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(c) Elliott Publishing.

Airport Upgrades
Cheap Charlie · June 26, 2000

This week I am continuing my look at some of the developments airports and airlines are working on to improve service.

Last week, I discussed the mobile check-in personnel, temporary telephone banks and check-in kiosks that airlines such as Northwest and Continental now share.

There are some more basic changes coming that will be phased in over the next few years. These are already in test phases at various airports. This week I focus on the gate allocation at airports. Next week I'll look at some new "gee-whiz" gadgets already in use in Asia and Europe to speed passengers through airports.

Airports will eventually be reorganized. Today in the USA the airports are controlled by airlines. Each airline "owns" a bank of gates that they control. In the future the airport will own the gates and parcel them out to airlines as needed.

I expect that many of you have arrived at an airport and heard the captain say, "The good news is that we are on time, but the bad news is that there are no gates for us. We have to wait until a plane in front of us is pushed back before we can open the doors and get you into the airport."

As you look out the window, you may notice that there are dozens of open gates. Ah ha! But not for your airline. Those open gates are controlled by a competing airline. You have to wait and look plaintively at empty Jetways.

The airlines love this system. They get more control. Travelers, unfortunately, get more delays. In many European airports the gates are controlled by the airport. When an airplane lands, airport controllers direct the plane to any open gate.

Of course, they have complex programs that bunch various airlines Together - KLM planes for the most part are wingtip to wingtip, and the same for Lufthansa and Swissair. But when there is a crunch, the airport or terminal manager has the flexibility it needs to direct the plane to any open gate. This flexibility works to the passenger's advantage. We save time.

This airport-controlled "gate allocation" is in place in most other countries. Unfortunately, in the USA, there are significant financial and legal barriers that work against such a seemingly logical solution.

The airlines have anted up millions of dollars to improve "their" gates and "their" terminals, while cities, towns and airport authorities have been crying poverty. Thus we have the airlines in control, since they spend the money.

Ironically, "our" money. Just about the same amount as if it came from taxes or airport fees.

Some might argue that having private enterprise making the decisions to upgrade facilities and them managing the upgrades is a bonus. Unfortunately, with municipal airports we get the worst of two worlds.

Airlines end up controlling gates, which is both inefficient and a barrier to competitors. The same improvident bureaucrats who would have been spending the tax dollars end up in control of terminal construction.

Someday, US airports will wake up. Don't get too excited about the prospects too soon.

Charlie Leocha is the Boston-based author of Travel Rights: Know the Rules of the Road and the Air Before You Go. Cheap Charlie appears every Monday on this site. E-mail him at charlie@ticked.com or access his Web site.