March 26 is the week that it goes from 12356 to 13456, so that's probably why. I'm not really worried about BA - fares from MSY are routinely double those from SJC and AUS (especially once DY starts) and significantly more than BNA. The market is just begging for a competitor to enter.

We'll have to wait and see what the overnight updates look like. Sabre clearly indicates 4X weekly starting on that date. Perhaps the 5X weekly service will just be for the peak cruise season. Or perhaps Sabre will be updated showing the 5X weekly service tomorrow.

Wow !! I just flew into-and-out of MSY for my first time...I will be generous -- Miserable !! This airport is truly unworthy of an otherwise great city of New Orleans, and legendary musician and namesake, Louis Armstrong !!

- Terminal C -- American Airlines -- is the worst I have ever seen...is MSY a 1950's time-warp?

- Long security wait even at a off-peak time.

- Filthy carpet and seats at the gate

- Terrible food selection and quality

- Bathrooms smaller than in my my kid's elementary school

- Freezing air conditioning on a beautiful 70 degree outside day

- 1930's style opaque block windows so you can't see the ramp and aircraft

- After landing -- of course we had to wait 15 minutes for another aircraft to clear the gate

- The smell and more depravity...

I hope the new terminal fixes this -- but I suspect the problem is more than a new building can rectify. Sing the blues New Orleans !!

QuarkFly wrote:

Wow !! I just flew into-and-out of MSY for my first time...I will be generous -- Miserable !! This airport is truly unworthy of an otherwise great city of New Orleans, and legendary musician and namesake, Louis Armstrong !!

- Terminal C -- American Airlines -- is the worst I have ever seen...is MSY a 1950's time-warp?

- Long security wait even at a off-peak time.

- Filthy carpet and seats at the gate

- Terrible food selection and quality

- Bathrooms smaller than in my my kid's elementary school

- Freezing air conditioning on a beautiful 70 degree outside day

- 1930's style opaque block windows so you can't see the ramp and aircraft

- After landing -- of course we had to wait 15 minutes for another aircraft to clear the gate

- The smell and more depravity...

I hope the new terminal fixes this -- but I suspect the problem is more than a new building can rectify. Sing the blues New Orleans !!

Terminal C as the worst you’ve ever seen? That’s a huge exaggeration. Is it pretty? No. It’s fine. God forbid you can’t see the ramp, you must despise ATL. Also, waiting for a gate is your airline’s problem.

Also, “depravity”?

Your last sentence is incredibly offensive and ignorant. I don’t get why you come to a thread of MSY aviation enthusiasts to trash their airport. Finally, your punctuation errors only exacerbated the ridiculousness and idiocy of your post.

jbs2886 wrote:

...Also, “depravity”?

Your last sentence is incredibly offensive and ignorant....

Well, I thought "depravity" would allow me to avoid the details -- but since you replied...urine all over the floor at gate C16.

QuarkFly wrote:

Wow !! I just flew into-and-out of MSY for my first time...I will be generous -- Miserable !! This airport is truly unworthy of an otherwise great city of New Orleans, and legendary musician and namesake, Louis Armstrong !!

- Terminal C -- American Airlines -- is the worst I have ever seen...is MSY a 1950's time-warp?

- Long security wait even at a off-peak time.

- Filthy carpet and seats at the gate

- Terrible food selection and quality

- Bathrooms smaller than in my my kid's elementary school

- Freezing air conditioning on a beautiful 70 degree outside day

- 1930's style opaque block windows so you can't see the ramp and aircraft

- After landing -- of course we had to wait 15 minutes for another aircraft to clear the gate

- The smell and more depravity...

I hope the new terminal fixes this -- but I suspect the problem is more than a new building can rectify. Sing the blues New Orleans !!

Interesting. I flew out of this concourse a month ago on B6 and my experience was the exact opposite. The food selections could have been better and it was a little cold, but that was about it. I don't recall any frosted windows (could see the ramp clearly and unobstructed), urine, or the filth that you described. As far as TSA goes, I have Global Entry, so I passed through in at most 5 minutes. Don't recall a line close to anything I see at my home airports, however.

I take it that you've never passed through LGA, the non AA parts of MIA, MCI, LAS, non AA parts of CLT, terminals 2 & 3 at LHR, terminal 1 at DUB, etc. I could go on all night naming airports that are much worse.

Metrocard wrote:

QuarkFly wrote:

Wow !! I just flew into-and-out of MSY for my first time...I will be generous -- Miserable !! This airport is truly unworthy of an otherwise great city of New Orleans, and legendary musician and namesake, Louis Armstrong !!

- Terminal C -- American Airlines -- is the worst I have ever seen...is MSY a 1950's time-warp?

- Long security wait even at a off-peak time.

- Filthy carpet and seats at the gate

- Terrible food selection and quality

- Bathrooms smaller than in my my kid's elementary school

- Freezing air conditioning on a beautiful 70 degree outside day

- 1930's style opaque block windows so you can't see the ramp and aircraft

- After landing -- of course we had to wait 15 minutes for another aircraft to clear the gate

- The smell and more depravity...

I hope the new terminal fixes this -- but I suspect the problem is more than a new building can rectify. Sing the blues New Orleans !!

Interesting. I flew out of this concourse a month ago on B6 and my experience was the exact opposite. The food selections could have been better and it was a little cold, but that was about it. I don't recall any frosted windows (could see the ramp clearly and unobstructed), urine, or the filth that you described. As far as TSA goes, I have Global Entry, so I passed through in at most 5 minutes. Don't recall a line close to anything I see at my home airports, however.

I take it that you've never passed through LGA, the non AA parts of MIA, MCI, LAS, non AA parts of CLT, etc. I could go on all night naming airports that are worst.

I will agree on two things: (1) the regular security lines can be ridiculous, you have to plan sufficient time, and (2) the restaurant selection is sub par, especially considering the food scene of the city. Both of these will be fixed. With a single security entrance, the resources can be better used. Second, with respect to food, they're bringing in many of the city's most popular restaurants, see: http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/ ... pprov.html

And Metrocard, you've named some of the worst airports definitely - MSY is not that bad, its fine. I expect the new terminal will be incredible.

yeah I mean is MSY anything great at this time no but its certainly not as bad as many other airports. the new airport will certainly be an improvement

Metrocard wrote:

QuarkFly wrote:

Wow !! I just flew into-and-out of MSY for my first time...I will be generous -- Miserable !! This airport is truly unworthy of an otherwise great city of New Orleans, and legendary musician and namesake, Louis Armstrong !!

- Terminal C -- American Airlines -- is the worst I have ever seen...is MSY a 1950's time-warp?

- Long security wait even at a off-peak time.

- Filthy carpet and seats at the gate

- Terrible food selection and quality

- Bathrooms smaller than in my my kid's elementary school

- Freezing air conditioning on a beautiful 70 degree outside day

- 1930's style opaque block windows so you can't see the ramp and aircraft

- After landing -- of course we had to wait 15 minutes for another aircraft to clear the gate

- The smell and more depravity...

I hope the new terminal fixes this -- but I suspect the problem is more than a new building can rectify. Sing the blues New Orleans !!

Interesting. I flew out of this concourse a month ago on B6 and my experience was the exact opposite. The food selections could have been better and it was a little cold, but that was about it. I don't recall any frosted windows (could see the ramp clearly and unobstructed), urine, or the filth that you described. As far as TSA goes, I have Global Entry, so I passed through in at most 5 minutes. Don't recall a line close to anything I see at my home airports, however.

I take it that you've never passed through LGA, the non AA parts of MIA, MCI, LAS, non AA parts of CLT, terminals 2 & 3 at LHR, terminal 1 at DUB, etc. I could go on all night naming airports that are much worse.

LHR T2 is all new....

MSY is certainly not the best facility out there, but I've never run into the issues the poster observed. Is the facility old...yes. Does it lack in decent food options...yes. Security is really hit or miss. Sometimes I get through in less than 5 minutes, other times it takes 20 minutes. No real rhyme or reason to it that I can discern. Bathrooms are small in the concourses...agreed, but I usually go before I get through security in very spacious facilities landside. The facilities have ranged from sparkling clean to a bit dirty, but never outright filthy. I have also never seen urine or other bodily fluids at any of the gate areas in my 13 years of using the airport. Lots of windows with clear views to look at the airfield...not sure what the poster was talking about there. Waiting for a gate is the responsibility of the airline...can't blame the airport for that. AC is definitely way too cold in the entire building...I will agree with that.

The airport is what it is for the next year until the much needed North Terminal opens up.

Got the August Domestic and May International pax and load factor figures calculated for each route flown.

Domestically, August saw an overall load factor of 75.69% for the airport. The route with the highest monthly load factor was WN's MSY-LAX route at 91.4%. The route with the lowest monthly load factor was WN's MSY-SAT route at 55.9%. The route with the highest annual load factor was WN's MSY-LAX route at 93.8%.

Internationally, May saw seasonal service begin to FRA and PUJ along with expanded service to CUN. AC had a 92% load factor on the MSY-YYZ route. BA had a 81.1% load factor on the MSY-LHR route. CM had a 78% load factor on the MSY-PTY route. DE had a 61.4% load factor on the MSY-FRA route. DL had a 92.8% load factor on the MSY-CUN route. UA had a 88.3% load factor on the MSY-CUN route. Vacation Express had a 92.4% load factor on the MSY-CUN route, and a 81.2% load factor on the MSY- PUJ route. Overall international load factor on all routes in May was 84.6%. Year to date load factor for all routes was 79.4%.

(Domestic)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19PfjR6hYCFDPcv6qhpAqs8JpN3_RRF85c2xiYRv3g98/edit?usp=sharing

(International)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yepoGdibyiVsViWrjIcouvFnmdUNzhYuBiOo9bBPV8Y/edit?usp=sharing

Julie77W wrote:

LHR T2 is all new....

Sorry, I was thinking about the remnants of T1 that were affixed to T2.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

CM had a 78% load factor on the MSY-PTY route.

I used to be concerned about this route, but it seems to have come into its own.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

BA had a 81.1% load factor on the MSY-LHR route.

No concerns at all for this one.
Considering what they charge for the nonstop, they've got to be happy, at 80%+. Then again, they've said as much.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

DE had a 61.4% load factor on the MSY-FRA route.

Well, we know they're coming back, so it'll be interesting to see how their loads progressed over the summer, in order to make them satisfied enough to do so.

Yup...the BA loads were very solid in May. MSY loads were on par with SAN and IAH, and higher than PHX, MIA, SJC, OAK, and TPA.

For DE, MSY had the lowest loads of the group, but SAN was only 1% higher at 62% in May. I do think the numbers will be better for June and July.

For CM, MSY had loads on par with MIA and LAS, and higher than SFO, TPA, and SJU.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

and higher than PHX, MIA, SJC, OAK, and TPA

Interesting. Do you have numbers showing how it compares to any other of their 788 routes, worldwide?

NolaMD88fan wrote:

For DE, MSY had the lowest loads of the group

That's surprising.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

but SAN was only 1% higher at 62% in May.

....and yet they just attracted LH!

NolaMD88fan wrote:

I do think the numbers will be better for June and July

DE's shown that it's not shy about dropping new routes that don't meet its expectations... so yeah, MSY really must've rallied, after this.

Either that, or had decent yields-- though their prices always seemed to be rather inviting.

LAX772LR wrote:

NolaMD88fan wrote:

and higher than PHX, MIA, SJC, OAK, and TPA

Interesting. Do you have numbers showing how it compares to any other of their 788 routes, worldwide?

No, only have data for US destinations.

Delta has already scheduled a pair of 739s to bring Clemson fans in for the Sugar Bowl
GSP-MSY Dec 30
MSY-GSP Jan 2

Wouldn't be shocked to see WN do a charter flight as well.

Anyone know why tomorrow's (December 4) BA225 is cancelled?

BA and Orbitz have been showing it as unbookable since Saturday, and finally today BA is showing it as cancelled.

ExpertFlyer shows only 16 people booked, which is an anomaly considering that all the other flights before and after have typical loads. I wonder what's up with it?

To cancel on such short notice, it may be equipment or crew related.

Definetely either crew or mntc related.

Tomorrow's flight is 95% sold in Y, 96% sold in W, and 70% in J... so everything back to normal.

Not too worried about the J figure, considering that they're selling the remainder for $8600 one-way.

The airport posted September stats and December Air Service numbers today. The airport saw a 1.7% increase in passengers in September to 888,551, and was up 7.1% for the year to 8,807,528 pax. Given the tropical impacts experienced to many large hub airports in September, a gain is pretty good. The impact to operations was evident by the 5% drop in domestic flights in September. Houston and Florida airports were main contributors to this drop due to the tropical systems affecting both regions. Most of the top 50 airports saw declines in pax traffic in Sept. Overall, the airport remained ranked 38th busiest in the nation between SJC and MCI through the first 3 quarters of the year. http://www.flymsy.com/Files/Press/Septe ... istics.pdf

Based on pax numbers for BA, DE, and CM it looks BA had a load factor around 75%, CM around 73%, and DE around 69%. September is typically the slowest month of the year for tourism in New Orleans, so those numbers are decent.

The December Air Service update shows 21,966 seats on 155 departing flights. http://www.flymsy.com/Images/Interior/a ... update.pdf

Airport...........September............YTD
SJC...............1,051,026........9,099,927
MSY.................888,551........8,807,528
MCI.................915,461.........8,616,491

http://www.flysanjose.com/financial-reports
http://www.flykci.com/newsroom/statisti ... tatistics/

NolaMD88fan wrote:

The airport posted September stats and December Air Service numbers today. The airport saw a 1.7% increase in passengers in September to 888,551, and was up 7.1% for the year to 8,807,528 pax. Given the tropical impacts experienced to many large hub airports in September, a gain is pretty good. The impact to operations was evident by the 5% drop in domestic flights in September. Houston and Florida airports were main contributors to this drop due to the tropical systems affecting both regions. Most of the top 50 airports saw declines in pax traffic in Sept. Overall, the airport remained ranked 38th busiest in the nation between SJC and MCI through the first 3 quarters of the year. http://www.flymsy.com/Files/Press/Septe ... istics.pdf

Based on pax numbers for BA, DE, and CM it looks BA had a load factor around 75%, CM around 73%, and DE around 69%. September is typically the slowest month of the year for tourism in New Orleans, so those numbers are decent.

The December Air Service update shows 21,966 seats on 155 departing flights in December. http://www.flymsy.com/Images/Interior/a ... update.pdf

Airport...........September............YTD
SJC...............1,051,026........9,099,927
MSY.................888,551........8,807,528
MCI.................915,461.........8,616,491

http://www.flysanjose.com/financial-reports
http://www.flykci.com/newsroom/statisti ... tatistics/

Not sure how typical this is with brand new flights, but Virgin America wouldn't have had high load factors: 80.3 enplaned passengers (10 flights with 803 enplaned total); 103.9 deplaned passengers (10 flights with 1039 deplaned total). For reference, a Virgin America A319 seats 119 passengers and an A320 has 146 or 149.

Not sure what was operating previously, but Virgin is flying the A319, A320 and A321 even on the route. Since November 30, the A321 has operated 3 flights. Interesting that the capacity is needed, must be good.

Edit: All but 1 flight in September was operated with the A320 (the 1 exception was an A319). Load factors weren't great, but it was brand new.

That's a 63% load factor on an A320. Given the route started in September (slow travel month), I don't think those numbers are terrible. Definitely not great, but would be more worried if they started below 50% in September.

msycajun wrote:

I'm not really worried about BA - fares from MSY are routinely double those from SJC and AUS

In what class though? It's tough to gauge against those, as they have so many more premium seats to offer towards the aggregate revenue, plus the fares in F to balance them off.

msycajun wrote:

and significantly more than BNA. The market is just begging for a competitor to enter.

That'll be the one to finally compare against. Will be interesting to see.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

To cancel on such short notice, it may be equipment or crew related.

If that particular flight was operated by a 789 it was probably an engine issue with no 788 available to swap. BA and VS have been having serious issues with the Rolls Royce fan blades on their 789's.

Metrocard wrote:

NolaMD88fan wrote:

To cancel on such short notice, it may be equipment or crew related.

If that particular flight was operated by a 789 it was probably an engine issue with no 788 available to swap. BA and VS have been having serious issues with the Rolls Royce fan blades on their 789's.

Sounds like that was the culprit for the cancellation.

Vacation Express also announced that service to PUJ will increase to 2x weekly next Summer. Good to see that route doing well.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

Metrocard wrote:

NolaMD88fan wrote:

To cancel on such short notice, it may be equipment or crew related.

If that particular flight was operated by a 789 it was probably an engine issue with no 788 available to swap. BA and VS have been having serious issues with the Rolls Royce fan blades on their 789's.

Sounds like that was the culprit for the cancellation.

Vacation Express also announced that service to PUJ will increase to 2x weekly next Summer. Good to see that route doing well.

2 x weekly means i will probably do this now... i cant do 7 days just too long for me

We're going for 7 days in Feb. Flying CM through PTY. Plan on snorkeling and exploring outside of the resort. Otherwise, we'd get bored after a few days.

NolaMD88fan wrote:

Metrocard wrote:

NolaMD88fan wrote:

To cancel on such short notice, it may be equipment or crew related.

If that particular flight was operated by a 789 it was probably an engine issue with no 788 available to swap. BA and VS have been having serious issues with the Rolls Royce fan blades on their 789's.

Sounds like that was the culprit for the cancellation.

Vacation Express also announced that service to PUJ will increase to 2x weekly next Summer. Good to see that route doing well.

My research showed it was scheduled to be on a 788, not a 789.

msyflyer wrote:

My research showed it was scheduled to be on a 788, not a 789.

Doesn't mean much. BA routinely swaps/substitutes them, and any shortage in one can cause a knock-on effect in the other.

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/12/britis ... e-trouble/

We may have our answer....

If there is a bright side, at least they canceling more SJC and IAD than MSY flights.

msyflyer wrote:

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/12/british-airways-is-canceling-a-lot-of-flights-because-of-787-engine-trouble/

We may have our answer....

whoa!!! is this a safety issue to keep an eye out on?

Via new Sabre update, confirmed BA is staying at 5X weekly (XTuSu) with B788 through the summer schedule.
Random date in June shows a 2140 departure from MSY.

msyflyer wrote:

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/12/british-airways-is-canceling-a-lot-of-flights-because-of-787-engine-trouble/

We may have our answer....

At the moment these issues are only affecting B789's with Rolls Royce engines. The B788's are fine AFAIK. LAX772LR previously stated that they sometime shuffle a 789 into the mix on this route so that could have been the case. It's also possible that they needed the 788 operating LHR-MSY to replace another 789 that had gone tech and didn't have a replacement.

DJNOLA wrote:

whoa!!! is this a safety issue to keep an eye out on?

It's seems to be pretty much under control. Nothing out of the ordinary for a situation like this. I'd hate to work in Rolls Royce's accounting department right about now.

VS is going as far as pulling A346's out of the desert and leasing A333's to cover for their B789's. That's probably an upgrade for a lot of people, actually. DL is also putting its B763's on ATL/JFK-LHR in place of the VS B789 flights.

Metrocard wrote:

LAX772LR previously stated that they sometime shuffle a 789 into the mix on this route

Quite often. In fact, tonight is another 789 on MSY-LHR.

LAX772LR wrote:

Metrocard wrote:

LAX772LR previously stated that they sometime shuffle a 789 into the mix on this route

Quite often. In fact, tonight is another 789 on MSY-LHR.

Today's 789 was likely due to the American Geophysical Union Fall Conference going on this week at the convention center. It's around 25,000 attendees. I know several of my atmospheric science colleagues are in town for this event. Of course, my boss gets to go while I'm stuck on swing shifts all week

NolaMD88fan wrote:

Today's 789 was likely due to the American Geophysical Union Fall Conference

Would such an event have much of a European draw though?

LAX772LR wrote:

NolaMD88fan wrote:

Today's 789 was likely due to the American Geophysical Union Fall Conference

Would such an event have much of a European draw though?

Maybe. The AGU conference could pick up a lot of European interest despite being American. There are plenty of UK/Europe-based participants at the American academic conferences I go to. Searching through the AGU conference program with "London" as keyword returns 300+ people in the program. It's crude (doubly so because some of those won't actually be attending the conference even if their name is on a paper) but that's just from London alone. Add the name of other UK universities and research institutes and you'd bump that number even higher.

Would there be enough traveling to MSY on this particular to make BA bump the flight up to a 789? That I'm less certain about but I'd say there's movement of people from across the pond to American conferences, especially when such conferences are in touristy/fun to visit places like MSY.

LAX772LR wrote:

Metrocard wrote:

LAX772LR previously stated that they sometime shuffle a 789 into the mix on this route

Quite often. In fact, tonight is another 789 on MSY-LHR.

Any idea what the J loads are like on that route in general? If I'm not mistaken the difference between the two types are the addition of 15 or so F/J seats at the expense of about 15 W/Y seats.

What does the tree at the top of building represent? Seen it at other construction projects.

Metrocard wrote:

Any idea what the J loads are like on that route in general?

During the summer, and in October, it was often selling out completely; usually at prices several hundred bucks over the 1stop option via DFW or MIA, in J.

I try to check it every day, it's lately been going out with 8-12 seats empty, depending on the day.

william wrote:

What does the tree at the top of building represent? Seen it at other construction projects.

I would've guessed "Christmas"... but maybe that's being presumptuous?

william wrote:

What does the tree at the top of building represent? Seen it at other construction projects.

History
The practice of "topping out" a new building can be traced to the ancient Scandinavian religious rite of placing a tree atop a new building to appease the tree-dwelling spirits displaced in its construction.[2] Long an important component of timber frame building,[3] it migrated initially to England and Northern Europe, thence to the Americas.
A tree or leafy branch is placed on the topmost wood or iron beam, often with flags and streamers tied to it. A toast is usually drunk and sometimes workers are treated to a meal. In masonry construction the rite celebrates the bedding of the last block or brick.
In some cases a topping out event is held at an intermediate point, such as when the roof is dried in.[4]
The practice remains common in the United Kingdom and assorted Commonwealth countries such as Australia,[5] and Canada[6] as well as Germany, Austria, Iceland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, the Baltic States, and the United States, where the last beam of a skyscraper is painted white and signed by all the workers involved.[7] In New Zealand, completion of the roof to a water-proof state is celebrated through a "roof shout", where workers are treated to cake and beer.[8]

The conference has a very large international draw. It's basically THE international geophysical conference in the world. We had Korean meteorologists in our office today to look over our weather tech. The conference is usually held every year in SFO, but the Moscone Center is undergoing renovations. It will be held in DC next year, and then back to SFO in 2019 when the convention center renovation is done at SFO. https://eos.org/agu-news/2017-agu-fall- ... ington-d-c

Latest aerial of new terminal...



Looks like the roof is starting to be put on Concourse B and more foundation work is completed on Concourse A. Paving looks to be progressing along for the ramp as well.

Also, UK Civil Aviation Authority put out October stats. https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CAA ... alysis.pdf

The LHR route had a 92% load factor for the month. I factored in the cancelled flights due to Hurricane Nate (34 instead of 36 flights) and 788 seat count.

Seeing all of the recent onejet expansion with E-135s, I wonder if MSY has tried to court them. They might make a good replacement for GLO on a few routes. Of their current destinations, I could see MKE, RIC, and SDF work with the 135s. The old GLO routes of SHV, LIT,and, MEM would probably be better served with one of their 7 or 8 seat jets 2-3 daily.

It has been amazing to see how well PIT has done luring and growing onejet and southern airways express. I know we like to talk about international service, but regional flights can really boost enplanements by making more trips possible and getting people to fly instead of drive. They also go a long way towards attracting and retaining regional banking, food chains, and other headquarters.