Departing From: Boston Logan (BOS)
Traveling To: Washington Dulles (IAD)
ETD: 4:50 AM EST
ETA:
Est. Duration:
Departure Gate: 4
Arrival Gate:
Seat:
Equipment:
Miles:
Other:
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Flight: United #860 IAD-BOS
Departing From: Washington Dulles (IAD)
Traveling To: Boston Logan (BOS)
ETD: 8:50 AM EST
ETA:
Est. Duration:
Departure Gate: D-4
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 15D (Economy Plus, Exit)
Equipment: Boeing 757
Miles:
Other:
Flight Number: 860
Departing From: Washington Dulles (IAD)
Traveling To: Boston Massachusetts (BOS)
Date: September 15
Gate: C4 (Gate is subject to change)
Estimated Departure Time: 8:50 a.m. on time
Traveling To: Boston Logan (BOS)
ETD: 8:50 AM EST
ETA:
Est. Duration:
Departure Gate: D-4
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 15D (Economy Plus, Exit)
Equipment: Boeing 757
Miles:
Other:
Flight Number: 860
Departing From: Washington Dulles (IAD)
Traveling To: Boston Massachusetts (BOS)
Date: September 15
Gate: C4 (Gate is subject to change)
Estimated Departure Time: 8:50 a.m. on time
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Drive: Home to Flemington, NJ
From: Home
To: Flemington, NJ
Miles: 388
Duration: 3.5 hours
Just a straight shot up I-96, NJ-Turnpike, I-295. Probably the only real interesting thing this trip was I used my "EZ-Pass" for the first time. I know it worked some of the times because you have to slow down to 5 MPH and a green light comes on. But the unit in the car provides no feedback to let you know its doing anything, and some of the toll booths have no indicator for you that they are doing anything. I guess it works, I'll know when I get the statement.
I was surprised how slow you have to get in Maryland to go through it, it's posted as 5 or 10 MPH. I know its not because of the technology, because the NJ-Turnpike booth at the end let's you go through at 55 MPH. Probably more related to going through the old toll booths which are narrow and have employees walking around them. But, slowing down to 5 or 10 doesn't necessarily give you a time improvement for some of the booths.
To: Flemington, NJ
Miles: 388
Duration: 3.5 hours
Just a straight shot up I-96, NJ-Turnpike, I-295. Probably the only real interesting thing this trip was I used my "EZ-Pass" for the first time. I know it worked some of the times because you have to slow down to 5 MPH and a green light comes on. But the unit in the car provides no feedback to let you know its doing anything, and some of the toll booths have no indicator for you that they are doing anything. I guess it works, I'll know when I get the statement.
I was surprised how slow you have to get in Maryland to go through it, it's posted as 5 or 10 MPH. I know its not because of the technology, because the NJ-Turnpike booth at the end let's you go through at 55 MPH. Probably more related to going through the old toll booths which are narrow and have employees walking around them. But, slowing down to 5 or 10 doesn't necessarily give you a time improvement for some of the booths.
Sunday, September 05, 2004
About This Site
I am not an expert on airplanes, the airplane business, or airport operations. I wouldn't even call myself an experienced traveler, as I only log around 50,000 miles a year which is nothing compared to half to full time travelers.
But, I am someone from an engineering background who has a higher than average interest in airplanes. I love the experience of flying, from the people watching in airports, the to watching the world go by below from the window. Over the years I have always paid attention to the equipment I'm on, getting around in airports, and I have my favorites and not-so-favorites in these categories. I've also taken pictures and recorded the things I've done along the way, and I've been wanting to get a lot of this information sorted and organized.
So, I've built this little site in a blog-style since it seems like a somewhat natural way to organize these things -- a log of travel events using blog software to publish logs. I'm keeping track of flights, equipment, and airports. I've also dumped info in here about restaurants and hotels to help me keep track of which ones are worth using in the future.
I'm doing this to keep records, allowing me to search through to the past and identify things in cities I might visit again in the future. If you find something useful in here also, then so much the better.
You can leave a comment if you have a Blogger account, or you can Email me.
But, I am someone from an engineering background who has a higher than average interest in airplanes. I love the experience of flying, from the people watching in airports, the to watching the world go by below from the window. Over the years I have always paid attention to the equipment I'm on, getting around in airports, and I have my favorites and not-so-favorites in these categories. I've also taken pictures and recorded the things I've done along the way, and I've been wanting to get a lot of this information sorted and organized.
So, I've built this little site in a blog-style since it seems like a somewhat natural way to organize these things -- a log of travel events using blog software to publish logs. I'm keeping track of flights, equipment, and airports. I've also dumped info in here about restaurants and hotels to help me keep track of which ones are worth using in the future.
I'm doing this to keep records, allowing me to search through to the past and identify things in cities I might visit again in the future. If you find something useful in here also, then so much the better.
You can leave a comment if you have a Blogger account, or you can Email me.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
Picture: 757 Engine
Engine intake on a Boeing 757, taken out the window while over Colorado on approach to Denver. That's one huge honkin' engine! And, there's 2 of them!
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Flight: United #1140 DEN-BWI
Departing From: Denver, Colorado (DEN)
Traveling To: Baltimore, Maryland (BWI)
ETD: 10:50 AM MST
ETA:
Est. Duration: 3 h 33 m
Departure Gate:
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 16C (Economy Plus, Exit Row)
Equipment: Boeing 757
Miles:
Other:
Same plane, different seat. I'm in the exit row for the window exits and not the door exit. Flight is the most empty flight I have been on in quite a while. I have the whole exit row to myself, so I can kick back and enjoy a nice flight on a sunny, beautiful day.
Got to spend the hour between flights in United's Red Carpet Club. I received two passes as a promotion, and I'm usually not sitting in an airport long enough to use them (or I'm in an airport where there isn't one). The club was right outside the gate I was using, and I had a little more than an hour to kill and batteries to recharge so it seemed like a good time to use one. The Red Carpet Club (and similar frequent flyer lounges with other airlines I assume) is in some ways not such a big deal. It's a large lounge with some snacks, TVs, places to work, and lots of phones. But, it's much quieter than the rest of the airport, and since the clientele is mostly frequent business travelers they tend to be all polite, well behaved people. So, it's not really a big deal except its a place where you can relax a little because its a lot more peaceful than the rest of the airport. I sat here for an hour and had a cup of coffee and got all my batteries recharged and made some phone calls. Denver's club (there are two of them I believe) is larger than most I think. Of course, without the passes I would never pay to join
The movie on the flight is "Raising Helen". I have no idea what the movie is about, but I couldn't pay attention past the credits. 757s have the weakest entertainment options out of all the United flights I've been on outside of the regional flights. The only audio channel I feel like listening to is the jazz channel they run on channel 9, which they take over for listening to the FAA chatter (I'm listening to that instead - the sign of a true travel nerd). We've got about 3 hours of flying to Baltimore, so I should be able to get a lot done.'
Traveling To: Baltimore, Maryland (BWI)
ETD: 10:50 AM MST
ETA:
Est. Duration: 3 h 33 m
Departure Gate:
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 16C (Economy Plus, Exit Row)
Equipment: Boeing 757
Miles:
Other:
Same plane, different seat. I'm in the exit row for the window exits and not the door exit. Flight is the most empty flight I have been on in quite a while. I have the whole exit row to myself, so I can kick back and enjoy a nice flight on a sunny, beautiful day.
Got to spend the hour between flights in United's Red Carpet Club. I received two passes as a promotion, and I'm usually not sitting in an airport long enough to use them (or I'm in an airport where there isn't one). The club was right outside the gate I was using, and I had a little more than an hour to kill and batteries to recharge so it seemed like a good time to use one. The Red Carpet Club (and similar frequent flyer lounges with other airlines I assume) is in some ways not such a big deal. It's a large lounge with some snacks, TVs, places to work, and lots of phones. But, it's much quieter than the rest of the airport, and since the clientele is mostly frequent business travelers they tend to be all polite, well behaved people. So, it's not really a big deal except its a place where you can relax a little because its a lot more peaceful than the rest of the airport. I sat here for an hour and had a cup of coffee and got all my batteries recharged and made some phone calls. Denver's club (there are two of them I believe) is larger than most I think. Of course, without the passes I would never pay to join
The movie on the flight is "Raising Helen". I have no idea what the movie is about, but I couldn't pay attention past the credits. 757s have the weakest entertainment options out of all the United flights I've been on outside of the regional flights. The only audio channel I feel like listening to is the jazz channel they run on channel 9, which they take over for listening to the FAA chatter (I'm listening to that instead - the sign of a true travel nerd). We've got about 3 hours of flying to Baltimore, so I should be able to get a lot done.'
Flight: United #810 PDX-DEN
Departing From: Portland, Oregon (PDX)
Traveling To: Denver, Colorado (DEN)
ETD: 6:00 AM PST
ETA:
Est. Duration: 2 h 23 m
Departure Gate: E-1
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 9F (Economy Plus)
Equipment: Boeing 757
Miles:
Other:
Sitting in an exit row window seat right behind the door. No seat in front of me. Geat leg room, but no storage in front of me and the stupid arm rest tray. No one in the middle seat it looks like.
When we left it was dark. During ascent we broke through the cloud cover, turned west, and now its daylight. An amazing transition in its speed. There are now floors of clouds, and a very thin layer overhead with a very clear full moon, with the clouds breaking apart ahead. Lots of red and yellow in the sky as we approach the daybreak.
As we head east from Portland we're passing over geat views of mountains and canyons, with occaisional sections of those patchwork squares of farmland with different crops planted on them. It always seems kind of funny being from the east coast to see all that orderly farmland. I guess its a salute to how logically the government passed out land in the west compared to the free-for-all of the east (or the King's lack of micro-managing the process).
We're cruising at 33,000, and the sun is now above the horizon and lighting up the clouds. You get a whole morning from dark to sun in about 15 minutes. The clouds are kind of thin, and you can see the ground through them in places creating great dimension and pesepctive. I usually skip the window seat for the convenience of the aisle, so this is a lucky treat.
We're expecting to get in 15 minutes early. They also announced that this plane goes on to Baltimore, so I guess I'm on the same plane on the second leg. I plan on getting off and hitting the Red Carpet Club with my free pass since there's a 1.5 hour layover here. A chance to power up some batteries and make some phone calls.
Traveling To: Denver, Colorado (DEN)
ETD: 6:00 AM PST
ETA:
Est. Duration: 2 h 23 m
Departure Gate: E-1
Arrival Gate:
Seat: 9F (Economy Plus)
Equipment: Boeing 757
Miles:
Other:
Sitting in an exit row window seat right behind the door. No seat in front of me. Geat leg room, but no storage in front of me and the stupid arm rest tray. No one in the middle seat it looks like.
When we left it was dark. During ascent we broke through the cloud cover, turned west, and now its daylight. An amazing transition in its speed. There are now floors of clouds, and a very thin layer overhead with a very clear full moon, with the clouds breaking apart ahead. Lots of red and yellow in the sky as we approach the daybreak.
As we head east from Portland we're passing over geat views of mountains and canyons, with occaisional sections of those patchwork squares of farmland with different crops planted on them. It always seems kind of funny being from the east coast to see all that orderly farmland. I guess its a salute to how logically the government passed out land in the west compared to the free-for-all of the east (or the King's lack of micro-managing the process).
We're cruising at 33,000, and the sun is now above the horizon and lighting up the clouds. You get a whole morning from dark to sun in about 15 minutes. The clouds are kind of thin, and you can see the ground through them in places creating great dimension and pesepctive. I usually skip the window seat for the convenience of the aisle, so this is a lucky treat.
We're expecting to get in 15 minutes early. They also announced that this plane goes on to Baltimore, so I guess I'm on the same plane on the second leg. I plan on getting off and hitting the Red Carpet Club with my free pass since there's a 1.5 hour layover here. A chance to power up some batteries and make some phone calls.
Monday, August 30, 2004
Flight: United #333 DEN-PDX
Departing From: Denver, Colorado (DEN)
Traveling To: Portland, Oregon (PDX)
ETD: 5:00 PM CST
ETA: 6:30 PM PST
Est. Duration: 2 h 30 m
Departure Gate: B-49
Arrival Gate: E-8
Seat: 14D (Economy Plus)
Equipment: Boeing 757
Miles:
Other:
Another 757, economy plus again. A little bumpy from weather in the Denver area, but not too bad. Seems smooth to me as we get close to cruising altitude.
Have an aisle seat, empty next to me again, not noisy at all. Everyone seems to be tired.
Traveling To: Portland, Oregon (PDX)
ETD: 5:00 PM CST
ETA: 6:30 PM PST
Est. Duration: 2 h 30 m
Departure Gate: B-49
Arrival Gate: E-8
Seat: 14D (Economy Plus)
Equipment: Boeing 757
Miles:
Other:
Another 757, economy plus again. A little bumpy from weather in the Denver area, but not too bad. Seems smooth to me as we get close to cruising altitude.
Have an aisle seat, empty next to me again, not noisy at all. Everyone seems to be tired.
Flight: United #779 BWI-DEN
Departing From: Baltimore, Maryland (BWI)
Traveling To: Denver, Colorado (DEN)
ETD: 2:40 PM EST
ETA: 8:30 PM EST (Few Minutes Early)
Est. Duration: 3 h 41 m (Act. Duration: 3 hr 35 min)
Departure Gate: D-11
Arrival Gate: B-44
Seat: 12D (Economy Plus)
Equipment: Boeing 757
Miles: 1294
Other:
Equipment is Boeing 757. Pretty full flight, although the seat next to me is empty (low budget 1st class seat!). Should be a little quiet, although the kids behind be keep kicking the seat...
I'm in Economy Plus for this flight, and I'm thinking there is no reason to fly United unless you can get there. he legroom is respectable, although I'm hoping the person in front of me doesn't lean their seat back so I can type on my laptop computer. I can't believe airplane seats still lean back -- it sets up people to be rude to each other since there is so little room between seats.
Traveling To: Denver, Colorado (DEN)
ETD: 2:40 PM EST
ETA: 8:30 PM EST (Few Minutes Early)
Est. Duration: 3 h 41 m (Act. Duration: 3 hr 35 min)
Departure Gate: D-11
Arrival Gate: B-44
Seat: 12D (Economy Plus)
Equipment: Boeing 757
Miles: 1294
Other:
Equipment is Boeing 757. Pretty full flight, although the seat next to me is empty (low budget 1st class seat!). Should be a little quiet, although the kids behind be keep kicking the seat...
I'm in Economy Plus for this flight, and I'm thinking there is no reason to fly United unless you can get there. he legroom is respectable, although I'm hoping the person in front of me doesn't lean their seat back so I can type on my laptop computer. I can't believe airplane seats still lean back -- it sets up people to be rude to each other since there is so little room between seats.
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Picture: This is Why You Request an Exit Row
This picture shows the legroom in an exit row seat on a Boeing 757 operated by United. Note that there is enough room to move past someone even when they are sitting down.
Potential negatives:
= Sometimes there is a bulkhead in front of you or equipment underneath the seat in front of you that prevents placing of carry-on baggage here.
= The food tray is not attached to the seat in front of you, but usually folds out of the arm rest. This generally removes an inch or so of seat space, and usually can't slide away from you far enough to comfortably use. It's kind of flimsy too.
= Usually no chance of the seat in the middle being unoccupied. When a plane is crowded, or when a person can't get the seat they want, the next tier down is to ask for the exit row. The theory is if I'm not going to get side space I'm at least going to have leg room.
= There is responsibility with the exit row. You have to work the exit door and follow directions. And don't be a wise guy when the flight attendants are going through this with you. They don't have senses of humor about safety related things.
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Flight: United Express #7112 AUS to IAD
Departing From: Austin, Texas (AUS)
Traveling To: Washington Dulles (IAD)
ETD: 4:10 PM CST (Actual 5:45 PM CST)
ETA: 8:30 PM EST (Actual 10:15 PM EST)
Est. Duration: 3 h 20 m (Act. Duration: 4 hr 10 min)
Departure Gate: 21 (actual 23)
Arrival Gate: Concourse "G"
Seat: 15D
Equipment: CRJ700
Miles: 1294
Other:
Actual time leaving around 5:45 pm CST. Extremely hot geetting onto the plane because it had been sitting in the Austin sun during the delay. Completely full, everyone coming back from the same trade show at the same time.
Other than the huge delay based on local weather at Dulles, the usual CRJ experience. Quite a bit turbulent this flight as we cross storm fronts all along the country. Summertime is a lousy time to fly because of storms. Wintertime is pretty bad too because of snow. I wonder what flying is like on other planets?
Well, let's discuss "Concourse G" for a little bit.
For those that use Dulles International Airport, you may have heard of the new airline Independence Air. This new airline was started earlier this year as fallout between the regional airline Atlantic Coast and United Airlines. Atlantic Coast served as the United Express regional carrier out of Dulles. The two of them had a contract dispute, and the fallout is that Atlantic Coast decided to start their own airline as a new entity Independence Air, and United decided to replace Atlantic Coast with their own flights. If you need more information on this dispute check elsewhere (Washington Post had a number of articles on this, but you'll have to pay for their content).
After all this, Dulles now has a bunch of new commuter flights as United tries to keep their schedule and Independence adds their service. Lots more CRJ's in and out of Dulles, more competition, all of which is good for travelers in the DC area.
The bad news is that all this happens in the midst of major construction at Dulles, which has rapidly moved from curious to inconvenient to annoying. Dulles is building a subway system to replace their "moon buses", they are dealing with the security related terminal changes that the original architect couldn't anticipate for life in 2004, and they have relocated commuter flights from close to the main terminal to out in the mid-field terminals. This flight introduced me to "Concourse G", which United Express is running.
Concourse G can best be described as a large rectangle out past the last concourse in an area so remote that it's past the construction equipment storage area. It's design seems to be a late-60's era storage depot. This hastily constructed building was obviously slapped together to deal with the sudden need for more gates for small planes, and feels just a little more permanent than a tool shed. Ground control mustn't be able to see out this far because our plane had to taxi back out to the runway after being directed head on to another plane in motion (planes can't go in reverse, and pilots seem to get annoyed when faced with this situation).
Once our plane stopped we had a long walk into the concourse which seemed to be designed to hold around 500 passengers and was currently occupied by about 800. Arriving passengers are diverted to the right, where we found out they weren't sending buses out to this concourse quickly enough to return passengers. After a crowded wait, a shuttle bus (a new kind - not a moon bus) pulled up to drive us to the main terminal.
Normally, the moon buses move between the main terminal and the midfield terminals passing under a bridge in the middle of the concourse A-B structure. This new bus must not be allowed to go through the middle path the larger moon buses run, so we had to drive around all the end concourses, stopping frequently at crossing paths. After this 15 minute drive we were dumped out at the main terminal at the bottom of what seemed to be fire exit stairs. We then had to climb two flights of stairs in to a new passenger receiving area, then down an escalator into a construction zone, then up an escalator to another hidden lounge, then down an escalator as we dealt with this temporary route to baggage claim caused by the subway construction.
One bright spot -- it took so long to get to baggage claim that all our luggage was there by the time we showed up.
This whole adventure wasn't so bad for me, since I was home. Others had missed connecting flights, so there was a lot of tension in the air while waiting for the shuttle bus to the main terminal.
Summary: the flight was about an hour and a half late leaving due to weather, then it took about an hour between landing and getting to baggage claim for all the other reasons.
It's possible that a lot of this was due to Concourse G being new, as I can't believe that shuttle bus was really supposed to drop us off at that bottom of all those stairs in the main terminal (seemed like a security risk too, since we could have bolted across the grounds instead of climbing the stairs). The walk to baggage claim is kind of amusing in its complexity, and lack of signs informing you if you are moving the right way makes this process silly (one little "pardon the inconvenience" sign as you exit to baggage claim made everyone laugh). My advice right now is that United Express at Dulles is probably best avoided for a while until operations gets used to the new building or the subway system becomes operational. How long is a "while" is the remaining question.
One last comment concerns the placement of "commuter flight" gates. One of the great things about Dulles used to be the "commuter" flights were located right next to the main terminal, removing the need to get on the big moon buses. This made it very quick to get in and out on those short flights. Placing commuter flights way out in the mid-field concourse kind of kills your ability to get in and out quickly -- the "express" in United Express is just a catchy slogan at this point. It's not a physically exhausting to get to them, like BWI where they make you walk to gate "D97" to catch a short flight to Norfolk, but it is as inconvenient.
Traveling To: Washington Dulles (IAD)
ETD: 4:10 PM CST (Actual 5:45 PM CST)
ETA: 8:30 PM EST (Actual 10:15 PM EST)
Est. Duration: 3 h 20 m (Act. Duration: 4 hr 10 min)
Departure Gate: 21 (actual 23)
Arrival Gate: Concourse "G"
Seat: 15D
Equipment: CRJ700
Miles: 1294
Other:
Actual time leaving around 5:45 pm CST. Extremely hot geetting onto the plane because it had been sitting in the Austin sun during the delay. Completely full, everyone coming back from the same trade show at the same time.
Other than the huge delay based on local weather at Dulles, the usual CRJ experience. Quite a bit turbulent this flight as we cross storm fronts all along the country. Summertime is a lousy time to fly because of storms. Wintertime is pretty bad too because of snow. I wonder what flying is like on other planets?
Well, let's discuss "Concourse G" for a little bit.
For those that use Dulles International Airport, you may have heard of the new airline Independence Air. This new airline was started earlier this year as fallout between the regional airline Atlantic Coast and United Airlines. Atlantic Coast served as the United Express regional carrier out of Dulles. The two of them had a contract dispute, and the fallout is that Atlantic Coast decided to start their own airline as a new entity Independence Air, and United decided to replace Atlantic Coast with their own flights. If you need more information on this dispute check elsewhere (Washington Post had a number of articles on this, but you'll have to pay for their content).
After all this, Dulles now has a bunch of new commuter flights as United tries to keep their schedule and Independence adds their service. Lots more CRJ's in and out of Dulles, more competition, all of which is good for travelers in the DC area.
The bad news is that all this happens in the midst of major construction at Dulles, which has rapidly moved from curious to inconvenient to annoying. Dulles is building a subway system to replace their "moon buses", they are dealing with the security related terminal changes that the original architect couldn't anticipate for life in 2004, and they have relocated commuter flights from close to the main terminal to out in the mid-field terminals. This flight introduced me to "Concourse G", which United Express is running.
Concourse G can best be described as a large rectangle out past the last concourse in an area so remote that it's past the construction equipment storage area. It's design seems to be a late-60's era storage depot. This hastily constructed building was obviously slapped together to deal with the sudden need for more gates for small planes, and feels just a little more permanent than a tool shed. Ground control mustn't be able to see out this far because our plane had to taxi back out to the runway after being directed head on to another plane in motion (planes can't go in reverse, and pilots seem to get annoyed when faced with this situation).
Once our plane stopped we had a long walk into the concourse which seemed to be designed to hold around 500 passengers and was currently occupied by about 800. Arriving passengers are diverted to the right, where we found out they weren't sending buses out to this concourse quickly enough to return passengers. After a crowded wait, a shuttle bus (a new kind - not a moon bus) pulled up to drive us to the main terminal.
Normally, the moon buses move between the main terminal and the midfield terminals passing under a bridge in the middle of the concourse A-B structure. This new bus must not be allowed to go through the middle path the larger moon buses run, so we had to drive around all the end concourses, stopping frequently at crossing paths. After this 15 minute drive we were dumped out at the main terminal at the bottom of what seemed to be fire exit stairs. We then had to climb two flights of stairs in to a new passenger receiving area, then down an escalator into a construction zone, then up an escalator to another hidden lounge, then down an escalator as we dealt with this temporary route to baggage claim caused by the subway construction.
One bright spot -- it took so long to get to baggage claim that all our luggage was there by the time we showed up.
This whole adventure wasn't so bad for me, since I was home. Others had missed connecting flights, so there was a lot of tension in the air while waiting for the shuttle bus to the main terminal.
Summary: the flight was about an hour and a half late leaving due to weather, then it took about an hour between landing and getting to baggage claim for all the other reasons.
It's possible that a lot of this was due to Concourse G being new, as I can't believe that shuttle bus was really supposed to drop us off at that bottom of all those stairs in the main terminal (seemed like a security risk too, since we could have bolted across the grounds instead of climbing the stairs). The walk to baggage claim is kind of amusing in its complexity, and lack of signs informing you if you are moving the right way makes this process silly (one little "pardon the inconvenience" sign as you exit to baggage claim made everyone laugh). My advice right now is that United Express at Dulles is probably best avoided for a while until operations gets used to the new building or the subway system becomes operational. How long is a "while" is the remaining question.
One last comment concerns the placement of "commuter flight" gates. One of the great things about Dulles used to be the "commuter" flights were located right next to the main terminal, removing the need to get on the big moon buses. This made it very quick to get in and out on those short flights. Placing commuter flights way out in the mid-field concourse kind of kills your ability to get in and out quickly -- the "express" in United Express is just a catchy slogan at this point. It's not a physically exhausting to get to them, like BWI where they make you walk to gate "D97" to catch a short flight to Norfolk, but it is as inconvenient.
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