Terminal 5

Her Majesty, the Queen, opened London Heathrow's new Terminal 5 last week but the public won't get to experience its glory for another two weeks. Let's hope that the Economist is wrong in its rather gloomy view of the airport's future:

Heathrow airport is a torture-chamber, and the opening of its new Terminal 5 is unlikely to make much difference.

I had to get up at about 4am in order to get to the airport in order to catch Icelandair's flight to Heathrow. Reykjavik's Leifur Eiriksson terminal in Keflavik continues to impress. When I saw the line to check-in with Icelandair, I figured it would take about an hour to check in based on the length of the line and my past experiences with United and Delta.

It took about 10 minutes tops. I similarly whizzed through the equally long security line, leaving me plenty of time to gape at the prices in the duty-free shops. I couldn't help but notice that Icelanders had grabbed all of the vodka on sale due to the staggering price of drinks on their island.

While "torture chamber" is a bit strong (no need to call Amnesty International), I did feel rather like a gerbil in a set of yellow tubes as I passed through London's Heathrow Airport. When I arrived, the signs clearly indicated that I should go to Terminal 1 but no no flight to Geneva was posted once I passed through security and walked there.

I learned my flight was in Terminal 4 and, after much marching through more gerbil tubes and a bus ride, I was there. Terminal 4 is like Montgomery Mall on steroids. Airports in Britain have been privatized and the shopping mall approach to airports has been fully embraced.

I had hoped to pick up a paperback in the UK that is still in hardcover in the US. However, the value of the American peso being what it is these days, I discovered that it would probably be cheaper for me to just buy the hardcovers in the US when I get home.

Perhaps its for the best that I got to miss out on Terminal 5 when I changed planes in Heathrow--the advert, I mean article, trumpeting its opening in the British Airways in-flight rag "Highlife" seemed to indicate that you needed to wear or to buy about $10,000 worth of clothing or luggage to pass through it.

Oh, and British Airways managed to get only one of my bags to Geneva with me despite the long layover and flight delay of around 30 minutes. Until recently, I've always had pretty good luck with luggage but I'm now 0-3 on the last three trips so the law of averages must be catching up with me.

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0-2 on Luggage

Greetings from Reykjavik. I flew directly from a vacation in Miami, Florida to Reykjavik, Iceland yesterday. (Just imagine trying to pack that suitcase!) I arrived here but my luggage never made my Delta flight from Miami to JFK where I transferred to Icelandair.

Way to go, Delta! While not quite in the special Division 1 League of luggage loss populated by United which lost my luggage for two days for a flight which was canceled, Delta still deserves kudos for providing the extra-special level of service for which the airlines are increasingly known in America.

On the other hand, non-sarcastic kudos to Icelandair. Their lost-luggage person in Keflavik Airport was not only pleasant and efficient but gave me a toiletries case to tide me over until my luggage arrives. I hope it comes soon--tomorrow will be day three for this particular pair of jeans and shirt.

Fortunately, I grabbed the ski jacket out of the suitcase just before handing the luggage over to Delta. I just wish I had the hat and gloves which are still in the suitcase. It's not so much the cold but wind which gets you in Iceland (sort of like the humidity is to the heat of Washington summers).

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I'm Going Nowhere, Somebody Help Me

United Airlines outdid themselves yesterday. They managed to lose my luggage even though I didn't fly anywhere.

On the scale of life's trails, my experience with United doesn't exactly rank with "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." Nonetheless, I suspect that if Dante were updating his inferno for the modern age, surely airports would features as one of the circles of Hell.

I was supposed to fly to Austin, Texas from Dulles Airport yesterday afternoon for a meeting at the University of Texas. Wanting to avoid rush hour, I arrived at the airport around 2.5 hours before my scheduled departure. And then I made my critical mistake: I checked a bag.

Since I checked in online and the afternoon push hadn't started yet, I whizzed through check-in and security. I violated the first rule of airport karma by assuming that all was going well and unusually fast. I've had days when I've had to wait an hour to check-in on the line reserved for business class passengers. However, the airport gods don't like you to presume.

The reason for the endless delay of my flight was unusually lame even for the airlines. No, it wasn't weather. Weather is frustrating but causes genuine problems. No, it wasn't mechanical problems with the plane. One wishes planes were always problem free but I imagine I am glad that they don't let them fly when they are having mechanical problems.

In this case, the weather was fine at both the departure and destination airports, and the plane was supposedly in tip-top shape and parked at the gate.

The problem was that United lacked a crew to fly the plane.

You would think finding a new crew wouldn't be that difficult since Dulles is a United hub but the crew apparently had to be flown up from Charlotte and they were delayed because their plane had mechanical problems.

So United pulled the slow motion, endless series of delays rope-a-dope when they further delay the flight every couple of hours by a couple more hours until it is canceled. If you checked bags, like myself, you had no hope because they couldn't switch you to another flight.

United was unusually bad, even for the airlines, throughout the situation. Announcements were made only sporadically (as in hours apart)--the passengers were a better source of information. The gate was left unmanned for awhile when an agent left at the end of her shift. We through three different gate agents during our stay at Gate D14. Agents there and at the oddly-named "customer service" desk had about zero interest in finding out or conveying information to us.

The "customer service" desk nearest to D14 had one person when I was there and thus an endless wait so I trekked over to C concourse when I finally decided to pack it in and go home at 9pm. They did issue a refund and gave me a coupon of United funny money which is very difficult to use not just because it has the usual panoply of airline limitations but has to be presented in person at the airport.

The "customer service" desk can't help with bags so I had to go to baggage handling. Phyllis in baggage handling insisted I wait because they were going "right now" to get my bag off the small plane. She agreed grudgingly to have my bags delivered about 50 minutes later when they still hadn't shown up.

The evening was topped off by an automatic computer call to my cell phone announcing that my flight had been canceled about 30 minutes after I arrived home.

It turns out that it was a work of fiction that they were locating my bag. It is now over 24 hours since my flight was supposed to have departed and United still can't find the bag. I've spent several hours on the phone trying to navigate the mouse maze of call routing lines. The baggage handling line hung up on me after a recorded voice announced the termination of the call with a quick mention of not wanting to waste my time.

I went through seven different "customer service" people who constantly gave me new numbers to call (with new call routing systems) and promised to stay on the line while they transferred me (and then didn't) but who repeatedly told me how valued I was as a United Premier member even as they proceeded to do absolutely nothing to help me.

Later this afternoon, someone finally admitted that my bags had been flown to Austin today. However, they're still missing in action.

Well, I guess I should be glad something got to travel.

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Losing it at the Airport

U.S. Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) has been accused of assaulting a United employee at Dulles Airport. According to the account in the Post, Filner didn't exactly punch anyone's lights:

Filner, who represents the San Diego area, "attempted to enter an area authorized for airline employees only" while in the United Airlines baggage claim office and "pushed aside the employee's outstretched arm and refused to leave the area when asked by an airline employee," according to a Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority police statement.

Filner didn't show good judgment in entering an employee-only area. After all, disobeying the most minor airport functionary might lead to a full body cavity search in today's security climate.

However, having recently flown Untied across the country, I bet I can guess why Filner may have entered the sacred space behind the counter and beyond the door. On my return from Portland, the bags from my flight still had not been unloaded nearly an hour after my flight landed. When I went to inquire, the baggage claim employee disappeared for awhile before coming back with a response. It doesn't help that they tend to be abrupt and just declare it will be another 10-15 minutes, including to the even less fortunate passengers who had already waited 90 minutes for their bags (and were still waiting when I left).

Of course, waiting for bags in the airport doesn't even compare to being trapped on the tarmac waiting to takeoff. I had that pleasure on the flight going to Portland. They rushed to load the plane and then promptly told us that the "federal government" was preventing us from taking off due to weather. Of course, the "federal government" hadn't forced United to load the full flight. We took off 2.5 hours late--I really treasured the extra time in that middle seat during the cross country flight. Meal service is no longer free (and nothing was served during the delay which took place during the dinner hours) so I was glad I had brought a sandwich with me.

Delayed flights are increasingly common around the country. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Washington's airports are among the worst in the nation. While 30% of flights fail to arrive on schedule at National, 29% don't get there on time at Dulles, and 23% aren't on time at BWI. At all three airports, this is an even worse record than in 2000--the full year of air travel before the 9/11 attacks. Your chances of a delay get progressively worse later in the day--dipping well below 50% at some point.

And no, not all airport problems are due to weather or even the "federal government". The United international check-in counter at Dulles is a daily scheduled disaster. It is overcrowded with incredibly long waits virtually every day. I've waited 45 minutes in the premier/business class line to check in for an international flight though that's nothing compared to the folks in the economy line. Unfortunately, checking in online is often impossible for an international flight. This happens every day so it isn't like United doesn't know this is going to happen.

Not all airport experiences are completely bad. When United managed to lose my bags coming home on a transatlantic flight, I found the baggage claim employees in customs and after customs both helpful and polite. Flight attendants usually seem to be trying to do their best under relatively trying circumstances.

Still, I'll be curious to see if Rep. Filner and his colleagues take more useful action about air travel when the proposed Passenger's Bill of Rights comes up for discussion. After all, unlike most of us, Rep. Filner actually has the power to do something about it.

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Transportation Blues

Traffic remains a top issue in Montgomery County. However, the lead story in today's Washington Post highlights why none of the County's many proposed projects won't do anything to solve the County's leading traffic jam. Fairfax County has now emerged as the region's leading job growth center. The largest traffic jam in Montgomery is caused by people trying to get from here to their jobs in Fairfax or elsewhere in northern Virginia. Traffic south on I-270 and westbound on the Beltway is a nightmare in the morning. Rush hour in the reverse direction begins around 3PM.

None of the proposed big-ticket transportation projects will do a jot to address this problem. Neither the Purple Line nor the ICC nor the Corridor Cities Transitway will get a single more person over the Potomac. And Maryland should want to facilitate cross-border commutes because it makes it easier for people in Montgomery to access the jobs and benefit from the growth in northern Virginia. Meanwhile, the new Metro line out from Tysons that will eventually reach Dulles will make it easier for District residents to get there, thus rendering us less transit competitive than our southern neighbor.

While Montgomery may engage in some handwringing over the business climate in Maryland v. Virginia, the proximity to Dulles and National Airports seems far more important in propelling Fairfax to the top of the heap. In contrast, the closest airport in Maryland is at BWI which is farther away from many in Montgomery than either Dulles or National. Ironically, all of the debates about transportation in Montgomery center on projects that ignore our largest transportation problem.

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