MCOSWAFlyer

I have not seen a thread on this and since so many of us fly Southwest....

I flew from San Antonio - Dallas - Little Rock today. As we landed at Love, the flight attendant said we were coming into Gate 42 - Weird, I have been to Love dozens of times and no Gate 42. When I exited it was surreal - disserted dark terminal. Like a horror movie. It looked familiar - old Gate 3 or 4 but all the stores were closed and the lights were off. My connecting Gate was 2 and the GA directed me towards baggage claim.

I then realized the new terminal is OPEN. Much nicer than old. Light, airy clean. Very nice. Big food court and several nicer places. I ate at the Mexican Cantina - very good.

As I was walking to the end gate (1-10 to right, 11-20 to left) 1 farthest, I started to get annoyed, because I did not see any bigger seats with the plugs (you all know what I mean). I sat in the "regular" chair - ALL the chairs have outlets - Comfort, OK better than most but not as good as the "bigger" seats. Still no free WiFi, Boingo give 30 minutes.

While, waiting, I got to see a beautiful White and Blue 747 - Air Force One. Makes you proud to be an American. (even if it did delay flights). FYI, I did not think a 747 could land at Love. Boeing says 9,200 min length Love is 8,800.

If you have questions, will try to answer.

longhorn11

Definitely makes you think the first time you see it, I think they did a good job with the food options. I still remember Love under the old vendor contracts which absolutely sucked.

Love can definitely handle 747s and other larger aircraft, many people forget Love was Dallas' main airport before DFW. I was reminded the President was in town today while I sat in traffic for his motorcade. Good times...

alggag

I've only been to DAL once or twice in the past 8 or so years (despite being just down I-45 from it) but I seem to recall that there was often a shortage of seats in the terminal. I'd be willing to trade off the big seats for more general seating, especially with the emphasis on power outlets.

KelseyR

It opened last Tuesday, the 16th. We actually flew DAL-SAT on the last flight from the "old" gates on the 15th. Kinda bittersweet. Construction workers were removing signage to move to the new terminal.

For Whataburger fans, theres one in the new terminal. Have heard the Chinese restaurant is very good. Haven't gotten to fly through myself yet, but friends said it's a little bit if a trek from drop-off to the furthest gates, even more than before.

ryerflyer

I was there yesterday, too. My overall impression is, yes it's newer and brighter, but doesn't set any new benchmarks in airport facilities. Lots of fast food choices to keep the grease-lovers happy. The new Cool Rivers is a nice spot to get a drink and watch the planes. But the restrooms, which were always an issue in the old terminal, have maybe one more stall - not much of an improvement (can't speak for the ladies room) so a major fail there. And yes, the big, oversize chairs are a thing of the past. It's overall pretty generic, "new terminal". Better than the old one, but kinda of like SW in general, nothing First Class about it.

As for 747's. Braniff, American and Delta flew them in to DAL all the time in the early 70's until DFW opened. 9,200ft is not typical minimum length for takeoff or landing even a gross weight 747. Typical is 6-8k depending on conditions. Hot, Heavy and High might by over 9, but that wasn't the case yesterday.

I_Can_Fly_US_Airways

I remember flying into DAL in 1968 on Braniff LONG before there was DFW!!!

OPNLguy

Those "old" gates (renumbered) will be in use for a liitle while. Everything "downstream" of them all will be getting knocked down so that they then can finish the other half of the new gate areas. Once the second phase of the new gate areas is completed, the "old" ones will also come down.

swag

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/texas...ove-field.html

FWAAA

Can't wait to get to the new DAL. Sounds like a great terminal.

The President's 747s are hybrid models designed for high performance (shorter takeoff length) and remember that they don't have 374 passengers plus bags plus cargo. All of which helps lighten the load and counter the heavier weight of its built-in defensive features.

OC_Matt

I flew in to DAL on 4/15 and was looking forward to seeing it on my flight home on 4/17. I ended up with a flight out of gate 46, which was the old gate 6 and one of the few they left open in the old terminal.

ryerflyer

It's not just a "Southwest' terminal -it's the new Love Field terminal...United and Delta will also occupy it when completed.

tccc

One thing hasn't changed at DAL - as of last week, 3 out of the 4 people movers leading from Garage B to the terminal still don't work. You end up walking most of the distance, with luggage. Although you occasionally see them being worked on, it seems that nothing is ever done to fix this once and for all.

Otherwise, the place looks looks good. The Texas Ranger statue is back. Both going and coming back, the biggest crowd was around the Whataburger stand.

- tccc

slickvik

I saw this 3 days after it opened. VERY impressive.

longhorn11

When did they stop working? I usually park in A.

tccc

If you use Garage A, you probably don't use the people movers at all (or at most, just the first one).

One disappointment - Sonny Bryan's is out, and Dickie's BBQ is in. Not bad, but not the same.

- tccc