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Any plans to rebuild the UA concourse (C and D gates & UX terminal) at IAD / Dulles?

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Any plans to rebuild the UA concourse (C and D gates & UX terminal) at IAD / Dulles?

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Old Mar 3, 2019, 6:48 pm
  #376  
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Originally Posted by findark
Slightly off topic, but I took my first-ever flight out of the A regional annex the other day, and I'm not sure I have any business complaining about C/D anymore
The only good thing about A gates is that they aren't that far a walk from either the LH or TK lounges in B...


Originally Posted by BlackBear05
I hope they bring back the G gates
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Old Mar 3, 2019, 11:16 pm
  #377  
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Originally Posted by exerda
I suspect we will get the new midfield concourse by the time I retire. Or at least by the time I die.
That concourse is never going to be built while the current UA management team is in place.

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Mar 3, 2019 at 11:25 pm Reason: snarky personal comment removed
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Old Mar 4, 2019, 7:15 am
  #378  
 
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Originally Posted by exerda
The only good thing about A gates is that they aren't that far a walk from either the LH or TK lounges in B...
And for PP holders, that means getting to use the Virgin Atlantic lounge in A the morning, which is certainly nicer than the UC's, even with the reduced F&B before it opens for the VA flights.
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Old Mar 4, 2019, 7:22 am
  #379  
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Originally Posted by BlackBear05
I hope they bring back the G gates
LOL The G stands for Greyhound.
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Old Mar 4, 2019, 7:43 am
  #380  
 
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Originally Posted by halls120
That concourse is never going to be built while the current UA management team is in place.
It probably has a better chance of being built with this management team as compared to any of the last 20 years which seemed more interested in shrinking IAD than anything else...
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 9:09 am
  #381  
 
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Ankit Gupta, vice-president of domestic network planning at the Chicago-based carrier, told investors at an Evercore conference during the week of 4 March that United is considering adding two to four new flight banks at Dulles – an increase that could amount to doubling its current four-bank schedule.

snip

Potter set a new goal for the airport, to handle 30 million annual passengers, before the authority will consider significant new capital investments. This includes the long sought by passengers replacement of "temporary" concourses C and D, which United has used for its hub since the 1980s.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...15#sf209146363

Also noted the cost per enplanement is down to $17, about $10 less than EWR and the additional flying through IAD has been positive.

But when the target to replace C&D is 30m per year and you’re at 24m, and the only way to get to 30m is for the tenant at C&D to grow significantly while A&B sit under utilized, that feels a bit challenging to achieve.

Haven’t looked at the gate count to see if UA plus *A could fit in to A&B.
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 9:22 am
  #382  
 
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Originally Posted by whlinder
Ankit Gupta, vice-president of domestic network planning at the Chicago-based carrier, told investors at an Evercore conference during the week of 4 March that United is considering adding two to four new flight banks at Dulles – an increase that could amount to doubling its current four-bank schedule.

snip

Potter set a new goal for the airport, to handle 30 million annual passengers, before the authority will consider significant new capital investments. This includes the long sought by passengers replacement of "temporary" concourses C and D, which United has used for its hub since the 1980s.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...15#sf209146363

Also noted the cost per enplanement is down to $17, about $10 less than EWR and the additional flying through IAD has been positive.

But when the target to replace C&D is 30m per year and you’re at 24m, and the only way to get to 30m is for the tenant at C&D to grow significantly while A&B sit under utilized, that feels a bit challenging to achieve.

Haven’t looked at the gate count to see if UA plus *A could fit in to A&B.
or another Independence Air comes in


Also the original master plan which I cant find, had 4 midfield terminals with the loop of the aerotrain. Imagine that!
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 9:30 am
  #383  
 
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Any idea if the increasing the daily banks to 6 would make a meaningful impact In getting IAD to 30 million passengers?
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 9:30 am
  #384  
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Originally Posted by whlinder
Haven’t looked at the gate count to see if UA plus *A could fit in to A&B.
Hope not. That terminal is my go to place to chill.
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 9:50 am
  #385  
 
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Originally Posted by whlinder

Haven’t looked at the gate count to see if UA plus *A could fit in to A&B.
Whenever I've been in A/B for lounges it has seemed relatively empty, as a number of the gates, especially international, seem underused because the carrier may only have 1 or 2 flights a day. Perhaps with careful scheduling, United could use some of these gates. Probably less attractive for domestic connections, because you'd need to take train. But potentially for some of the international flights (arriving and departing) where connections may be not as tight or not important (e.g., late evening arrivals).
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 10:54 am
  #386  
 
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Originally Posted by drewguy
Whenever I've been in A/B for lounges it has seemed relatively empty, as a number of the gates, especially international, seem underused because the carrier may only have 1 or 2 flights a day. Perhaps with careful scheduling, United could use some of these gates. Probably less attractive for domestic connections, because you'd need to take train. But potentially for some of the international flights (arriving and departing) where connections may be not as tight or not important (e.g., late evening arrivals).
That varies on such a case by case basis as well as a day by day basis. Bad weather, which we all know happens way too often thanks to Karl, in SFO could lead to a departure delay. And now you want those passengers (aka me) to transfer from C/D to A/B? On some days I’ll enjoy this decision cause it saves me the trek to the nice lounges, on other days I’ll hate you because my connection became that much worse.

Also, this decision is kind of skewed toward premium passengers, no? Most passengers in general don’t have lounge access.
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 11:51 am
  #387  
 
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Originally Posted by drewguy
Whenever I've been in A/B for lounges it has seemed relatively empty, as a number of the gates, especially international, seem underused because the carrier may only have 1 or 2 flights a day. Perhaps with careful scheduling, United could use some of these gates. Probably less attractive for domestic connections, because you'd need to take train. But potentially for some of the international flights (arriving and departing) where connections may be not as tight or not important (e.g., late evening arrivals).
If you take one of the 10 pm flights, the whole terminal seems deserted. The lower A gates do a lot of UA regionals in the AM. This is when PP access to the VA lounge on A is useful.
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 1:14 pm
  #388  
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Originally Posted by laxmillenial


That varies on such a case by case basis as well as a day by day basis. Bad weather, which we all know happens way too often thanks to Karl, in SFO could lead to a departure delay. And now you want those passengers (aka me) to transfer from C/D to A/B? On some days I’ll enjoy this decision cause it saves me the trek to the nice lounges, on other days I’ll hate you because my connection became that much worse.

Also, this decision is kind of skewed toward premium passengers, no? Most passengers in general don’t have lounge access.
not sure how this is different than other hubs. EWR with connections from C to A, or A or sometimes B to C (inbound international), DEN (some flights arriving or departing from A and I thought I saw 1 report from C), or ORD from inbound international (5 to 1/2 - especially no with the ATS down). And of course IAH, where you might have to go between 1 of 4 terminals. I suppose you could argue the bit of a longer walk to the train, but I often take the moon buggies across if I need to transfer now as it often makes it faster.
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 1:47 pm
  #389  
 
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Originally Posted by emcampbe


not sure how this is different than other hubs. EWR with connections from C to A, or A or sometimes B to C (inbound international), DEN (some flights arriving or departing from A and I thought I saw 1 report from C), or ORD from inbound international (5 to 1/2 - especially no with the ATS down). And of course IAH, where you might have to go between 1 of 4 terminals. I suppose you could argue the bit of a longer walk to the train, but I often take the moon buggies across if I need to transfer now as it often makes it faster.
True. Good point. I guess I’ve gotten used to C/D at IAD that I didn’t think about that.
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Old Mar 9, 2019, 1:56 pm
  #390  
 
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Originally Posted by dcsnowwake
or another Independence Air comes in


Also the original master plan which I cant find, had 4 midfield terminals with the loop of the aerotrain. Imagine that!
Yep, I've seen that, with a southern entry to the airport and the 5th runway. Which will be the case long after we're all dead.


Originally Posted by bman1002
Any idea if the increasing the daily banks to 6 would make a meaningful impact In getting IAD to 30 million passengers?
Wiki says UA had 61% of IAD traffic a couple of years ago. With upgauged planes and UA's growth I don't think it's far off to say UA get 2/3 of IAD traffic which is 18m, across 4 banks. Really depends on the size of the bank, and while I can't imagine any of the new banks would be close to the afternoon or night bank (my assumption is new banks will come with little international expansion other than maybe Caribbean increases), that should be sufficient to add 6m more passengers, particularly as UA continues to upgauge planes in their network.

I too love the calmness of the B terminal, but it's pretty silly for 2/3 of passengers at the airport to use the old beat up terminal and the A/B asset end up severely underused. Playing arm chair airport planner it feels like it would make more sense to consolidate A&B airlines (non-Star ones and non-A380 ones) out in a new C terminal that is the right size for their operations.
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