Originally Posted by
iahphx
after arriving at JFK at 11:00 p.m., they made us wait on the plane until midnight until they could get us a gate. Not sure how this could happen at that late hour, but it did.
Originally Posted by
iahphx
I suspect what happened is that KLM uses the DL terminal, and DL does have a domestic schedule out of JFK, so perhaps some aircraft are parked for the night once you get past 11 pm.
JFK T4 is not controlled by DL, it's operated by JFKIAT. And do you know who owns JFKIAT and operates JFK T4 .... ? Take a guess. It's Schiphol airport !
(No, this is not a joke.)
I guess you were on KL645 Saturday.
Looking at the KJFK ramp data, your a/c landed at 23:05 and was asked to wait at the intersections of taxiway Y, runway 31L and taxiway JB for 33 minutes, before taxiing to the gate, where it arrived at 23:59.
The reason for the wait is because your assigned gate was occupied by a delayed a/c, N172DZ (of Delta Airlines), who was 3 hours late on it's way to DUB. That's because the a/c had a tech delay at ATL on it's previous leg, delaying the ops that night at JFK.
Even if I believe more than 30 gates can accommodate 777s at T4 (by parking category levels), between 9pm and midnight, T4 handles more than 20 widebodies, staff and gate equipment (tow truck) is limited to how much is planned.
Sorry you had this inconvenience but happy to see you enjoyed your KLM flight !