Which is AA's nastiest gate?
Dec 16, 2017, 10:57 am
#46
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Not sure yet
Programs: Marriott - Lifetime Platinum Premier, AA - CK
Posts: 263
I’d second the nomination of the whole CLT Airport. The whole operation: angry low rent customers...had to dodge a profanity strewn near fistfight on the way to the AC the other day in a completely crammed terminal with the ceiling out presumably for replacement or we could only hope for demolition, surly unhelpful LUS agents, garbage old LUS Airbi, the apparent lack of any business travelers except those whose business involves golf and colored pants (and not the BA Galleries First type of colored pants folks). Then the ends of A and B where there are approximately 4 738/321 gates on each where there is space for about one...barely individual boarding lanes let alone any type of priority lane. Kind of like the circle AA shares with virgin at EWR...yuck...but that is a second-tier outstation and CLT is their primary southern domestic transit hub.
To echo AANTC1981: what a garbage operation. The whole LUS thing (with the notable exception of the stews, who I’ve found to be almost universally better than LAA’s) oozes nasty, cheap, and low-rent.
To echo AANTC1981: what a garbage operation. The whole LUS thing (with the notable exception of the stews, who I’ve found to be almost universally better than LAA’s) oozes nasty, cheap, and low-rent.
Edit to add..... I wouldn't pass as a business traveler, but I can count on one hand how many times I have flown for personal reasons. I just prefer shorts and a t shirt.
Dec 16, 2017, 1:26 pm
#47
Join Date: May 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM; UA 1K; AA 1MM
Posts: 4,518
Dec 16, 2017, 1:44 pm
#48
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: IL
Programs: UA-SIL MR-TIT HYT-GBL IHG-PLT HH-DIA WYN-PLT AMEX-PLT
Posts: 150
Please tell me. How can we identify a business traveler by the color of their clothing?
CLT is a great airport to connect through. The operation almost always runs efficiently; and its less likely to impacted by significant delays than many other AA hubs. It's one of the few airport where I am perfectly happy to take a 35 minute connection. Sure the facilities are a outdated and a bit crowded (they are working on both of those things...), but who cares if I am not spending any time there?
Hardly compares to the 35X hellhole or the national embarrassment that is LGA.
Oh, and this thread had somewhow managed to go 43 posts without a pointless off-topic rant about managment LUS/LAA ...so thanks for that contribution.
CLT is a great airport to connect through. The operation almost always runs efficiently; and its less likely to impacted by significant delays than many other AA hubs. It's one of the few airport where I am perfectly happy to take a 35 minute connection. Sure the facilities are a outdated and a bit crowded (they are working on both of those things...), but who cares if I am not spending any time there?
Hardly compares to the 35X hellhole or the national embarrassment that is LGA.
Oh, and this thread had somewhow managed to go 43 posts without a pointless off-topic rant about managment LUS/LAA ...so thanks for that contribution.
I'm also aware of most folks hatred of bus gates -- I'm in the tiny minority (and I know this and am not trying to evangelize on this point) who actually prefers them ... I love walking on the ramp up to the airplane ... but that is my own preference.
Point taken...looks aren't everything or even most things...but I find that the passenger mix in CLT contributes to my negative experience at that airport relative to other AA hubs. I have a similar reaction to PHX.
Dec 16, 2017, 2:06 pm
#49
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: IL
Programs: UA-SIL MR-TIT HYT-GBL IHG-PLT HH-DIA WYN-PLT AMEX-PLT
Posts: 150
Yep. The only time I have not hated CLT was when I was a DL guy. I now try my best to go in and out of GSO. It seems to work for most of my travel.
Edit to add..... I wouldn't pass as a business traveler, but I can count on one hand how many times I have flown for personal reasons. I just prefer shorts and a t shirt.
Dec 16, 2017, 2:08 pm
#50
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
CLT is a great airport to connect through. The operation almost always runs efficiently; and its less likely to impacted by significant delays than many other AA hubs. It's one of the few airport where I am perfectly happy to take a 35 minute connection. Sure the facilities are a outdated and a bit crowded (they are working on both of those things...), but who cares if I am not spending any time there?
I'll take an on-time ride home over my preferred pant color on other pax any day.
Dec 16, 2017, 3:07 pm
#51
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: AA EXP; 1W Emerald; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold; UA dirt
Posts: 7,816
Another vote for the "X" zone at 35X. What a mess.
Reminds me of the crappy C16 gates when AA Eagle had its operation at RDU back in the early 1990s.
Whomever complained about the "E" gates at MIA fails to recognize that access to the "E" gates means access to that Admirals Club/premium 1W lounge there. That experience more than makes up for the lack of amenities in the E concourse.
Reminds me of the crappy C16 gates when AA Eagle had its operation at RDU back in the early 1990s.
Whomever complained about the "E" gates at MIA fails to recognize that access to the "E" gates means access to that Admirals Club/premium 1W lounge there. That experience more than makes up for the lack of amenities in the E concourse.
Dec 16, 2017, 7:01 pm
#53
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,313
I’d second the nomination of the whole CLT Airport. The whole operation: angry low rent customers...had to dodge a profanity strewn near fistfight on the way to the AC the other day in a completely crammed terminal with the ceiling out presumably for replacement or we could only hope for demolition, surly unhelpful LUS agents, garbage old LUS Airbi, the apparent lack of any business travelers except those whose business involves golf and colored pants (and not the BA Galleries First type of colored pants folks). Then the ends of A and B where there are approximately 4 738/321 gates on each where there is space for about one...barely individual boarding lanes let alone any type of priority lane. Kind of like the circle AA shares with virgin at EWR...yuck...but that is a second-tier outstation and CLT is their primary southern domestic transit hub.
To echo AANTC1981: what a garbage operation. The whole LUS thing (with the notable exception of the stews, who I’ve found to be almost universally better than LAA’s) oozes nasty, cheap, and low-rent.
To echo AANTC1981: what a garbage operation. The whole LUS thing (with the notable exception of the stews, who I’ve found to be almost universally better than LAA’s) oozes nasty, cheap, and low-rent.
Dec 16, 2017, 7:37 pm
#54
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2005
Programs: BA Gold, AA PLT PRO, AGR, Strawberry (Nordic Choice), Marriott Bonvoy
Posts: 4,248
I'd say the nastiest was the pair of AA gates in the former US Airways terminal at LGA. The gates were added at the side of the escalators leading to baggage claim. The space wasn't meant for a gate, but AA just crammed them in. Now they're gone, with the change to the central terminal, though.
Dec 16, 2017, 8:39 pm
#56
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: Rapid Rewards, AAdvantage, SkyMiles
Posts: 2,931
This thread made me think, AA has some pretty terrible gates at all airports, is this just luck of the draw or is AA too cheap?
Anyway I can see 35X at DCA being bad, but I have no opinion as my one time using it was on an arriving flight and we got a bus to ourselves so.
CLT is a decent operation, although I have personally witnessed those Dash 8 Terminal E gates become cluster you know whats, but fortunately I've always been at gates away from it.
I took my last AA flight out of LGA in October until the new terminal is built. I refuse to fly with them out of the cesspool that is their operation in Terminal B. Arriving, maybe but departing no. I'll either go to JFK or fly another air carrier out of LGA.
I don't know if they resolved it, but their operations out of MCO after the merger was also awful, with flights operations out of different airsides.
Anyway I can see 35X at DCA being bad, but I have no opinion as my one time using it was on an arriving flight and we got a bus to ourselves so.
CLT is a decent operation, although I have personally witnessed those Dash 8 Terminal E gates become cluster you know whats, but fortunately I've always been at gates away from it.
I took my last AA flight out of LGA in October until the new terminal is built. I refuse to fly with them out of the cesspool that is their operation in Terminal B. Arriving, maybe but departing no. I'll either go to JFK or fly another air carrier out of LGA.
I don't know if they resolved it, but their operations out of MCO after the merger was also awful, with flights operations out of different airsides.
Dec 17, 2017, 5:52 am
#57
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Roswell, GA
Programs: AA EXP 2.8m,Lifetime PLT, Hilton Diamond, IHG PlLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 3,193
ok , good reading so far, so let me jump in, any gate AA has where there a mob of passengers trying to board out of order, making it almost impossible to board when you group is called
Dec 17, 2017, 7:13 am
#58
Join Date: May 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM; UA 1K; AA 1MM
Posts: 4,518
I don't go through CLT often and have never had to use the E gates, but I've always found CLT to be fine. Nothing special but fine. A constant mass of humanity everywhere, but functional.
Mind you, LGA is my main airport, so perhaps I don't have high standards.
Mind you, LGA is my main airport, so perhaps I don't have high standards.
Dec 17, 2017, 9:14 am
#59
Join Date: Jul 2017
Programs: AAdvantage
Posts: 158
Of course, not all Eagle/commuter gates have to be bad. DFW, ORD, PHX (to name a few) have Eagle flights in the main terminals that don't require bus trips or walking outside.
Dec 17, 2017, 9:32 am
#60
Join Date: Apr 2015
Programs: AA Gold, Enterprise PLT, Marriott Gold
Posts: 604