Express PHL Using Hard Stands with Gates Available in F Term

[Art at ISP]

First of all, let me say it felt good to be back on US after a prolonged absence. I decided to try the ISP through PHL route again after many years...made a number of interesting discoveries...some good, some things that haven't changed...kind of a back to the future thing, if you will.

On one hand, there were no agents at ISP that I knew. All but two rampers were women, too... On the other hand, I missed my old friend Eileen's retirement from the PHL club system by a month...sorry to have missed her. That said, however, I saw my dear friend Karin the bartender at the BC club twice this week, just before she retires in three weeks or so.

Now for the back to the future part....from F16, we boarded a bus which took us out to the old parking area express used before there was a Terminal F. The strange part is that there were open gates in F, but there were about 5 Buzz Buckets parked out in the old area.....I'm just wondering Why they would subject passengers to the long bus ride if there were plenty of open gates.....

We won't get into how they handled an equipment swap from a 767 to 332 from CLT to PHL, however....not operations control at its best but we will leave that for another thread.

My BEST to you all.......

 

[fr8tmastr]

Art,
 
It's nice to see you back on the boards again.  I had no idea they were again using the old parking spots.  Does it have anything to do with the construction in F?

 

[cynic]

They only do that when gates are scheduled to be full. Usually, they will sit for an extended period of time, or putting that airplane on a gate would impact multiple other flights. It's not like they go out of the way to inconvenience passengers.
 

 
 
Does it have anything to do with the construction in F?

I believe that 8 was the only gate "lost" in the construction. It has much more to do with the LGA slot swap of a couple years ago and the reduction in Dash 8 flying out of LGA. 

 

[Art at ISP]

Cynic, they have in the past just kidding I think.........
 
Makes sense, but as I recall, there were many empty gates...at any rate it was a flashback to pre-1999.....
 
The A332 is a nice ride, by the way.

 

[robbedagain]

Art  its great to see you back here again and to see your posts from your flights.  

 

[wings396]

Gate 16 was also lost with the expansion. While it's still available a boarding gate, there's no parking space for an AC

 

[Art at ISP]

Thank you all for the kind words. And yes, Wings, it was gate 16 which loads onto the busses. It was just an observation, and quite a blast from the past.

I do wonder what will happen to routes like PHL-ISP in future, as the Dash 8's begin timing out.....they did run CRJ's on the route for a while but I think they're now all back to the Dash. I do hope they can keep ISP-DCA after July 1, and perhaps add CLT, ORD or MIA from ISP in future....although I'm probably dreaming. 
 
My BEST to you all....

 

[nycbusdriver]

Thank you all for the kind words. And yes, Wings, it was gate 16 which loads onto the busses. It was just an observation, and quite a blast from the past.
I do wonder what will happen to routes like PHL-ISP in future, as the Dash 8's begin timing out.....they did run CRJ's on the route for a while but I think they're now all back to the Dash. I do hope they can keep ISP-DCA after July 1, and perhaps add CLT, ORD or MIA from ISP in future....although I'm probably dreaming. 
 
My BEST to you all....

 
 
I think the new AA is planning ISP-DFW as the route to premier the 787 in November.
 
Feel better?
 
Aside from the smart-ass answer, you must face that ISP is an "also ran" market.  But, if the folks who like ISP are willing to pay the fares necessary to keep whatever service can be provided at a profit, they will have their service.  It is hard for ISP to argue, like some little cities and towns in the middle of Montana, that the service is essential.  It's not.  It's merely convenient, and one must sometimes pay dearly for convenience.

 

[Art at ISP]

I know the realities of the market, I'm just hoping. ISP has been mismanaged from a governmental point of view for years. WN came in because they couldn't get to LGA and wanted a NY metro presence. Once they got LGA they drew ISP down to next to nothing. This is the problem in general, we are too close to NYC. So is HPN but they draw from CT and parts north.

It's a stretch but I'm just hoping.

Hope you're well, NYC.

 

[cynic]

Gate 16 was also lost with the expansion. While it's still available a boarding gate, there's no parking space for an AC

Not "lost" so much as used to feed up to 6 remotely parked airplanes. Once they no longer need to bus people out to the remote spots, they will have F16 available again. F8 is gone permanently, there isn't enough space for any aircraft to park there now.