worldclubber

Happened to me last week at LAX. Had to wait for about 20 minutes before we could get a gate at T7.

1P

And that is precisely why those airports are such a PITA to use. If US airports can run efficiently with jetbridged gates, there's no reason why LHR, FRA and MUC can't do the same. It's sheer laziness. The remote stands allow the European airports to be lax about scheduling.

A recent thread on the BA forum asked why gates were never assigned more than one hour in advance, making for uncomfortable dashes to the gate, especially if it's at the other end of the terminal from the lounge. The answer is the same: sheer idleness on the part of the schedulers. They claim it allows greater flexibility in the use of gates, but the real reason is that it means they have less scheduling work to do because everything happens on the fly. If US airports can assign a gate as much as 4 hours ahead, there's no reason why BA can't do the same. The downside of this is the occasional wait for a gate to become free that this thread is about.

I personally much prefer sitting in a plane for an extra 15-20 minutes and have the comfort of exiting on a jetbridge to having to descend rickety steps, be crammed into a bus with lively suspension and gut-wrenching brakes, and having to climb up again at the other end of the bus ride.

tarheelnj

My thoughts:
1. There are several times while taxiing that I've overheard someone calling his car service to let them know he arrived - only to have us wait at the gate.
2. Reluctantly agree with those that say if we arrive early, then wait for another plane to depart our gate, and then still arrive at the gate at the published arrival time, that's okay.
3. A remote stand arrival should only be used when it's the only way to get passengers into the terminal by the published arrival time and even then only when expecting a long delay past that point. At an airport with GS gate-to-gate car service, have all available cars help as well.
4. What's never okay is when the plane arrives at the gate and there's no sign of the jet bridge driver. What's wrong with UA's systems that a GA has to walk over to the window to see if a flight has arrived? I have gone over to the GA myself several times to point out that the incoming flight is sitting at the gate when they were doing something on their computer terminal and there was clearly no pop-up or other reminder.
5. (wish list - not really related to this thread) - on the flight status on the app or website once an arrival gate is assigned ahead of departure, I wish it would show the disembarkation door (1L, 2L, both). At times when getting off the plane quickly is important and you have a choice of seats near each door, it would be helpful to know.

gold23

Happens to about 60% of UAX flights in A terminal at EWR. Often the gates are actually open, but the ground crew isn't there (don't get me started on how long they take at EWR for gate checked bags....average of about 20 minutes). I'd say maybe 15-20% at C.

InHouseCounsel

Ted

And all this time we are burning fuel and paying crew.

757FO

Not unique to UA. Try flying American and arriving at Philly!

Rumples

seenitall

THIS! Arriving early and no gate available, c'est la vie. Gates are scarce. Arriving at the gate, especially if on time or late, and no GA available to position the jet bridge and open the door, is what sends me around the bend. But this is a problem that is endemic to U.S. businesses. They hire at the lowest wage possible and staff at the lowest level possible. The cost of this is that they have a labor force that is challenged to perform time-sensitive operations efficiently. Indeed, I think this is one reason why we don't commonly have remote bus stands in the U.S. The choreography that you need with bus drivers as to scheduling and not driving the bus into a plane, etc.. to prevent the operation from becoming a CF is beyond what can be expected of U.S. bus drivers. In contrast, in Germany or Japan that driver will be highly trained and skilled, and paid a living wage so that more precision can be expected from him/her.

simmang

Living in a Texas outstation, I either fly UA through IAH or AA through DFW. One thing I love about flying through IAH is that I almost never have to wait for a gate. I can only recall a couple of times, and it was usually when IAH was having a weather event.

AA at DFW on the other hand is totally ridiculous with this problem. I would say 4 out of 5 times after landing you hear the "well, folks..." announcement. And it's always because of something so stupid, like last time -- "well, folks, there's an unoccupied pick-up truck blocking our gate, so we have to wait for it to move." The most infuriating thing was there were several other open gates in plain view. AA has a real problem with this at DFW, and it has caused me to miss a connection before.

As the pilot upthread mentioned, I would much rather have the plane slow down in flight if they are expected to arrive too early for a gate. At least then you can still use the restroom, and I prefer it mentally because it's not like you're sitting there a few dozen feet from the goal just waiting for someone to move a pickup or something

Slouchman

Last flight NRT-EWR...arrived 1 hour early. Pilot came on early in the fligth and said I'm calling Operations in EWR now so we have a gate. Got to EWR...had a Gate but TSA parked their trucks too close to allow the 777-300ER to actually use the gate. Waited 45 minutes literally 50 feet from the gate till coffee break was over and somebody moved the trucks. Welcome to Newark.

narvik

I give kudos to the pilots' announcements when they have an estimated early arrival into EWR.
Most of the times when this occurs, they offer something like this: "We expect to land about xx minutes early into Newark, and we hope we will have an open gate available so we can have an early arrival."

HkCaGu

Few weeks ago I had an early morning BUR-SFO mainline, once in the air, estimated to land 0802 and app showed est gate 0808. Once landed at 0804 and switched to LTE data, ETA became 0835. Turned out our gate's ETD was 0830. It wasn't until 0847 or something that we got into gate. So now at least the app tells you upon landing that there's no gate, instead of baffling your driver/greeter, you know the plane is taxiing to the holding stand as soon as you land, and they actually turn off the seat belt sign.

AirbusFan2B

goodeats21

No doubt many of the airport hubs could use additional gates, but this is also a consequence of the "re-banking" that United has been talking about.