ACA cannot operate on there own....I have a lot of friends flying over there and they are worried to say the least. It is EASY to run an airline and getting pay for empty seats, and having no Res. center or real day to day marketing.
I hope I am wrong, read below, Kerry will have to keep a "Skeen" eye on things to pull off a LCC operation.
heres some of what our full fare people think of ACA.
http://www.flyertalk.com
FlyerTalk Miles
United
Chaos at IAD T Gates
I've never seen anything quite like this.
Yesterday (noon Friday), I was at gate T-14 at IAD. 6 flights, all regional jets, were due to get out of T-14's 3 doors, within 15 minutes.
There were not enough seats for the estimated 300 passengers. People were seating on the floor, in the aisle, just everywhere! There was no PA system (or maybe it broke), so the 5 or so agents on duty were yelling out to passengers with boarding information. It didn't help that 3 flights to New York - JFK, LGA and EWR were leaving within 5 minutes of each other, so passengers were shuffling around when they got to the wrong door.
To make matters worse, the Toronto and LGA flights were overbooked and a number of passengers were denied boarding. I noticed at least 4 on the Toronto flight and 1 on the LGA flight.
Is this normal? Atlantic Coast operates these United Express flights. I hope UA is watching, because they are scaring UA passengers away. I, for one, will NEVER fly Atlantic Coast flights again.
lychic,
Those gates are the worse.... I was there last week when I was doing my 16 segments in 2 days... it was terrible.
I sent an email to United detailing the problems... got a nice letter back... but doubt much will change since it is Atlantic Coast Airlines.
I found the gate staff to be downright rude and anti-customer.
this normal? Atlantic Coast operates these United Express flights. I hope UA is watching, because they are scaring UA passengers away. I, for one, will NEVER fly Atlantic Coast flights again.--
seem to care.. AND from the way UA is talking we will have to put up with more of it since regional jets are the UA thing these days.
ORD is just as bad and to have 2 places like this doing high volume traffic with UAX
feeding UA flights WILL come back to haunt United. The attitude that, "Oh well it is United Express and not us" is foolish..THe planes are UNITED express. If your name is on the product it is YOURS not someone else.
United Express is United. It would be interesting to see if UAX arrival and departures go into the UAL statistics.
In ORD they are notorious, Even among UA staff, for listing the aricraft as on time even though it isn't at the gate.
I went through there on Tuesday and it was the same way at the "A" terminal. It seemed every flight that was going out was overbooked or overwieght.
I'm glad I don't go through this terminal a lot. Makes you really enjoy SFO and LAX!
've been flying UA everywhere for years. I now avoid UAX, IAD, and ACA whenever possible.
Some of the agents and supervisors are very unprofessional. It's not uncommon to hear them arguing loudly with each other.
The announcements are difficult to understand, with all the accents.
The terminal is usually like a zoo.
The planes are uncomfortable.
If you're listening United, you need to keep real United metal flying in my markets. Otherwise I'm likely to shift to the discount carriers. Discount carriers with big planes, are better than CRJ's and J41's any day.
If you're listening United, you need to keep real United metal flying in my markets. Otherwise I'm likely to shift to the discount carriers. Discount carriers with big planes, are better than CRJ's and J41's any day.
Boy, I second that!
I hate those regional jets.
As UA moves to more "regional jets" that fly up to 1000 mile routes, i am moving my carcass to other airlines.
RJ seats are narrower, they don't recline, and the single cup of soda routine gets very tiring.
They are not the future of air travel for me, that's for sure. I would sooner drive 2 hours and fly on a mainline jet, or fly Southwest or America West, then fly an RJ to a "Rejional jet market" like Los Angeles.
Are the T gates where the PVD flights normally leave from? Late last summer I flew thru IAD and vowed, never again. The boarding area was a disaster with rude agents, rude pax, etc and it reminded me of a refugee camp of sorts. I arrived to this scene after hiking from the end of the mid-field terminal to those white things and then hiked to far end of the next terminal to other gate. The most exhausting part of a cross-country vacation.
was transiting through IAD from MUC a couple of days ago and IAD was a zoo. There were long customs and security re-screening lines. The terminals were packed and the UA staff was not very friendly which, given the chaotic place they work, is not too surprising.
While transiting IAD and waiting to board an IAD-SFO flight, I observed that IAD is just so dreary and is in major need of a facelift. Of course, arriving from shiny new MUC Terminal 2 didn't help matters but, nevertheless, IAD is a place I'm not looking forward to transiting through in the near future.
I recommend that those headed to the west coast and are coming from Europe take UA's nonstop flights to LAX or SFO or even ORD if possible.
Is this normal? Atlantic Coast operates these United Express flights. I hope UA is watching, because they are scaring UA passengers away. I, for one, will NEVER fly Atlantic Coast flights again.
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Not only is UA watching, their the ones doing the over booking.
've slept overnight in the T gates!
That was the last straw, I am now a champion IAD hater and will never fly through there again. It is the worst intl airport in the world.
As I read the first post I had flashbacks. Imagine the same situation and then cancel every flight. Alarms going off all over the place, complete imcompetence from the woman who was in charge.
Now I go the long way thru ORD to europe.
* agree. Used to do the T-gates thing twice a week -- I had major customers in IAD and I live/work in RDU. The ACA people at IAD are by far the worst I've ever seen, only made worse by the horrific scheduling and overbooking.
To anyone listening, avoid IAD's T-gates like the plague.
A flight attendent told me they always "lose" their passengers, i.e. people get lost trying to reach the T-Gates.
I can only sum from all your responses above - AVOID T-GATES LIKE THE PLAGUE!
How can UA let ACA get away with this? Its absurb!
I've slept overnight in the T gates!
That was the last straw, I am now a champion IAD hater and will never fly through there again. It is the worst intl airport in the world.
As I read the first post I had flashbacks. Imagine the same situation and then cancel every flight. Alarms going off all over the place, complete imcompetence from the woman who was in charge.
Now I go the long way thru ORD to europe.
I'm still angry after getting stranded twice overnight last winter from UAX cancelled flights at IAD - while everyone else operated normally in light snow. I'm sure this used to happen less when UA had to pay for Hotel rooms on all cancelled flights. Now this disincentive has gone. Furthermore, I've caught UA and TA trying to route me onto UAX aircraft, when the D-class european return fare rules allow an F/C-class seat. Don't allow yourselves to get caught with this nasty trick.
The flight schedules and staffing at the T gates are random, and there is nothing you can do to avoid them. Every flight of the day to the same city departs from the same gate. Saves a lot of headaches when it comes to irrops. Now, all of the ZW operated flights operate out of A2/A4. This includes all RDU flights, including those that are operated by ACA. You will find the staff rotated as well.
At every schedule change, they jumble around the flight schedule and gate assignments, so what is at A-gates one month may be at T-gates another month.
Yes, throwing all of the NYC flights together may seem to create havoc, but a lot of people will try to standby for flights to any NYC airport. Can you imagine standing by for JFK at T-gates when the next flight to LGA is at the A-gates in 5 minutes? You won't make it.
UA is familiar with the ACA situation. In fact, they help create it. Do you really think that ACA does their own flight scheduling? No. UA knows ACA's performance is in the gutter. UA has also not signed an MOU with ACA regarding future UAX work once the current contract voided during BK proceedings.
Oh, and the word on the street with the single glass of soda, etc, is that once current stock is out, there will be no more soda at all on ACA flights.
Originally posted by DHAST:
Yes, throwing all of the NYC flights together may seem to create havoc, but a lot of people will try to standby for flights to any NYC airport. Can you imagine standing by for JFK at T-gates when the next flight to LGA is at the A-gates in 5 minutes? You won't make it.
Last summer it was the opposite and that was exactly my problem. LGA/EWR flts were leaving out of A, and the JFK turbo-props from T. I was booked into JFK.
There was no way for me to monitor the situation from down there.
Crossing down into the T gates is like crossing into Babel.
Last time I was in ord forget which uax gates it was but was comming off an nw flight and walked by some uax gates at which a lady was standing on something forgot what(might have been the check in desk) with a bull horn yelling out flights.It seems that many many flights were oversold it was total chaos.The lady with the bull horn did not seems very pleasant LOL.
