Just venting. I really HATE these bus gates...
Dec 4, 2019, 10:43 am
#31
Join Date: May 2013
Location: SEA
Programs: AS MVP Gold 100K
Posts: 2,030
I would agree that it is annoying to have a full A321 arrive into SEA in the evening from JFK or DCA, probably with many tight connections on board, and end up parking at the bus gates. I, too, have wondered if the A321 specifically is restricted in terms of which gates it can use.
Dec 4, 2019, 10:47 am
#32
Join Date: Dec 2011
Programs: Alaska / Hilton / Amtrak / Avis
Posts: 26
Apart from the tight connections, the uncomfortable terminal seats, the non-working outlets, the rain and wet floors/pax/bags, and the gate agent screaming that more people should be able to get on the bus despite the multiple strollers and screaming children, I guess it’s ok.
Dec 4, 2019, 1:01 pm
#33
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: Alaska Airlines
Posts: 659
I'm reminded of my post in the thread where we were talking about the opening of the new gates. I'll quote it here because I'm a bit proud of the storytelling and feel like sums up the vast majority of my bus gate experiences:
I love in the video that they try to sell the bus gate experience as something fun & unique 
Now, to be fair, it is sort of a neat experience the first time if you're into planes & airports.
It's less of a wondrous experience when you've done it a dozen times before and its 11:50PM after a long haul flight in February and it's sleeting on you as you scramble to the bus. Then you're crammed in like sardines on a bus that, while seemingly full, won't depart from the plane for another 15 minutes. Leaving the seats for the elderly, you stand contorted & bending trying to keep a hand on a rail and you wish you could see out to the views on the tarmac but all you can see if the person in front of you who, for some odd reason, is facing the wrong way and staring into your soul about 6 inches away from your face. Even if you could see past them, it's too dark outside and the windows are covered in the condensation of dozens people who were previously cold & wet but are now all uncomfortably warm. As the bus finally pulls away from the plane you realize that being one of the first off the plane means you'll be one of the last off the bus and stuck behind a crowd of people wandering aimlessly as if they were in no rush to go anywhere in particular.
N gates & the tram don't sound so bad now, do they?
Now, to be fair, it is sort of a neat experience the first time if you're into planes & airports.
It's less of a wondrous experience when you've done it a dozen times before and its 11:50PM after a long haul flight in February and it's sleeting on you as you scramble to the bus. Then you're crammed in like sardines on a bus that, while seemingly full, won't depart from the plane for another 15 minutes. Leaving the seats for the elderly, you stand contorted & bending trying to keep a hand on a rail and you wish you could see out to the views on the tarmac but all you can see if the person in front of you who, for some odd reason, is facing the wrong way and staring into your soul about 6 inches away from your face. Even if you could see past them, it's too dark outside and the windows are covered in the condensation of dozens people who were previously cold & wet but are now all uncomfortably warm. As the bus finally pulls away from the plane you realize that being one of the first off the plane means you'll be one of the last off the bus and stuck behind a crowd of people wandering aimlessly as if they were in no rush to go anywhere in particular.
N gates & the tram don't sound so bad now, do they?
Dec 4, 2019, 3:36 pm
#34
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Seattle WA, USA
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Marriott LT Plat, AS Lounge
Posts: 3,478
Ive departed and deplaned in the D bus gates. The first time I deplaned I wasn't thinking and just went with the flow of people UP the escalator and had to walk down the D concourse to the exit at C. I could not believe that after all the flights in and out of SEA I got "lost" when trying to exit. Last time I remembered to head DOWN and over to the escalators by the N gates baggage claim.
Dec 5, 2019, 1:23 am
#35
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: AA ex-EXP LT PLT, AS 75K, B6 Mosaic, HH D, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 128
SEA is not alone in the bussing to/from gates. At SFO, two are by the International Terminal A. This week with the rains, it's not pretty to be walking up/down the ramp to/from the plane. Completely uncovered from plane door to bus door. Fortunately I was watching from a dry location.
Dec 5, 2019, 7:55 am
#36
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SEA is not alone in the bussing to/from gates. At SFO, two are by the International Terminal A. This week with the rains, it's not pretty to be walking up/down the ramp to/from the plane. Completely uncovered from plane door to bus door. Fortunately I was watching from a dry location.
Dec 5, 2019, 8:58 am
#37
Join Date: May 2013
Location: SEA
Programs: AS MVP Gold 100K
Posts: 2,030
I feel your pain. I used to be based in YKM so every trip was a walk through the weather to the plane, and then sit in the cold plane for 30 min with the door open in freezing weather.
Dec 6, 2019, 11:16 am
#39
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: SEA, MKE, PSP
Programs: AS MVP75K
Posts: 396
My friend did a mileage run to reach MVPG this year. SEA-SAN-SEA. He had a 2 hour layover in SAN, so he checked a bag just hoping for the 20min bag guarantee. Well in SAN his bagged arrived at 15mins, so no luck. On the return, he arrived at D20, I thought OK this is a guaranteed certificate. I offered to pick him up at the airport. I parked in the structure, waited by baggage carousel 13. We sinked our stopwatches, knowing he would get there after 20mins. He deplaned got on the first bus back to terminal. came directly to carousel 13. Took him about 25 mins to do all that. He saw me standing at carousel 13 with his bag. His bag came out at 18mins. He was miffed and so was I. How does the bag get there so fast!?!? maybe my stopwatch was off. we checked our stopwatches both where within 10sec of each other.
Dec 6, 2019, 12:09 pm
#40
Join Date: May 2003
Location: SFO, mostly
Posts: 2,204
Unrelated, but I was surprised the last two times arriving at ORD that my bag beat me to the belt both times. The last time the belt had even stopped running by the time I got there and all the bags were just sitting there (was a 12:30 am arrival).
Dec 7, 2019, 9:03 am
#42
Join Date: May 2005
Location: SEA
Programs: AS; Hyatt Globalist; Hilton Gold; NEXUS
Posts: 977
I have used bus gates in a number of int'l airports - MUC comes to mind as an airport where I almost always get a bus gate as an arriving passenger. They typically have the system down there and folks expect to have to deal with it as part of flying.
Americans don't expect to deal with it and so you have a bunch of gate agents and passengers who are either clueless or upset about the fact that they have to take a bus. I'll throw another thing out there - IME routes that involve SEA have some of the slowest loading and unloading of passengers onto and off of the aircraft. This issue gets worse when you have to also load/unload a bus. PNWers tend to take their time as opposed to say, New Yorkers...
Americans don't expect to deal with it and so you have a bunch of gate agents and passengers who are either clueless or upset about the fact that they have to take a bus. I'll throw another thing out there - IME routes that involve SEA have some of the slowest loading and unloading of passengers onto and off of the aircraft. This issue gets worse when you have to also load/unload a bus. PNWers tend to take their time as opposed to say, New Yorkers...
Dec 7, 2019, 3:28 pm
#43
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Actually, I would probably have still tried for the BSG, and when the agent said "no, your bag made it before 20 minutes," my response would have been, "yes, well, you failed to deliver me to the terminal in time to be able to tell that, so from my perspective, my bag was available to me 25 minutes after arrival."
Dec 8, 2019, 8:28 am
#44
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Portland, OR
Programs: Alaska Gold 100k
Posts: 959
One time on a very delayed flight where we landed at SEA about midnight d parked on the hard stand there were easily 25 aircraft parked double deep in the cargo and other close by areas. The big issue is for those of us who don’t live in the Puget Sound area and have to catch a connection... and when you are one of the last flights in after say 10:30pm. I’ve missed the 11:15 PDX flight and had to stay in a hotel a few times now. Now when inflight I see the arrival gate is the dreaded D20 And the flight is running late I can pretty much count on not making the connection. Personally for some of the bigger local markets like Spokane and Portland, I think they should have one later Q400 flight for the missed connection folks. It has to cost them less than reimbursing me for a hotel which so far I am batting 100 on getting.
Dec 16, 2019, 8:51 am
#45
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Good news, bad news. Scored a rare MVPG upgrade out of SEA.
The bad: D22. The dreaded bus gate. Still sucks but disembarking from the 1st bus was smooth.
For some reason the 2nd bus hasn’t arrived yet and I’ve been seated for about 10 minutes.
Weird. The captain I think was asking an FA about the lack of pax and I think I heard her tell him that they are waiting for one particular pax.
No PDB.
The bad: D22. The dreaded bus gate. Still sucks but disembarking from the 1st bus was smooth.
For some reason the 2nd bus hasn’t arrived yet and I’ve been seated for about 10 minutes.
Weird. The captain I think was asking an FA about the lack of pax and I think I heard her tell him that they are waiting for one particular pax.
No PDB.