
 
When I go into an airport, I mentally prepare myself for all the crap I am about to be exposed to. Planning on having to put up with all the crappy stuff that goes on in an airport makes it easier to tolerate.
 
I used to fly to / from Schiphol (Amsterdam) weekly and it was a great airport. I also had 'Royal' status, so I got to use the first class lounge, free food & drinks. Last year we flew there again and although going to Amsterdam was OK, getting back was hell on earth. 4 hours to get through!
We ended running for the gate - only to find the flight was delayed.

My local airport, Aberdeen, is small and comfortable, but few direct international flights.

If you want a fun airport, try the Isle of Barra. It is the only scheduled airport with a beach landing.

Barra.jpeg

Barra_Beach_Airport.jpg
 
Just came through the Seattle airport. OMG the lines! It took over half an hour to get through security and that was with TSA pre check and a global entry card. We had to print our own boarding pass and luggage tags. What a zoo.
 
I do everything I can to avoid flying on planes with propellers. To me, they are noisier than a jet. I wear noise cancelling headphones and watch a movie. I have a pair of Bose that was recommended to me by a pilot friend. I don’t hear the jet engines, but the sound of the movie is clear as day. I did have a pair of Sony, but they didn’t do the job.
 
I enjoy flying in smaller propeller aircraft. I don't like being one of 2 or 3 hundred sheep herded into a large tin can with no outside view.

​

CarolfromTX, my heart bleeds for you. Half an hour to get through security and having to print your own boarding pass. Your lucky that's all you had to do.

​

 

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