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Edited on Fri Feb-18-11 07:15 AM by Divernan
The problem is that for the little regional planes (typically flying 20 to 30 passengers), the passengers have to carry their own carry on bags down about 20 steep steps to ground level and haul them across the tarmac, regardless of weather, to the planes, and then up the planes' own flimsy fold down steps. Same in reverse for arriving flights. There are no elevators to take passengers between the waiting areas and the tarmac. When these same small planes arrive at other airports,, like Newark, enclosed ramps/tunnels are available and are attached directly to these small planes. Other airports, like Cleveland, have small elevators connecting waiting areas to gates, or escalators down to waiting areas for several gates for the small commuter planes. Other airports also provide large umbrellas for passengers to use who must go through rain or snow to get to the planes.
Pittsburgh International has many, many unused gates with access to enclosed boarding ramps which could be used for these smaller planes. But they save money by inconveniencing their passengers, a good proportion of whom are elderly and have to take extra care with steps. I flew those small planes in and out of Pgh twice a month for many years. Nearly every flight I would see passengers who were surprised, appalled and had to struggle greatly to manage the stairs and their luggage on their own. Once I had a heavily bandaged sprained wrist, and asked a USAir employee to direct me to an elevator. None available, I was told, and there was no one to help me get my bag up the steep steps. Thankfully, a kind young man/fellow passenger lugged my bag up for me.
Pittsburgh International also regularly saved money by shutting off power in the early morning and mid-evening to their very long moving walkways from the parking lots, and shutting off escalators between the floors of their arrival building and from their high speed "people mover" and central terminal hub. That meant having to somehow get all your luggage, check through and carry on, up to the main terminal by hauling it yourself. If a terminal is open for business, the escalators and moving walkways should be in operation. Many of the parking spots in the close-in, enclosed, short term parking garage were roped off for years because the contractor building it had used sub-standard pre-cast concrete.
The Airport Authority received $7.5 million in 2001 to settle a lawsuit over problems in the garage due to defects in the concrete. So I think they could have afforded to keep the power on to the moving walkways and escalators! However the parking building problems remained uncorrected until last year, meaning more people had to park farther out and rely on the moving walkways to get them into the airport.
I rarely fly now, but when I do, I park at an off-site, private parking facility which is cheaper than parking at the airport. The van drops me off at my airline's main entrance and the driver unloads my bags for me. I also know enough not to book flights on the smaller planes. When I return, the private operation picks me up and drops me off at my car, with the engine warmed up, and the driver loads my bags into my car. Even with the tips, it's cheaper than the airport parking.
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