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Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion


uptownliving

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4 minutes ago, skymiler said:

I agree, ATL T, A-F concourses all much better than CLT.  Delta in general is much better than American too.  Love my hometown,  but the airport is outdated.

Plus you can find almost anything on the planet in ATL. An outdoor Sky Club is about the best thing at any airport anywhere in the world. American could configure something like this above a concourse at some point. 

Edited by CarolinaDaydreamin
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I wouldn't necessarily be worried about regional traffic going down-at the moment. 

Air Wisconsin doesn't really operate a lot of flights from CLT. They are more focused out of PHL/DCA. Any traffic from them out of CLT can easily be moved over to PSA. 

Unfortunately AA has decided not to replace the Dash 8s with another turboprop aircraft, and ultimately cities will either be dropped or upgauged. HHH is gone, unless the NIMBYs can get the runway worked out. Most other cities will probably be upgauged to regional jets. 

AA has really shifted regional jet flying so that one regional carrier dominates at one airport PSA @ CLT, Mesa @ PHX, Envoy @ ORD, etc. 

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On 4/15/2017 at 1:03 AM, JBS said:

Took the family to the Overlook for the first time (what can I say, Hornets season is over and we had nothing to do).  It was a beautiful night and the place was packed (surprisingly).  Great views of CLT and Uptown.  I wouldn't rush to do it again but if you're looking for a cheap date, bring a cooler of snacks and enjoy watching the planes take off and land.  I do think it's cool that this is apparently a thing in Charlotte...kind of small town charming with views of the big and growing city.

How is it surprising? It's got something for everyone, little kids love to "race" the planes, aviation enthusiasts love to see whats coming in, especially if its a rare find at KCLT, workers take their lunch break there, especially cab/limo drivers it seems, couples (including myself) go on dates there. It's been there for a long time, my grandfather specifically remembers taking girls up there all the time back in the 1950s-60s. It's one of the best airport parks in the country if not the world, and that's not an exaggeration, you got a view of the longest runway, the city, and much of the ramp and hangar area. I get excited when I see it is full because that gives the airport more and more reason to relocate the park once the new runway construction begins. 

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37 minutes ago, nakers2 said:

How is it surprising?

I was simply surprised that so many people would find that interesting.  I think it's great and I hope they add some more amenities (picnic tables, seating, maybe a restroom) if they relocate it.  I honestly thought we would be the only people there...

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Does anyone here recall when there was an impromptu viewing area at the end of Harlee Avenue where it now intersects with 1191? One could drive the point where Harlee made a 90º turn then park and wait for the planes to drop out of the sky from just overhead as they hit that runway. It was a place that attracted dusk visitors for all the reasons it did. I guess this is runway 18L/36R. It disappeared years ago with many of the surrounding changes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by tarhoosier
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Sorry in advance as I know I am just starting an uneccesary conversation as I am ranting... but why is the baggage claim at the airport one of the worst? I have been to several airports all over the country and Charlotte is by far the worst. You can have dinner in the terminal after your flight and still your bags may not be in the claim area... again sorry for the rant

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3 minutes ago, saam14 said:

Sorry in advance as I know I am just starting an uneccesary conversation as I am ranting... but why is the baggage claim at the airport one of the worst? I have been to several airports all over the country and Charlotte is by far the worst. You can have dinner in the terminal after your flight and still your bags may not be in the claim area... again sorry for the rant

I have always heard that is because connecting bags are given a higher priority and like you I have always waited a long time in CLT longer than just about anywhere else I have been. 

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11 minutes ago, saam14 said:

Sorry in advance as I know I am just starting an uneccesary conversation as I am ranting... but why is the baggage claim at the airport one of the worst? I have been to several airports all over the country and Charlotte is by far the worst. You can have dinner in the terminal after your flight and still your bags may not be in the claim area... again sorry for the rant

Well at the very least there is now a mini-mart that has expanded right by baggage claim that serves beer.  To be honest, after a long flight I wouldn't mind the 10 minutes to be able to slam down a beer while waiting for my bags before heading on my way.  

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2 hours ago, KJHburg said:

I have always heard that is because connecting bags are given a higher priority and like you I have always waited a long time in CLT longer than just about anywhere else I have been. 

That's an interesting point about the connecting bags which definitely makes sense in Charlotte. Oh well, I guess it's the price to pay to have this good of an airport and my fault for checking in a bag haha

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2 hours ago, saam14 said:

That's an interesting point about the connecting bags which definitely makes sense in Charlotte. Oh well, I guess it's the price to pay to have this good of an airport and my fault for checking in a bag haha

Used to be the case in ATL. Delta now gives miles if they don't deliver in 20min. Great airline has bailed out the airport. Most of CLTs issues can be directly attributed to AA being behind Delta (but ahead of United. Well before their recent news...).

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I'm not sure where you guys normally fly to, but Charlotte baggage claim is quicker in Charlotte than it is in 99% of the places I fly. The only exceptions are the tiny airports that don't have connecting flights.  I typically will take a shuttle to the daily deck while my wife waits for the bags. She typically has the bags in her possession before I get to my car and she has to wait for me to loop around 

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I've found baggage claim is longest while flying American, due to the hub - bank schedule. Between 8AM and 9AM for example, American has 100 flights arrive. Then between 9AM and 10AM they have 100 flights depart. This leaves a mad dash for the baggage crew to move all the luggage for the 80% of passengers connecting between these 100 flights around the airport as quickly as possible in an hour. Often the baggage for passengers ending their trip in Charlotte gets put in a pile and is prioritized last after all connecting baggage from a flight is moved onward. Passengers that wait 20 minutes for a bag in Charlotte are usually annoyed, but much less so than the connecting passengers who have their bag miss their flight. 

Charlotte is one of the most "banked" airport schedules in the country so the baggage resources are extremely strained during connecting hours. At airports like JFK and LAX, American isn't operating a banked schedule as much so the baggage resources have a more consistent workflow all day long and passengers typically have longer connections. 

Edited by CLT2014
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Is it really the airline or does the airport layout or staffing have something to do with it? Do the airlines share the baggage resources?

When I lived in Denver I thought the bags were really fast. I think Denver is more of a destination than CLT but they do also have a ton of connection traffic.

Don't even get me started on how great it was in Japan no matter which airline I flew. They often beat me to the claim area. Course they actually honor business class there.

 

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The baggage claim area at CLT is definitely one of the weakest areas. Now I don't usually check bags, but when I do I am willing to bet that I usually wait an average of 20-25 minutes. Keep in mind this isn't the fault of CLT, but rather the airline. 

With bags, AA's main priority at CLT is to get connection bags to T-point and their next flight ASAP. 

Asian airports are usually remarkably speedy. The only airport I have ever had to wait for bags at is HKG, but I feel that is only because I hold resident status and can go through the E-channel and never wait at immigration. Even backwater airports in Cambodia and Thailand bring out bags pretty fast. 

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6 hours ago, elrodvt said:

Is it really the airline or does the airport layout or staffing have something to do with it? Do the airlines share the baggage resources?

When I lived in Denver I thought the bags were really fast. I think Denver is more of a destination than CLT but they do also have a ton of connection traffic.

Don't even get me started on how great it was in Japan no matter which airline I flew. They often beat me to the claim area. Course they actually honor business class there.

 

The airlines share conveyor belts under the airport, but they each have their own sorting bay. Each airline employs the people that remove the bags from the plane and drive it on the trucks to the sorting center. They then prioritize the luggage per their airlines procedures and the prioritization determined by their airline's computer system/ policy. For AA at CLT, this is where they are understaffed on "local runners." Because 80%-90% of passengers are connecting on AA, most resources are staffed as "transit runners". As they scan the bags, they create two groups plane side. The transit bags are picked up by a transit runner - there is usually one per gate. The local bags terminating at CLT are handled by a "local runner". At CLT, the local runner might cover up to 10 gates. So when 10 regional jets arrive at Terminal E within 15 minutes, the local runner often tries to grab the local bags from all 10 flights and drive them over at the same time. This means the flight that arrived at 10AM has their bags delivered 20 minutes late and the people that arrived at 10:15AM only had to wait 5 minutes, because the local runner covered 10 flights in one run and "chain tripped" since he is covering multiple gates. This is why you are often sitting at the baggage claim area and 4 flights have their bags come out at the exact same time - the local runner chain tripped.

Meanwhile, the connecting bags are making 30 minute connections because there is one transit runner per gate, driving all the bags to the sorting center the second the airplane arrives and completely dedicated to that one flight rather than covering 10 flights. At airports with more local passengers, airlines like UA in Denver are probably assigning a local runner to only 2 or 3 gates rather than 5-10.

 

Edited by CLT2014
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