AIRPORT NEWS
August 12th, 2009
AMEX HONORING CLEAR CARD DISPUTES. If you charged your Clear Card on AMEX and disputed it, it looks like you should be getting your money back. TICKET reader D Cumpston was the first to email us with the good news: “I got a very welcome letter from AMEX last week saying, ‘We would like to advise you that the status of your claim on your account from Verified Identity Pass Inc. We suspended the amount of $179 and advised you we would contact the merchant on your behalf. Outcome: This dispute has been resolved in your favor. The merchant has not yet provided the information necessary to resolve your claim. Therefore we have issued a credit to your account and removed the previously suspended amount…’ NICE!” Thanks, Amex!
SPEAKING OF CLEAR CARD. There are some rumors floating around about the possibility of a resuscitated program. Stay tuned as we sniff these out! But don’t get your hopes up.
LUGGAGE THEFT AT ATL CAROUSELS. From TICKET reader T Yarbro
: “Saturday night my bag was stolen from the Delta baggage carousel. The police recovered it later in the parking deck where someone had obviously taken it and gone through it looking for electronics (fortunately, they didn’t find any).”
NEWER FASTER SECURITY LANES. Have you tried using the new NORTH terminal security lanes located behind the international airline counters? Airport officials say that the average wait there is five minutes or less. Plus, the airport has added a new bank of escalators at the top of the spine at T concourse that bring you down to the transportation mall and trains.
FREE WIFI AT ATL? Airport officials are hoping to offer free wi-fi option next year, in addition to the current paid ($7.95/day) plans. Based on our experience with free wi-fi on offer at other airports, users should expect a slower, clunkier experience cluttered with ads. (Don’t try streaming video or large downloads.) It should be a welcome relief to those of us who just want to do a quick email check before boarding without having to go through the current, unwieldy, time consuming process of logging on, entering credit card, etc. Luckily, if you still want the premium paid experience due to corporate firewalls, you’ll still have that option. Stay tuned.
MORE DELTA CUTS IN CINCINNATI. The AJC says that Delta plans to lop off another 17% of flights at CVG after cutting 22% of flights there last year. When you combine Delta mainline and Comair flights, there is now a total of just 215 per day, down from 600+ four years ago. Delta’s also cutting its nonstops from Cincy to Frankfurt and London this fall. (We are not surprised, considering that Delta’s gleaming hub at Detroit (previously Northwest’s) is just up I-75 a piece…)
RED COATS. We mentioned this last month, and the program seems to be taking shape, according to a recent puff piece in the NY Times: “Delta has already brought the [Red Coat] agents back to Kennedy Airport, and last month it added more than 100 at its biggest airport hub, Atlanta. As of Aug. 1, about 500 of these agents will be in circulation at more than a dozen airports, including terminals in Washington, Los Angeles, Boston, Cincinnati, Memphis, Newark and New York.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/business/28service.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
NEW TERMINAL AT SAN JOSE: The new terminal B at San Jose International opened last month but most ATL travelers won’t get to see it unless they fly Southwest, which has laid claim to its five gates. Delta and other airlines use Terminal A, which is also under renovation, part of a much needed $1.3 billion makeover of the Silicon Valley airport.
NEW RUNWAY AT O’HARE HELPS. Ever since Chicago-O’Hare opened its new runway last November, delays have plunged. Its on-time performance has improved 27% and it now ranks higher than most other large hub airports, including ATL.
NYC AIRPORTS STILL IN THE PITS. Despite on-time improvements nearly everywhere, New York’s three airports are STILL stuck at the bottom of the list for major airports. JFK, Newark and LaGuardia airports ranked 29th, 30th and 31st, respectively, for on-time arrivals at the nation’s 31 largest airports. (So why does Delta want to put another hub in the middle of this mess?)
AIR JAMAICA? Here’s something that slipped through the cracks— Air Jamaica quit flying to ATL last spring. Sorry we missed that one. Remember their “Champagne Flights” where everyone got a glass of bubbles just after take off?
WHEN TO CHECK IN FOR DELAYED FLIGHT? Here’s an interesting dialog that helps answer the question about when you are supposed to check in for a flight that has been delayed and you have been notified of the delay. From TICKET read R Jetmundsen: “I was in Sao Paulo and had a Delta flight on Saturday night. My blackberry began to ring and it was a recording from Delta telling me that the flight schedule had changed. The new departure time was 11pm, not 9:51pm. Wow, what a wonderful technology!! So, I had a light dinner and another glass of wine and arrived at the airport at 9:10pm only to find out they had closed check in one hour before the regular departure. What is the point in calling us? They did get me on a flight to Miami on American. So good for them.” Hmm. So when are you supposed to check in for a flight you know is delayed? We emailed our contacts at Delta for the answer: “The customer notification system will continue to provide updates directly to customers if flight times change. For instance, if a flight is delayed by 2 hours and then is pushed up to only be delayed 1 hour, a second notification would be sent to the customer’s mobile device. Additionally, it is correct that customers should be able to check in to a flight based on a new departure time – not the originally scheduled time. We are investigating what occurred in this instance. This appears to be an unusual situation that did not occur within our normal practices.”
READERS! PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW!
I fly into Newark often on Air Tran and am disappointed to hear that they will be discontinuing that service in October.
On a related note, I was traveling from Vancouver to ATL, connecting in LAX. My first leg was on Alaska Airlines. The agent at check could not give my boarding pass for Delta, claiming it was on Delta’s system only (mind it was a single ticket issued by Delta). The flight was late but I was able to reach the gate of my other flight in LAX only to discover my seat had been given away for no show. Such a mess. Fortunately I was able to ‘state’ my Platinum status with Delta and got the very last seat on the plane. Too bad these reservations mishaps occur…. Alexandre