Originally Posted by
sbrower
Whenever I see this kind of story (busier with more people) I get curious.
1. There are a fixed number of airplanes flying for the majors. They don't role out "spares" and create extra flights on Xmas or Mother's Day and certainly not on "going home from eclipse" Monday.
2. The flights are normally pretty full. (I won't give an exact number because I don't want to start a debate on the exact number, but I think that "pretty full" matches my experience.) So where are all these extra people going? To sit in the airport and wait for Wednesday flights? In other words, how much busier be on "leaving the eclipse Tuesday afternoon" than any are on most "business people going home on Friday 100% full afternoon"?
So when they say "normal throughput is 250/hr" do they mean that is the maximum speed on busy Friday? Or do they average in the 100/hr at 6am on Saturday with the 900/hr at 4pm on Friday?
My guess. . .
On most days everyone is flying having completed different things at different times. They get to the airport one-two hours early spaced approximately as the flights are spaced.
On totality day, the event ended at a very specific time for everyone. When it was over there was not a lot to watch or a lot to do except get home. Many just headed to the airport. If true, I suspect the later lines were lighter than normal.
So, instead of the 250-400 they would have had, they had 900. I was at BNA watching the people come in for totality in Nashville. I was curious as to the people that would travel in for an eclipse. I noticed they were mostly young, childless, and carrying only a backpack, the type of people that may screen more quickly.
Still +500 is interesting. If they can do it at all, why not always do it?