News and notes from around the interweb:
- Food.
AA: minor meal updates.
Going to be some pre-order "wellbeing meals" in October.
One of them will be a whole grain bowl
And next month they will be doing an adjustment on medium haul distances to offer a few more cities a better option— 🇺🇦 JonNYC 🇺🇦 (@xJonNYC) August 27, 2022
- New Salt Lake City 700-room Hyatt Regency
- Train service to Washington Dulles hasn’t even opened yet and the airport head says he doesn’t expect passengers will even use it much.
I think, ultimately, it will bring more employees to the airport than it will passengers. …I think it’s quite frankly, it’s a luggage thing. People don’t want to carry luggage on the Metro. They’d rather just drive or take an Uber, take a taxi or have somebody drive them to the airport with their luggage.
- I’m not sharing this for the passenger complaint, just for the ad in the background. Washington DC ads are so weird. When I first moved there ads in the metro suggested awarding contracts to more than one supplier for the Joint Strike Fighter. Some of the most expensive advertising can be found at the Pentagon metro stop and Capitol South. Here at National airport is an ad for government contractor big data company Palantir.
Hi @AmericanAir Can you guess where I am? Not where I'm supposed to be. Should have been in Boise 3 hrs ago. In line in DC while they change a tire hoping we can at least get to DFW tonight. Gonna need a hotel, dinner, and a massage. #NotKidding pic.twitter.com/sX95ouN5TO
— M. Warbington (@rwm52) August 27, 2022
- Air France pilots suspending for brawling in the cockpit
- Irish model slams ‘awful man’ who wouldn’t switch seats with her family
- Here’s what an independent arbitrator says the former head of the American Airlines flight attendants union (Bob Ross) owes, after using union funds for personal expenses. Another thing Delta flight attendants consider, whether having union leaders take their money is ‘worth it’.
Just like at XNA, lots of ads for retail metrics/inventory control platforms, plus a lot of signs for random brands – all targeting Walmart people flying in and out of Bentonville.
Employees outstripping passengers as the primary users of airline transit links is a very common occurrence.
Think about it this way, from planner Jarrett Walker:
1,000 employees taking the train to and from the airport every day is more rides than 100,000 people taking the train a couple of times per year.
Bob Ross owes AA that much? Sheesh, he’s gonna have to sell a TON of paintings to cover that bill!
Oh, I’m definitely taking the Metro. So much easier and cheaper than anything else and not having to deal with parking will be awesome.
Maybe if they built the Meteo to the actual airport instead of 100 years across a parking lot more people would be abt to take it!
I think some people will take it, especially tourists who don’t know better.
I don’t think it will move the needle substantially for locals.
After a recent family trip to DC where our flight cancellation to DCA landed us at Dulles, I gladly would have traded my $80 Uber fare for a Metro fare. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton and the three block walk from the GWU station was perfect not to rent a car and deal with parking or Uber/Lyft
Palantir had the same as on a huge screen in T3 at LHR ~1week ago.
@Travelrr – and UK has as much or more surveillance than anywhere in the world…
I suspect that European travelers who are accustomed to riding public transportation will readily schlep their luggage on the silver line without batting an eye
As a local, I will gladly take Metro to Dulles. I like taking the 5A bus currently but frequency isn’t the best.
@Daniel The station will be accessible from a tunnel under the parking lot. I’ve been numerous airports with rail service where you have to walk a long way to the train station. This is no different. As for Metro’s reliability, that will be another issue…
ATL did a great job of getting people to use their subway/rail system. The station is right next to baggage claim and the trains have baggage areas. The airport is much closer to downtown than IAD. Employees and passengers use it heavily to the extent that they put an airport surcharge on it and people still use it. ORD is similar.
Airport rail can be done well but IAD is not the only airport that put lots of hurdles in the way of desirable airport passenger rail.
Maybe Bob Ross American Airlines past union president should be in jail. This would set a example for future union officers.
I’m a long-time transit planner. Employees are the target market for airport services. Period.
Politically, in virtually every city if you ask where transit needs to go, the airport comes up. Airport lines typically have public support. But the ridership is normally primarily employees. If you do end up getting lots of passengers, it’s a bonus.
For folks with just carryons, it is common for passengers to use transit to get to/from airport. SFO, Atlanta, Seattle, and O’Hare are all prime examples. Hell look at Logan to see folks shlepping huge suitcases onto the Silver Line. But they’re still outnumbered by employees using the service.
no one will take anything if it’s infrequent, slow and chaotic.
the idea of the subway FINALLY going past the Vienna stop is great. They, the DC metro association, just needs to get their head out of their ass and market/ manage it well!
knowing how awful DC/beltway traffic is, you bet your ass I’ll take it to work each day rather than deal with that mess, parking AND a shuttle.
Also, I’ll be taking the Metro to/from IAD a decent amount. So much better then driving and dealing with 66 or paying some crazy Uber fare.
He’ll be surprised how many passengers will take it – especially those on shorter trips, etc. Millennials love transit.
In keeping with its joint military/civilian operations status, the ads at VPS tend to be pretty evenly split between those for million dollar beach condos and related tourism activities and F-35 componentry.
He’s 100% wrong about metro. Traffic has always been horrid into DC if you arrive at 4pm (a popular time for transcons and Europe). I’d gladly take metro into heart of DC rather than wasting time in a car. Plus Uber and taxi monopoly are grossly overpriced now.
Huge numbers take metro to DCA Many of us only travel w carry on
The problem with pubic transportation on the US is that it’s full of homeless and criminals. Using it is using your life in your hands and rolling the dice on being a victim of a crime.
Over 40% of what Bob Ross owes the union is fees incurred ($25,000+) to find out what he owed the union!
Not just for outbound pax, but also for inbound. Plenty of people use the DCA stops & when I lived in NYC, used the subway all the time & happily used it in SFO. Plenty of folks use the DEN one as well – though not as convenient for suburban dwellers. Still – better than paying for parking in some cases. And taxis in DC are oppressive.
Not sure how long the train ride to IAD will be, but I’m sure there will be a popular option for IAD travellers. Uber fares have skyrocketed in recent years, and it’s a loooong drive out to that airport, so it’s an expensive ride. Obviously, the train is not for everyone, but it’s for some. I know many people already take the Metro to DCA.
Actually, a smart move by IAD exec. Better to say few passengers will use Metro than to claim many will. Typically transit ridership is overhyped.
I’d definitely use the metro to IAD. I’ve done so when it required transferring to a bus at the end of the line. That was a pain but better than the alternatives for me. Going all the way to the airport on the metro will be great.
It doesn’t matter who uses the system the most as long as it is used. I don’t dispute the contention that employees will be big users. The Gautrain (I think they call it) to JNB from Johannesburg even has a separate stop for employees.
The problem with just about every new idea is people expect immediate “success” or it’s no good. The Airport Director is a visionless dolt. This rail link is new. You don’t need to be a deep thinker to know it will take time to develop a following. I have used the JFK (NY) Airtrain since it opened. At the beginning, lots of friends and co-workers ignored it. Now, many of them have discovered it works and works well and can save $100 or more on a trip. Tourists, especially groups, also ride it a lot and save $ to spend on NYC stuff rather than overpriced airport cabs or Ubers. The chance of making your afternoon fight on a rainy or snowy, or Holiday Weekend Fridayday from DC Town will be a lot better than braving that car or cab ride.
Can wait to TAKE METRO TO IAD!!!!! Yesssss!!!!
People will definintely use it. They current take the metro to Reston and then the Silver line bus.
This issue as I see it is time – likely an hour on the metro from DC. You can always take the 5A bus from L’Enfant Plaza with stop in Rosslyn VA – from Rosslyn the bus it only about 40 minutes – much quicker.
People still take luggage on the metro bus – I have been on it when it was packed with people standing in the aisle.
DC traffic is horrendous. The metro would beat driving any day. Plus, not having to deal with short or long term parking would be wonderful. He’s dead wrong.
Yeah, employees and out-of-town travelers will use the metro. Driving in DC is just terrible. But I don’t think a ton of locals will use it except at rush hour to avoid the I-66 crunch. The walk across the parking lot is a killer.
Then again, locals just use National.
Exec: “It will be used more by employees than passengers”
VftW: Employees are now “nobody”
Trying for click-baity headline, insults airport staff.
@Chris
Reagan
If even one person rides the new IAD train service, your headline’s premise is false. Most of the people who use public transportation (i.e., municipal or regional busses, trains, etc.) to and from airports are the airline and airport employees. That’s the norm, not the exception, everywhere I know of. Employee cars take up space in the parking garages. Transit can free up some of those spaces.
I have a house in Ballston so it is a real god send. Don not have to worry about expensive Uber ride for trips without too many luggages. I am so mad that it took this long to complete the silver line