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-   -   CLE - Impact of other airlines (gates, routes, equipment, & etc) after UA De-Hubbing (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/midwest/1657720-cle-impact-other-airlines-gates-routes-equipment-etc-after-ua-de-hubbing.html)

manneca May 10, 2016 6:37 am


Originally Posted by jkumpire (Post 26600575)
Hi everyone!

I need some advice from you who know about CLE. It has been at least a decade since I flew out of CLE, and I have heard horror stories about massively long lines at the TSA checkpoints at Hopkins, and the construction problems in the terminal and parking areas.

My family has a 7:30 AM Friday flight to SFO, and we are driving from about 3 hours away for the trip. How bad is it to park and how long are the lines at that time of the morning? Which checkpoint is better to use?

Many times I get TSA pre-checked which makes life easier, but that's just one member of the family, do I really have to leave at 1:30 or 2:00 AM to have a better-than- average chance to get my family to the gate before they close the doors?

Your help is greatly appreciated!

The last time I flew out in the morning, the wait time for TSA Pre was about 10 minutes. There was no one in the premier lane. No one. If you have status you might luck out. I have no idea how long the wait was for the regular TSA line, but it looked like there might be 100 people in line. This was around 5:30.

Even with Pre, the shortest time I've had from parking lot (I use Airport Fast Park) to gate is 40 minutes. Now, I do fly UA from the furtherest gates in C.

I'd second the idea of getting a room for the night. You might check to see which hotels have parking programs. I don't park in the airport parking lots because it's so expensive. The non airport run parking lots on Snow are in the 9-11 dollar range per day.

And bear in mind, that if you are on a hotel or parking shuttle, you'll arrive at the limo lot which runs in front of the garage, but away from the airport drop-off, pick up area (which is a mess anyway). It's a bit of a hike, taking an escalator down to the lowest level and then back up to the ticketing level. If you're not familiar with where you're going you may need extra time. And right now with construction going on, everything seems to change. (I'm assuming there hasn't been a miracle in construction completion in the last several weeks.)

lincolnjkc May 10, 2016 10:25 am

Jetways have been removed from C3, C5, C7, and C9.

C3 has a crane next to where the jetway used to be and a flatbed truck with some cribbing/rigging stuff (and interestingly a Delta-branded GPU sitting near by), C7 the jetway is sitting on the ground in front of the gate.

ctownflyer May 10, 2016 10:55 am


Originally Posted by lincolnjkc (Post 26604033)
Jetways have been removed from C3, C5, C7, and C9.

C3 has a crane next to where the jetway used to be and a flatbed truck with some cribbing/rigging stuff (and interestingly a Delta-branded GPU sitting near by), C7 the jetway is sitting on the ground in front of the gate.

Getting ready for AA, should be those gates and C11.

paule123 May 10, 2016 11:22 am


Originally Posted by jkumpire (Post 26600575)
How bad is it to park

There's a good chance the main parking lots connected to the terminal will be full. I'd plan on parking off-site and add about 30 minutes buffer for shuttle bus time. Personally I use Park Place on Snow Rd, they are always quick, efficient, friendly.

In the C lobby they added a dedicated bypass lane to the TSA Pre area so you can bypass the mass of humanity in front of the United checkin counters more easily. B checkpoint is closed for construction. The A checkpoint is not worth considering IMHO, it's so narrow and IIRC has only one x-ray belt.

737MAX May 10, 2016 11:29 am


Originally Posted by ctownflyer (Post 26604212)
Getting ready for AA, should be those gates and C11.

Apparently AA is hanging their own jetways.

plinth857 May 10, 2016 12:35 pm


Originally Posted by paule123 (Post 26604358)
There's a good chance the main parking lots connected to the terminal will be full. I'd plan on parking off-site and add about 30 minutes buffer for shuttle bus time. Personally I use Park Place on Snow Rd, they are always quick, efficient, friendly.

In the C lobby they added a dedicated bypass lane to the TSA Pre area so you can bypass the mass of humanity in front of the United checkin counters more easily. B checkpoint is closed for construction. The A checkpoint is not worth considering IMHO, it's so narrow and IIRC has only one x-ray belt.

Agreed on the checkpoints... make your way to C regardless of what carrier you are using.

This may not be an effective parking solution for all, but for trips of less than 5 nights, I park at the Brookpark rapid station lot quite frequently for my shorter trips. Parking is free, and the lot is patrolled by RTA police (my car has always been left alone). The trains come quite often, too. $5 round trip beats parking costs for me!

ctownflyer May 10, 2016 12:45 pm


Originally Posted by plinth857 (Post 26604753)
Agreed on the checkpoints... make your way to C regardless of what carrier you are using.

This may not be an effective parking solution for all, but for trips of less than 5 nights, I park at the Brookpark rapid station lot quite frequently for my shorter trips. Parking is free, and the lot is patrolled by RTA police (my car has always been left alone). The trains come quite often, too. $5 round trip beats parking costs for me!

Why only for shorter trips?

oscar555 May 10, 2016 12:49 pm


Originally Posted by 737MAX (Post 26601379)
The jetways on C3 and C5 were removed either yesterday or today. Wonder where they are headed.

That's weird. If it's for the AA move, they would just use the jetways that are already in C.

oscar555 May 10, 2016 12:50 pm


Originally Posted by lincolnjkc (Post 26604033)
Jetways have been removed from C3, C5, C7, and C9.

C3 has a crane next to where the jetway used to be and a flatbed truck with some cribbing/rigging stuff (and interestingly a Delta-branded GPU sitting near by), C7 the jetway is sitting on the ground in front of the gate.

Interesting. I wonder if they are getting serviced or replaced. Hmmmm...

oscar555 May 10, 2016 12:51 pm


Originally Posted by ctownflyer (Post 26604212)
Getting ready for AA, should be those gates and C11.

If it was for AA, then why wouldn't they use the existing jetways that are already at C? It wouldn't really make sense to take all of them down, then move AA's over to C. Concourse A would be a mess because half of it's equipment would be gone and F9 and NK are on opposite ends basically.

TWA884 May 10, 2016 3:04 pm


Originally Posted by oscar555 (Post 26604868)
That's weird. If it's for the AA move, they would just use the jetways that are already in C.

At most airports, the jet bridges are owned by the airlines, not the airport authorities.

P.S. Jetway is a registered trademark. American uses a different brand.

oscar555 May 10, 2016 3:13 pm


Originally Posted by TWA884 (Post 26605612)
At most airports, the jet bridges are owned by the airlines, not the airport authorities.

P.S. Jetway is a registered trademark. American uses a different brand.

That's the part I was missing. Thanks for correcting me. What will happen with these jet bridges then?

plinth857 May 11, 2016 3:29 am


Originally Posted by ctownflyer (Post 26604847)
Why only for shorter trips?

Signage at the rapid station indicates they don't want you to park more than 5 nights. I haven't tried, so I don't know if they ticket the car or what, but I don't want to find out! I'm guessing that they just don't want to encourage long term parking as a deterrent to theft.

lincolnjkc May 11, 2016 7:38 pm

As of when I came home this evening the C21 passenger loading bridge has been partially removed and is sitting on the ground in front of the gate much like the C7 bridge (which hasn't moved). C11 still has a PLB with United ads down the sides... I wonder if perhaps United is doing some mix-n-matching I.e. moving newer/better maintained/nicer bridges from their abandoned gates to gates they're keeping... or if C21 is just getting abandoned (it's one of the odd gates that shares part of PLB hallway with the next gate over before a fork in the road)

Also, interestingly, a Delta-branded set of air stairs has joined the Delta-branded GPU I mentioned up thread at C3. Wonder if they're just parking surplus crap there or if Delta has somehow made use of C3 which would make next to no sense given their entire presence is on B

thejaredhuang May 12, 2016 2:16 am

How is the UA Club at CLE, nothing special?


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