Pseudo rant about UA at Newark
Nov 4, 2019, 1:48 pm
#46
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Nov 4, 2019, 2:19 pm
#47
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 734
This often happens when you arrive internationally and have a connecting flight on the same itinerary. I've seen it happen with UA, AC and other * airlines. The key thing is once you are land-side go to the check in agent and have them reprint your boarding pass with your KTN inputted. Nine times out of 10 the TSA PRE mark re-appears on the boarding pass.
It should also be noted that pre-check is not a guarantee if you have Global Entry and/or TSA Pre. The TSA will randomly not put PRE on the boarding pass. Remember the TSA is all about randomizing the screening process so that it is difficult for the bad guys to figure out how their screening process works! As a Global Entry member I just recently got the lovely SSSS on my boarding pass and can now understand when people say the TSA works in mysterious ways!
Otherwise, I've set land-speed records at EWR. 15 minutes flat. Off international flight. Through I&C. Airport shuttle train to another terminal. Through security. And at the next gate. Having no check-in bags was probably the key to that land-speed record. The other key is being able to do some stair-climbing. The lines for the escalators are always 100x longer than the lines for the stairs. If an escalator is not working, foot traffic at an airport always seems to crash to a halt these days. That's not a UA phenomenon either. I have to pinch myself to believe that airports didn't have jetbridges not too long ago!
I did actually like the EWR security line dragon. Need those in other airports.
Nov 4, 2019, 3:13 pm
#48
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: UA MM
Posts: 4,125
A couple of comments... Security in EWR C has improved drastically in the last year or two, soon to be even better with Clear. But A terminal remains an unmitigated disaster. It's brutal probably 20-30% of the time. I'm there at least once a week. There are ALWAYS TSA members standing in the pre-check lane, and I'd say its open less than 25% of the time. When closed (while paying employees to stand there aimlessly with shoulder shrugs when asked why they're not open), the regular line is often 10-30 minutes long. It is also claustrophobic for many, as you're squeezed in a single file line with a wall to your right.
As for food, outside security is generally useless- especially when you have long clearance times. The ONE saving grace for terminal A is that the UA club is somewhat decent and rarely crowded.
As for food, outside security is generally useless- especially when you have long clearance times. The ONE saving grace for terminal A is that the UA club is somewhat decent and rarely crowded.
I don’t get James’s rant about Terminal A. He’s complaining about something which is being replaced. Does he think the new T1 will open a day sooner if he yells louder?
BTW, there is a restaurant inside security next to UA’s A gates.
Nov 4, 2019, 4:26 pm
#49
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,359
That being said, I have noticed a marked improvement in Terminal C over the past couple of years flying through it (aside from the ongoing mess that is the United Club).
Yes and it's not a very good one. Certainly if my regional to YYZ got delayed I'd want something more substantial than something I normally get from my local Tesco for a £3.50 as part of a meal deal.
-James
Nov 4, 2019, 4:37 pm
#50
Join Date: May 2010
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They are a very important tenant, but that's about it.
Nov 4, 2019, 5:14 pm
#51
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Contrary to your misconception, EWR =/= UA. Maybe learn a thing or two about PANY/NJ?
Nov 4, 2019, 6:01 pm
#52
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: UA MM
Posts: 4,125
That's not the point I'm making. The point I'm making is that now that UA more or less owns the airport (we can always quibble about Port Authority nonsense but this is more or less the truth), they should try and do what they can to make it passenger friendly. Tearing down Terminal A won't by itself solve the problem. The new terminal must be able to address the shortcomings we've seen in Terminal A (i.e. awful security, lack of airside connections, etc.) At the same time, in the absence of the Terminal A, additional stress will be placed on the airport. Flights will need to move to other terminals (i.e. Terminal B) further exacerbating the ongoing grievances there.
That being said, I have noticed a marked improvement in Terminal C over the past couple of years flying through it (aside from the ongoing mess that is the United Club).
Yes and it's not a very good one. Certainly if my regional to YYZ got delayed I'd want something more substantial than something I normally get from my local Tesco for a £3.50 as part of a meal deal.
-James
That being said, I have noticed a marked improvement in Terminal C over the past couple of years flying through it (aside from the ongoing mess that is the United Club).
Yes and it's not a very good one. Certainly if my regional to YYZ got delayed I'd want something more substantial than something I normally get from my local Tesco for a £3.50 as part of a meal deal.
-James
Nov 4, 2019, 6:09 pm
#53
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,359
At this point I’m hoping EWR will one day rival Kai Tak
-James
Nov 4, 2019, 6:13 pm
#54
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: UA 1K, Hilton ♦ , Hyatt Carbonado, Wyndham ♦, Marriott PE, "Stinking Bum" elsewhere.
Posts: 4,998
I just barely survived a nightmare at EWR on Saturday. Arrived on flight from HKG. Got through immigration & customs quite quickly thanks to GE. The nightmare began with PreCheck disappearing from my UA boarding pass and looking at an hour long wait through the normal security line at terminal C to catch my connecting flight. While standing in line, I finally got through to UA phone agent who fixed my GE status on my UA account and re-issued my boarding pass with PreCheck. Very unpleasant experience where it is so noisy in that line, that trying to talk to the UA phone agent was nearly impossible. Jumped out of the regular line and got through the PreCheck line in just a few minutes. Barely caught my connecting flight.
Same thing happened to me in ORD this afternoon. After I cleared immigration, I noticed that I didn't have PreCheck on my BP. So I went to the service desk behind where you re-check your bags and the agent tried re-entering my TTN twice and it still wouldn't work. Finally, he got a supervisor to look at it and they got it fixed. They gave me some weird story about the check-in agent in Germany misspelling my name-that doesn't make sense does it-I thought it was automatically populated from your profile? Anyway, they got me a new BP and the PreCheck line in Terminal 1 was nice and short.
Nov 4, 2019, 6:24 pm
#55
Join Date: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,125
Given the Port Authority is managing this process anything is possible! I hope I’m wrong and made to look like a fool in the end but I have my reservations on this one. Can you name a single airport that has a terminal torn down and rebuilt with the end result being far better than what replaced it?
At EWR, you can see where they are, right now, building the Terminal One, which will replace Terminal A. Terminal A will close after One opens. And everything in One will be connected airside. See https://www.ewrredevelopment.com/ for details.
Last edited by StuMcIlwain; Nov 4, 2019 at 6:30 pm
Nov 4, 2019, 6:51 pm
#56
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Morris County, NJ
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Any and all complaints about Terminal A, valid as they might be, are a moot point as it’s being replaced. I wouldn’t put one dime into A if I were UA. Waste of time, effort and money.
The only valid point I see are the lounge complaints. They’re bad at Terminal C. Thing is, I believe that to be a PANYNJ caused issue, not a United one. The Polaris lounge - and all the other renovated lounges - show us that UA knows *how* to build a good one. The most reasonable explanation is games with the PANYNJ. Anyone that’s ever had to do business with them would understand what I mean.
Nov 4, 2019, 7:04 pm
#57
Join Date: Feb 2002
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Yet UAL did. About three years ago they renovated the UAX arm of the A Terminal as well as a complete gut and rebuild of that terminal's United Club. They spent all that money knowing that the terminal was likely going to be replaced in the not too distant future.
Nov 5, 2019, 1:24 am
#58
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Ironically, my best experiences in EWR have specifically been in UA's Terminal C.
Without spending millions of dollars, and unnecessarily so, Terminal A is built in a way that cannot allow airside connections between concourses. And it's being torn down. Terminal B isn't UA.
Terminal C isn't the nicest terminal in the world. But I find it reasonably comfortable and functional (even with the UC issues), and better than several JFK terminals (especially JFK's T1).
Those who think that UA can just snap their fingers and fix EWR clearly aren't actually from NY/NJ and don't seem to understand the process of getting Port Authority to do something, which requires 2 dysfunctional state governments to cooperate (yes, one more dysfunctional than the other). It isn't just a technicality to say that PANYNJ owns EWR as opposed to UA. There's a fundamental difference between what a private company versus an interstate governmental agency can do (easily).
The arguments of convenience to NYC seem to come up so often, and I think it really depends on where in NYC you're going, what time, and how. EWR and JFK are both accessible to Penn Station via AirTrain to train. JFK has the benefit of both LIRR and E. But LIRR is more comfortable and faster. And yet I have always traveled between Penn Station and Terminal C more quickly using NJ Transit than between Penn Station and JFK (pretty much any terminal) using LIRR.
Without spending millions of dollars, and unnecessarily so, Terminal A is built in a way that cannot allow airside connections between concourses. And it's being torn down. Terminal B isn't UA.
Terminal C isn't the nicest terminal in the world. But I find it reasonably comfortable and functional (even with the UC issues), and better than several JFK terminals (especially JFK's T1).
Those who think that UA can just snap their fingers and fix EWR clearly aren't actually from NY/NJ and don't seem to understand the process of getting Port Authority to do something, which requires 2 dysfunctional state governments to cooperate (yes, one more dysfunctional than the other). It isn't just a technicality to say that PANYNJ owns EWR as opposed to UA. There's a fundamental difference between what a private company versus an interstate governmental agency can do (easily).
The arguments of convenience to NYC seem to come up so often, and I think it really depends on where in NYC you're going, what time, and how. EWR and JFK are both accessible to Penn Station via AirTrain to train. JFK has the benefit of both LIRR and E. But LIRR is more comfortable and faster. And yet I have always traveled between Penn Station and Terminal C more quickly using NJ Transit than between Penn Station and JFK (pretty much any terminal) using LIRR.
Nov 5, 2019, 6:45 am
#59
Join Date: Oct 2009
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That's not the point I'm making. The point I'm making is that now that UA more or less owns the airport (we can always quibble about Port Authority nonsense but this is more or less the truth), they should try and do what they can to make it passenger friendly. Tearing down Terminal A won't by itself solve the problem. The new terminal must be able to address the shortcomings we've seen in Terminal A (i.e. awful security, lack of airside connections, etc.) At the same time, in the absence of the Terminal A, additional stress will be placed on the airport. Flights will need to move to other terminals (i.e. Terminal B) further exacerbating the ongoing grievances there.
See here:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ndal/87094180/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/n...ew-jersey.html
https://apnews.com/90ccca31f3804a3ba4ac457e1d4e2aa9
Last edited by zombietooth; Nov 5, 2019 at 7:03 am
Nov 5, 2019, 7:41 am
#60
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 2,531
Given the Port Authority is managing this process anything is possible! I hope I’m wrong and made to look like a fool in the end but I have my reservations on this one. Can you name a single airport that has a terminal torn down and rebuilt with the end result being far better than what replaced it?
And guess who operates it.