RNE

If nothing's better than heaven. And a ham sandwich is better than nothing. Then a ham sandwich is better than heaven.

guy44134

Looks like the customs area is getting a slight renovation. Hope they can finally agree on a new and improved FIS connected directly to the main terminal!

Cleveland Hopkins airport renovates customs area in advance of new Iceland flights (photos) | cleveland.com

z00tv

guy44134

Was TSA PreCheck at South (C) security also open? They are supposed to open it when the Central (B) checkpoint is full. I bet there weren't enough TSA checkers available or one of the scanners was not operating. This is actually not a CLE, but a TSA problem. There certainly is a problem with TSA giving out PreCheck to those who have not registered for it or Global Entry, but not sure what this has to do with an international departure. This was just tweeted this week after a friend complained about all the people getting PreCheck for free:

"Sorry for any frustration, Judi. Some travelers may receive TSA✓® on their boarding pass as part of our pre-screening initiatives. This occurs on a flight-by-flight basis and before an individual travels. We are reducing the number of passengers receiving TSA Pre✓® who aren’t enrolled. Our goal is to eventually have only TSA Pre✓® members accessing the expedited screening lanes. Thank you. - Bobbi"

buckeyefanflyer

Here is my suggestion. Close the IX Center and move everything downtown to the new Convention Center.

RNE

I made that very suggestion years ago... to a hail of criticism.

RNE, adding that when I did, CLE was CO's third largest hub. So, good luck nowadays.

plinth857

I'd love to see this happen; if it did, I think fares in/out of Cleveland would have to be very high to offset this (assuming it would be funded by landing fees and the like, as most airport modernizations are), so I don't see it happening anytime in the near term. We'll just have to deal with the occasional lipstick job, it seems.

lincolnjkc

I'm intrigued by the idea but I think it's a massive cost without sufficient business justification -- and I think a gut rehab/slight fattening of the existing concourses (at least C, can't say I've really spent any time on A or B to judge) to increase hold room spaciousness would be a much better bang for the buck.

Given the FAA funding models for airports and the fact that cities can't divert any airport revenue for non-aviation uses, I don't see the city volunteering to dump any substantial amount of external funds the other way, so anything has to be within the revenue footprint of the airport, and most likely in the form of (bonds paid by) PFCs (Passenger Facility Charges -- currently up to a maximum of $4.50 per departing passenger [which is what CLE is currently charging], though I seem to recall a few airports with exceptions allowing fees in the $6.00 range) and landing fees, and perhaps concession revenue.

I, for one, would not be thrilled with the idea of paying higher PFCs or the higher fares/reduced service that would undoubtedly come with higher landing fees when the current facility is serviceable if not glamorous.

paule123

The new convention center is not very big. I don't think the larger public shows like boat/RV and auto shows would fit in there. Parking around the convention center is also a challenge.

moops380

When did the limit exceed $4.50/segment? What airports have exceptions? iberia charges these on aa award flights which is annoying.

What would the cost of a new airport be? 900MM+? I'd rather that cost be disbursed over the next hundred years in the form of subsidies to direct flights to europe and or asia, by non-us airlines which have only gouged customers in smaller town US airports (inclusive of cle) with no foreign competition. IMO I would rather the airport look like crap but have a daily ANA to TYO and AF/LH/LX or air lingus to europe. They spent 20MM for the facade, great job guys, all the people leaving the airport will want to come back now because of this.

I have heard the Airspace lounge will undergo renovations, and become something like "the club", bathroom and all!

How can they not build a secure hallway from customs to the baggage claim/exit? Going through security to leave the airport is pretty insane, imagine having duty free >100ml liquid and not being able to just leave the airport without the choice to not go thru security (after customs of course).

I have never dealt with needing a rental car when arriving to CLE, but that needs fixed, put that in the closest parking garage or covered lot within a 5 minute walk. Does not need to be a huge space, just needs to be efficient.

/don't get your hopes up.

paule123

Not going to happen unless they somehow turn D terminal into a rental car facility.

Either that or rebuild the multi level parking lot by the Sheraton (Orange lot) that the moron airport authority destroyed a few years ago. Because ya know in a winter climate there's nothing smarter than reducing parking capacity connected to the terminal AND making your customers walk outside in the snow.

lincolnjkc

$4.50/emplaned passenger is the current limit and in doing a bit more research appears to be on an exception basis ($1, $2, or $3 PFCs appear to have a lower threshold for approval than a $4 or $4.50 PFC)

My gut reaction since I've always understood PFC to be "per emplaned passenger" (per boarding or per departure but on that research, what Iberia is doing would appear to contravene the law authorizing PFCs unless there was some other "monetary payment" (I would assume any carrier imposed charge, e.g. fuel surcharges) would trigger this, specifically, 49 USC 40017 (e)(2)(C) states that "A passenger facility charge may not be collected from a passenger enplaning at an airport if the passenger did not pay for the air transportation which resulted in such enplanement, including any case in which the passenger obtained the ticket for the air transportation with a frequent flier award coupon without monetary payment" (Emphasis added)

I wasn't aware of this quirk...and what happens if a passenger just flat out refuses/declines to undergo further screening? TSA's normal remedy is "no check/no fly" but if a passenger wasn't going to an onward flight I could see some legal "fun" if TSA decided to detain a passenger/prevent them from leaving.

This is something I read a lot of grumbling/complaining about here but IMO it's overblown. The vast majority of airports I fly to have offsite/CRAC facilities and with efficient shuttle service (e.g. don't be the cluster that is SJC) it's not that bad. The handful of times I've wound up renting a car from CLE it's been speedy and I'd rank it in the top 1/4 of the airports I've dealt with. And honestly, in a "strange" city with luggage, I'd just as soon take a 30 second walk from baggage claim to a well-signed shuttle than try to navigate a 5 minute (so say 7 with luggage) walk with so-so signage/navigation clues.

The airport screwed itself (well, actually, passengers) so badly with the demolition of the old long-term garage that offisite parking (with a round trip time about that of the CRAC) is the only thing I trust anyway, and the situation can be so desperate at times that there'd probably be an armed mutiny if the airport took any of the already scarce "close in" spaces and held them back for rental car use.

moops380

How many people get rental cars each day from cle? where would I find that info. I agree with you that its total BS, but I have flown into many similarly sized airports to rent a car and its generally on 1 or 2 floors of a parking garage. They should probably just build another smaller garage where the uber pickup is and move uber pickup to wherever they heck people want to be picked up(like it is was). The uber pickup zone is also a joke, it is never too busy on the normal pickup/dropoff levels anyhow. Why wouldn't they cut a deal with 1 or 2 companies if their is only enough space for those select companies to rent cars?

It all comes back to bs management and politics, and perhaps corruption? I don't know, but its for sure bad for the city when people have to jump through hoops to rent a friggin car.

JimInOhio

The real irony is the rental car lots used to be where empty Concourse D now sits. The off-site facility was built to make the necessary room for D. From what I've casually heard from flyers is that among mid-sized airports, CLE has the worst arrangement for rental cars.

Separately, why was the long-term garage torn down?

lincolnjkc

IIRC, at the time CLE management claimed that they had surplus parking capacity and the garage was beyond its useful life/in need of rehabilitation (and I don't disagree that it needed some help/had a stack of deferred maintenance that should have been addressed)

Given the persistent shortage of on-airport parking since the demolition of the long-term garage I think the claim of surplus capacity is beyond laughable.