45 minute CUT OFF--Dont be late!

[REACC1]

45 minutes at DFW? Are they serious? This is an airport that was designed for O&D travel, with minimal distance from the ticket counter to the plane (excluding AA obviously). How many gates does US use at DFW? Three?

Lord help us, if US can't load a bag at DFW in 35 minutes, how do they manage at BUF or ILM?

It's a fact homey, TSA only has one station to scan bags and then get them back to the airline.
FYI, four gates. East and West.

 

[SpinDoc]

It's a fact homey, TSA only has one station to scan bags and then get them back to the airline.
FYI, four gates. East and West.

FYI folks, in some airports (ATL for example), the TSA will not accept checked bags for scanning from airlines if their self-imposed time limit has expired. Therefore, the airlines really have no choice but to enforce the limits rigorously in those cities. If they don't enforce the policy, it's an automatic PAWOB, which depending on the city can cost more than the fare that is collected to deliver the late bags. Don't always blame the airline, often their hands are tied.
You can almost never go wrong by arriving at the entrance to the ticket counter line 60 minutes before a domestic flight. 90 minutes is better because you will likely be arriving between flight banks, which means less people in line waiting to check in. The kiosks work well if you have two important tools - 1. A credit card (any card with your name on the mag stripe) and 2. your PNR (record locator or reservation confirmation). Customers have a responsibility to be on-time just as much as the airline has a responsibility to educate the customer and help them through the check-in process.

 

[Henderfuzz]

45 minutes at DFW? Are they serious? This is an airport that was designed for O&D travel, with minimal distance from the ticket counter to the plane (excluding AA obviously). How many gates does US use at DFW? Three?

Lord help us, if US can't load a bag at DFW in 35 minutes, how do they manage at BUF or ILM?

We have 4 gates for 24 flights at DFW and the problems at DFW are with the airports inline sceeening system.
It is not all that efficiant just today it had a major breakdown and we held some flights for 20 to 25 minutes just to make sure we had all the bags and some still missed.
Apparently the missed bags at DFW are so bad today we have been told to peal the pax record lable off the bag tags in order to keep track of our bags that make the flights. We dont have the people to do this but oh well it has to be done to prove all our bags are makeing the flights.
I guess they dont trust us fleet guys and gals anymore.
This is not a solutution its just more management BS.
All of our bag tags have bar codes on them in order to track bags but for some reason technology is not on the radar screen of this managment team.
Long before the west team took over the airline HP had a bad reputation with missed bags and poor ontime performance.
Looks like nothing has changed except the name of the airline to protect the innocent.

 

[CLTBWIDAYSYR]

As someone else said, Gate Check!

 

[Old PSA]

My Turn,

Working in one of our smaller operations, we still have waits of 30-45 minutes for TSA to accept checked baggage and then another wait of 30-45 minutes at the check point. If you check in less then 1 hour, we "green tag" the bag (status pending). We then board the bag when the psgr boards. The airport boards about 3000 people a day and the TSA has just over 200 on staff. They have 4 bag scan positions and 3 lines at the checkpoint but they can't staff more then 2 bag scans and 2 lines at a time. We board about 1000 passenger a day and have 22 inside and the vendor has 23 outside.

 

[ALCARLOS]

My Turn,

Working in one of our smaller operations, we still have waits of 30-45 minutes for TSA to accept checked baggage and then another wait of 30-45 minutes at the check point. If you check in less then 1 hour, we "green tag" the bag (status pending). We then board the bag when the psgr boards. The airport boards about 3000 people a day and the TSA has just over 200 on staff. They have 4 bag scan positions and 3 lines at the checkpoint but they can't staff more then 2 bag scans and 2 lines at a time. We board about 1000 passenger a day and have 22 inside and the vendor has 23 outside.

Doesn't Airport Management now have the ability to contract this out?

 

[john john]

The kiosks work well if you have two important tools - 1. A credit card (any card with your name on the mag stripe) and 2. your PNR (record locator or reservation confirmation). Customers have a responsibility to be on-time just as much as the airline has a responsibility to educate the customer and help them through the check-in process.

The kiosks are self-service, the passengers checks in their-self………this is how our man-power is setup to have the passengers go at it alone. SELF-SERVICE

 

[Harry Callahan]

What is going on with the 45 min cut off time ? Either we are or are not. Received NUMEROUS hand written local check bags 10-20 min prior to departure. CLT

 

[SKY HIGH]

What if you show up an hour in advance but get stuck in long check-in lines? Wunder says the carrier will try to accommodate those passengers by allowing anyone nearing the 45-minute cutoff to move to the front of the line in front of fliers with later flights. >



So basically, USAirways will provide first class service to those who arrive late to the line who will be allowed to roll up to the counter ahead of people who decided to get there ahead of time to get checked in.... Good plan there, nothing as relaxing as finally getting to the top of the line only to be held back to accommodate two families who have arrived without time to wait in the same line you did, who then have ID/Ticket/seating or routing problems to wade through for 20 minutes.

only stating opinions

 

[SpinDoc]

So basically, USAirways will provide first class service to those who arrive late to the line who will be allowed to roll up to the counter ahead of people who decided to get there ahead of time to get checked in....

This is a dangerous precedent, if true. It encourages chronically late customers to have the expectation that they don't need to arrive early to the airport. It is solely the responsibility of the customer to arrive at the airport with sufficient time to complete the check-in requirements that are set forth by the airline, PERIOD. If you are not in compliance with the policy, then you should be required to wait for the next flight. It's time to get rid of the gray areas for good, make a policy, and stick to it.

 

[Harry Callahan]

SpinDoc you are right on with this one.

 

[Prince of PAWOBs]

I'm sitting here thinking about what SpinDoc said, and something interesting occured to me...

Let's say it's a very heavy travel day and you have a flight that is oversold. We'll make the plane a 50 seat RJ that's sold to 53. Best case scenario: there are only three revenue pax waiting at the gate to get on the oversold aircraft.

Not all 50 of our lucky pax are checked in yet, however. Bif Smith and his wife Buffy, son Bif Jr. and daughter Muffy have got up rather late this morning and are still loading the car with luggage and trying to figure out what fast food joint to hit on the way to the airport.

Still with me? Okay, good.

The Smiths arrive at the airport with 35 minutes left before departure and are told that they will be rebooked on the next flight to their destination because they have missed the cutoff time of 45 minutes. Bif Smith rants and raves, uses some colorful language and swears he will never fly US ever again. Nice posturing, Bif old boy!

So, what good comes out of this scenario?

Well, back at the gate, Mindy the gate agent sees that the Smiths are not going to be joining the rest of the pax this morning, and now Pax A, B and C, who were waiting patiently and early are going to get seat assignments and make the flight. A, B and C are not flying together. They have different agendas and could care less about anyone else getting on the plane. But, US did get them on the plane, and I submit that three passengers getting boarded as opposed to the Smiths (which for all intents and purposes is basically ONE passenger, IMO) is better for repeat business overall.

Now, we still have a plane that is very full, it leaves on time (did I mention it had all of the bags...well, it did because everyone was early to the airport, except the Smiths), and yes, Bif Smith is POed, but he and his family will be able to get on the next flight, and eventually Bif will probably have some sort of epiphany concerning arriving at airports earlier.

This scenario works best with oversold or nearly full flights. US boarded everyone they could, and the plane went out on time. It doesn't solve the problem of moving bags faster from TSA or ticketing to planeside, but I think it's another way to look at the problem and find a bright side.

If the Smiths had been quicker to the airport, roles would have been reversed somewhat. A, B and C might have been a bit disappointed or grumpy about being booked on an oversold flight, but they would eventually make it to the destination as well. And I'm pretty sure their bags would, too.

 

[tadjr]

On NW, I've routinely checked my bag 25-30 mins before departure, and it's never been lost. I also never get lip service from an agent when I miss their cut off by 1 minute. US denied me boarding on a flight a few weeks ago because I was literally 30 seconds after the cutoff ... this after waiting in line for 10 minutes due to the kiosk not working for no apparent reason.

Dont do 25-30 min on NW in TPA or you'll be out of luck. They dont bend on this rule here. Ask any of their people who come looking for a flight they've missed and they'll tell you. UA is also 45 mins here, FL is 40, BA is 60. Most others are still at 30 mins.
Our manager has programmed the computers to lock out checkin 30 mins before departure. We used to be able to force a tag with a voluntary separation on it and send the people on their way. Now, no go, even if you are 2 seconds past the cutoff time. Too many claims filed on people who were "just a few minutes late" who didnt understand that VS meant you come back and get the bag. Oh well, now everyone who is "a few seconds past cutoff" gets the same treatment. You are rebooked on the next flight.
Sorry about the kiosk not working. Did you get an agent to help you immediately or go get in another line? If you tried to use the kiosk and it was close to cutoff, ask someone behind the kiosk area to help. Travel is up and there are going to be times where cutting it to the last couple of minutes is not going to work. You'd be amazed at the number of people who come strolling in and think 20 minutes from checkin to boarding is enough time. I can tell you if things are running smoothly (at least in TPA) at 20 mins before dept, most people have already been boarded and they're just looking for the stragglers.

 

[madders]

Hey Doofus travellers maybe usairways just want you their passengers to get to the airport on time to check in for your flight since most travellers take it for granted there are other airlines flying out of their respective cities and there could be volumes of people to go through the security checkpoint.


People tend to be tunnel vision and only care about their flights. Even if your flight is 50% full maybe other usairways flights are full. and if other airlines are full then you have a line at check point..

Also TSA screens baggage for all airlines so think about it ..

So arrive early to the airport check in go through security and bring a book or whatever you feel necessary to amuse yourself before the 30 minutes before departure boarding

 

[Travelpro72]

Well I don't think it's that bad of an idea though it masks the true problem. It is not uncommon to wait 30-45 minutes for a table at a restaurant. It is not uncommon to wait that long to take a 2 minute ride on a roller coaster. It also isn't that uncommon to sit around that long for a dentist or doctor. Be there early enough or you don't go. It's pretty simple. If you have a personal problem and can't make it in time ie traffic, car trouble or whatever...it's not any airlines fault nor all the others who DID get there early.