On my last three trips arriving into IND past 7p from DCA (Pinnacle) and DTW/MSP (mainline), the aircraft has been forced to hold short of the gate for at least 15 minutes on each occasion. For those of you who have flown into IND, you’re familiar with the unfathomably long taxi from the runways to the gate, and this delay makes matters worse. On Sunday night, two CRJs, a 757 and a DC9 were holding short of their respective gates, each waiting for a crew to usher the plane in.

It is for this reason I try not to check luggage because, as you can imagine, the time it then takes to receive bags adds another 30 minutes. From touchdown to leaving the airport with bags it has taken an average of 65 minutes on NW over three trips, about 35 minutes longer than recent travels I've made with UA and US.

Has anyone else experienced this, and aside from TTU, is there a station manager or someone who can (should) be alerted to this?

I am sure that the station manager and NWA are aware of the situiation. That does not mean that you should not report it. The more people that report, the more likley there will be a change. That could mean adding personel to the ground crew if necessary.

Only about a year and half until the new terminal opens. Once that happens at least it won't feel like you land in Illinois and drive to Indy.

I have also noticed a longer than normal time to have the gate brought to the plane.

On a side note, look for the weather tomorrow to really screw up any flights into and out of IND. Anywhere from 6-10 inches of snow and about a half of inch of ice starting around midnight tonight.

I think this is a *people* as opposed to equipment or specific airport problem

I've had it happen a *lot* at various airports and I hate to think about how much money is being wasted on fuel because planes are having to idle, rather than be "waved" in promptly.

Bob H

I flew 771 this morning IND-LAX and I think its definitely a people (or the lack there of) problem. One gate agent, without assistance, was working three gates that all departed 30 minutes of each other. The LAX gate agent didn't start working the flight until 30 minutes prior to scheduled takeoff. Not sure if ground staff is dealing with the same issues...

I used to fly out of ONT on NW and this was a problem with only one flight landing after 10 pm. NW ran a full staff at ONT for the morning departure and then a noon arrival and departure. I guess folks went home and then three peope came back to handle the 10 pm arrival. They would unload all the bags before bringing anything in, meaning that it took 45 minutes minimum before any bags made it to the carousel.

I wrote to Beth (rip) with the suggestion that if they would at least bring in the first cart when it was full, people would think bags were coming in. They did in fact implement that procedure and sometimes I was lucky enough to have my bag on that first cart.

The economics of this industry seem terrible. How do you staff when you only have maybe 45 minutes of activity in an 8 hour shift?

At least at IND there is reasonable traffic, you would think they could bring in more staff.

tom