Worst & Best Airports

[stuckathuntermtn]

I was impressed how quickly we got through passport control and customs on our recent trip to the UK. We flew out of Vancouver (because the flight was much cheaper than from Seattle) and flew direct to London Gatwick. At Gatwick once we got our luggage we just had to scan our passport at an automated gate and went right through since we had nothing to declare. Flying back into Vancouver we just had to answer some questions about what we brought back on a touch screen terminal and since we had nothing to declare it was again just straight through. It's crazy how this can either takes seconds or hours depending on where you are and when.

Doesn't it also depend on who you are, and where you're flying to/from?
American passport with a flight origin in the Commonwealth. Would be odd if you faced much scrutiny. Interesting about the costs and the automation.

Any mags stuck in this outage?

[stuckathuntermtn]

In Dublin we went through US passport control in....Dublin. After security. So when we landed in ATL it was like landing a domestic flight - free to go wherever.

Anyone else see this in Europe too? Where?

This might explain why I often see international destinations at gates right next to domestic ones. And not just Mexico or Canada.

[The AD]

Doesn't it also depend on who you are, and where you're flying to/from?

It does. There's were signs saying if you have a passport from a certain list of countries (with the US being one of them), go this way.

[Brock Landers]

In Dublin we went through US passport control in....Dublin. After security. So when we landed in ATL it was like landing a domestic flight - free to go wherever.

Anyone else see this in Europe too? Where?

Love Dublin for this. I’m usually still drunk when going through tsa there so makes it easy when I land in Boston and I’m dehydrated and irritable.

[alpinevibes]

We sat in CDG this morning for an extra 3hrs… Luckily we had just made it by past check in desks and security when the crash happened. I can’t imagine the shit show that backed up outside those two zones once they stopped moving people through. ORD seemed totally normal (for a Friday afternoon) once we landed. United employees making repeated, heavy-handed apologies about the technical difficulties and going out of their way to call out the “third-party vendor.”


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[The SnowShow]

Flew in and out of San Diego recently. Forgot what a mess that airport is and….how do they only have ONE runway?! Insane.

[halliday]

Doesn't it also depend on who you are, and where you're flying to/from?
American passport with a flight origin in the Commonwealth. Would be odd if you faced much scrutiny. Interesting about the costs and the automation.

Any mags stuck in this outage?

We were supposed to depart Phoenix yesterday at 6 AM and wound up taking off at 1 PM. Terminal A in Atlanta was as busy as I have ever seen it. One good thing was that most everybody was pretty chill about what was happening. Every body was frustrated and tired but there were no real assholes encountered. I wound up getting into Savannah at 2:05 this morning.

[old goat]

We were supposed to depart Phoenix yesterday at 6 AM and wound up taking off at 1 PM. Terminal A in Atlanta was as busy as I have ever seen it. One good thing was that most everybody was pretty chill about what was happening. Every body was frustrated and tired but there were no real assholes encountered. I wound up getting into Savannah at 2:05 this morning.

You did better than my brother RNO to MSP--a week before the outage.

[The AD]

Flew in and out of San Diego recently. Forgot what a mess that airport is and….how do they only have ONE runway?! Insane.

Really? It must depend on the airline/terminal. I've always had good luck there.

[406]

Really? It must depend on the airline/terminal. I've always had good luck there.

Terminal 2 (Delta, Alaska,etc) is great. Terminal 1 (southwest) is a dump and also under construction last couple years, so a mess too now. Spending billions on it yet still can't figure out how to get trolly access.

I think SAN is the busiest single runway airport? Seems like the most exciting big city landing I have ever done.

[plugboots]

^^^ I was filling the rental car tank at the Shell station, (which is the last one before you return your car there in San Diego), and a big chunk of ice fell off a plane right next to me as I was filling up. A gal was filling her car up just next to me there and she said without skipping a beat “at least it wasn’t blue”.

[old goat]

Flew in and out of San Diego recently. Forgot what a mess that airport is and….how do they only have ONE runway?! Insane.

Back in the pre-precheck days I had a couple of trips connect through San Diego--and had to exit to the land side and go through security again. Is it still like that?

[The SnowShow]

We went through Terminal 2, which was shit. And yes, it is a very exciting approach, with downtown right off the left wing.
We dropped off our rental car at the new rental car building and then took a 20 min rental bus ride through the chaos outside to get to Terminal 2. People in the bus were mumbling “where the fuck are we going” because it was such a long, circuitous route. Then the terminal was jam packed with people sitting on the floor, then the line for takeoff was long, obviously since there’s ONE runway. Amazing for such a big, beautiful city.

[The AD]

Having a single runway is the downside. Having the airport immediately adjacent to downtown is the big upside--for tourists, anyway.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Stuck at ORD right now. Delta is dead to me.

[seano732]

Vibes. For some reason Delta is more fubar’d than the others…. But that’s just what I read on the internet, I’m on the couch having a cocktail atm.

[BmillsSkier]

Vibes. For some reason Delta is more fubar’d than the others…. But that’s just what I read on the internet, I’m on the couch having a cocktail atm.

Delta's flight crew management software was also affected by the "update", whereas no other airline used the Crowdstrike program for anything other than their booking software. All this means that Delta not only had the same troubles rebooking/boarding their passengers, they also had no idea where any of their crew were, how long they'd been flying or where they were headed. I was told yesterday evening that crews were being scheduled via text message. FFS, the best domestic airline sure isn't looking sharp right now.

[Touring_Sedan]

Delta used it for fucking everything. Ask me how I know. We were supposed to take off 4 hours ago.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Delta's flight crew management software was also affected by the "update", whereas no other airline used the Crowdstrike program for anything other than their booking software. All this means that Delta not only had the same troubles rebooking/boarding their passengers, they also had no idea where any of their crew were, how long they'd been flying or where they were headed. I was told yesterday evening that crews were being scheduled via text message. FFS, the best domestic airline sure isn't looking sharp right now.

We were delayed a total of 4 hours in ORD. Plane was on the ground but they couldn't scrape up a full crew. The last attendant they needed to take off got called in on her personal phone, and it looked like she just came in off the lake. We had to run to make our connection in MSP which luckily was delayed a bit for weather. Delta can get fukt.

[BmillsSkier]

While this all certainly blows goats, I can't pin it on Delta when Crowdstrike was the one who pushed the update to crash all these systems. Now, hopefully this gives Delta and others the opportunity to re-evaluate their backup/redundancy systems. I have to think it's a good idea to have all your internal systems working together off the same platforms, but no have no backup plan in place if those simultaneously fail is not a prudent way to do business.

I'll let IT experts weigh in on that though.

[riser4]

Belt and suspenders are required at all times. That's my professional opinion. But I'm about to quit the business and "retire".

[zion zig zag]

While this all certainly blows goats, I can't pin it on Delta when Crowdstrike was the one who pushed the update to crash all these systems. Now, hopefully this gives Delta and others the opportunity to re-evaluate their backup/redundancy systems. I have to think it's a good idea to have all your internal systems working together off the same platforms, but no have no backup plan in place if those simultaneously fail is not a prudent way to do business.

I'll let IT experts weigh in on that though.

Pete and the DOT aren’t letting Delta off the hook so easily, and neither am I. They had no backup plan and the response has been terrible. They’ve had days to get their shit together and still cancelled a thousand flights yesterday.

A friend of mine who is a Delta pilot said the crew lounge in ATL had easily 100 pilots rested and ready just hangin around for hours the other day.

[BmillsSkier]

Yeah it’s not a good look by any means for them; the cause of the mess may not be their fault but the response is firmly in their court. I’m glad Delta and airlines in general are being held to account more these days. Flying is more expensive than ever and (at least in DL’s case) the airlines are turning massive profits, so when they can’t deliver the one service they offer, or make it right when they can’t, then I have little sympathy for them.

[Touring_Sedan]

Supposed to fly from SLC to ATL Tuesday at 8A. They boarded us on the plane late at 9:15 only to take us back off 30 minutes later. Apparently they thought the pilot was coming in from LAX in 15 minutes when in fact he was coming in from Houston two hours later. When we boarded the same plane at the same gate again we sat on the plane for a couple of hours before takeoff. Flight was fine, landed in ATL at around 6P. Went to baggage claim and while I was waiting, I checked my airtag. The bag was still in SLC. Waited in line to talk to a human for half an hour and filed a claim. Bag was supposed to be "expedited" on the next two flights. The airtag didn't move. When I was sleepless I decided to fingerbang around Google Maps to see exactly where the bag was. Streetview showed it in a "Delta Cargo" facility. Called them this morning and they're sending my bag on a truck from SLC to ATL ETA, 5 days.

How the fuck does that even happen? We showed up 4 hours early for our flight. The plane never changed, yet they decided to take my bag off and ship it by truck.

[Touring_Sedan]

are being held to account more these days.

That's fucking laughable. They're going to get a financial slap on the wrist which they'll promptly pass on to the rest of us.