lincolnjkc

Crane was on C11 this morning. Other Odd Low C jetways have been completely removed from the area save for the part attached to the terminal building. Not sure if they've been stored somewhere on-airport or removed completely.

Looks like C21's jetway was put back together but I didn't get a great view of it.

The old UA seating seems to also be slowly disappearing from the low C gates but doesn't seem like anyone's in a hurry for those. Somewhat surprised the podiums are still in place (sans branding)

manneca

So, if I stand in the elite line and the bp beeps three times, can I slide over to the Pre lane? (The last time I was there the Pre line was probably a 10 minute wait; no one in the elite line)

lincolnjkc

I can't speak for CLE but at other airports I've seen if you take a TSA PRE BP to a non-TSA PRE checkpoint/checker/Elite line the three beeps is meaningless-- if you want TSA PRE benefits you have to queue in the TSA PRE line.

manneca

Phooey!

Wooglin

Did UA consider CLE a "hub" in their recent status bump debacle?

Did anyone here with CLE as a "home" airport get a bump?

Surface Interval

I know several from CLE that appear like they 'should have'. None got the bump. After all we are a focus city, right?

FreqFlyerCLE

I saw this on UnitedAirTime:

oscar555

That would explain why there is some work being done to the United Express jet bridges where their gates are at the end of C concourse. I saw a comment on one of the airport's more recent Instagram posts where they explained that the gates that they gave up (think C3, 5, 7, 9, 11) are having their jet bridges taken off because they aren't needed at the moment. I guess that means that any plans of AA moving to C have been stalled at the moment b/c their new gates at C are not in the shape to be occupied anytime soon.

lincolnjkc

That makes next to no sense -- unless used jet bridges are in short supply and needed somewhere else -- there's no reason to remove them just because they "aren't needed at the moment"

That comment suggests that if they became "needed" they'd be put back but what would be gained by removing them only to reinstall them without some other event taking place (aside from money in contractor(s) pockets?)

My thought is with the poster upthread who pointed out that in most cases airlines own the jet bridges, and further that either United and American or the city couldn't come to agreeable terms on selling them, or that removal on expiration or termination was a condition of the lease.

But this is Cleveland and plenty of things have been done that make no sense, so it's certainly possible.

Wooglin

If the airline owns the jet bridge, doesn't it make sense that they'd be removing the UA-owned jet bridges from the low C gates, in order to install AA-owned jet bridges there?

oscar555

Sorry for the confusion. United owns the jet bridges that were on those gates. As a result, they can do whatever they want with them and they have chosen to take them off for the time being. They have been replacing old jet bridges with newer ones so that could be 1 reason for this happening.

I can upload what the airport said regarding this if you want.

buckeyefanflyer

That's great how about replacing the 60 year old terminal sitting behind the ticket counters. Do they ever have a Master Plan. Anyone who has been flying over 50 years and seeing what other airports have done and spent. The city has to take responsibility for this. The Airport should not be run by a city, a airport authority. Also are you really looking for a real airport director with experience. A lot of great construction in downtown but the airport is a real sore spot.

VetteElite

One of my buddies has a brother who is a huge aviation fan (we get along quite well!). He recently flew into CLE and, well, he flat out said he hated it. Said exactly what we all say: it's dark and feels old and cramped. He flew Delta so he was in B; I told him he should have gone down to C to at least see the best of what we have (which, admittedly, still isn't great at all). Why did we waste all the years as a key hub when we could have used it as a chance to update our airport? Now the hub's gone, the money is dried up, and we still have a bad facility. My next trip is in a week; flying Southwest but I'm going to go down to C to at least take a look at the new counters United put up.

I know its still possible to connect in CLE on United (and I remember hearing someone connect ATL-CLE-JFK on Delta), but is there any way of knowing how many people still do? I'm sure its small since we don't offer many flight options anymore, but I'm curious.

oscar555

Good luck on your trip. I had some friends that flew out of CLE this morning on Jetblue and they said the security line wait was only about 30-40 minutes. If you can, try to take some pictures of C if you have time. It seems that Jetblue still owns C4 from what I saw today, but they aren't using it for some reason. Maybe that jetbridge is broken (again)?

For the connecting pax stats, there is really no way to know, but the airport has said that they still have some pax that connect. If I remember right, it was under 10%. Keep in mind that Spirit and Frontier surely have connecting pax at CLE since they don't really do the hub-spoke system that other airlines do.

737MAX

While the B concourse in general is nothing to look at SWA has remodeled not only B7 but also the rest of the gate area. New much brighter lights, digital flight screens, new carpet and repainted.