Gate Allocation ATL
Aug 6, 2011 | 8:39 am
#31
Join Date: Jan 2011
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Sorry folks, expect more delays in/out of ATL today. There was a one-hour groundstop earlier, the feds were having radar problems. It could take all day for the operation to recover.
Rumor has it, somebody was giving Sen. Harry Reid a tour of the facility and it went something like this:
Sen. Reid: "What does this button do?"
Tour guide: "Well sir, that would bring the world's busiest airport & Delta's primary hub to a screeching halt. It would take us an hour or more to re-boot the system."
Sen. Reid: "YIPPPEEEEEE!"
Rumor has it, somebody was giving Sen. Harry Reid a tour of the facility and it went something like this:
Sen. Reid: "What does this button do?"
Tour guide: "Well sir, that would bring the world's busiest airport & Delta's primary hub to a screeching halt. It would take us an hour or more to re-boot the system."
Sen. Reid: "YIPPPEEEEEE!"
Wouldn't surprise me one bit.
Aug 6, 2011 | 10:32 am
#32
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Exactly. Hubs just don't work when there's not a lot of local traffic to support them, specifically local business traffic.
Aug 6, 2011 | 2:31 pm
#33
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Atlanta
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Posts: 732
European airports are hopelessly undergated. So what do they do? They let people out on the tarmac and take them by bus to the terminal. Beats sitting on a plane for an hour! My only salvation is I live in ATL, so I hardly ever change planes there.
Aug 6, 2011 | 3:41 pm
#34
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 187
That used to be done in ATL, as I'm sure we all remember. But so many people complained, Delta paid to have extra jetbridges installed, and ATL is now an all-jetbridge station, with the exception of Georgia Skies flights, and a very very random regional flight out of E37... Now people are mad because there aren't enough gates.. It's kinda like the "passenger bill of rights" Everyone was mad because they had to sit on the plane and wait to take off.. Now everyone is mad because cancellations are happening more frequently.
Aug 6, 2011 | 8:40 pm
#35
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That used to be done in ATL, as I'm sure we all remember. But so many people complained, Delta paid to have extra jetbridges installed, and ATL is now an all-jetbridge station, with the exception of Georgia Skies flights, and a very very random regional flight out of E37... Now people are mad because there aren't enough gates.. It's kinda like the "passenger bill of rights" Everyone was mad because they had to sit on the plane and wait to take off.. Now everyone is mad because cancellations are happening more frequently.
I do not ever recall taking a bus from any aircraft at ATL during normal ops. In any case, there is very little difference, if any, in the amount of available parking spots for planes, so, I am not sure how this is the customer's fault.
What does not make sense to me is it seems Delta (and others I am sure) use a best case scenario plan and the best case never exists on the best of days and the pax and employees are left to deal with it... I am as easy going as they come, but I have to say, Delta is slipping in the wrong direction with how they handle this...
Aug 6, 2011 | 10:05 pm
#38
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It has been 20 years or more since a mainline jet did not use a jetbridge. C and D had some walk down gates that were made to accomadate the 120s and ATRs. As the culled them and went to all jets, the C and D concourse went to more jetbridges.
I do not ever recall taking a bus from any aircraft at ATL during normal ops. In any case, there is very little difference, if any, in the amount of available parking spots for planes, so, I am not sure how this is the customer's fault.
What does not make sense to me is it seems Delta (and others I am sure) use a best case scenario plan and the best case never exists on the best of days and the pax and employees are left to deal with it... I am as easy going as they come, but I have to say, Delta is slipping in the wrong direction with how they handle this...
I do not ever recall taking a bus from any aircraft at ATL during normal ops. In any case, there is very little difference, if any, in the amount of available parking spots for planes, so, I am not sure how this is the customer's fault.
What does not make sense to me is it seems Delta (and others I am sure) use a best case scenario plan and the best case never exists on the best of days and the pax and employees are left to deal with it... I am as easy going as they come, but I have to say, Delta is slipping in the wrong direction with how they handle this...
They apparently have a throughput figure that they feel they must maintain and they schedule unrealistic scenarios that show, on paper (perhaps in theory) that they can make it... and the PAX (and the good front-line employees) take it on the chin when reality bites.
Do you suppose that they are relying on the fact that 90% of the PAX likely do not know to ask for accommodations when the fumble occurs?
