As many business travelers run on tight schedules, I’m incensed at the amount of instances where I’ve landed on time, only to have to wait 30 minutes for a gate. LAX has become notorious for this; I’d fly to LGB or BUR if possible but I live in Charlotte. Which airports most frequently have this issue of over scheduling/capacity restraints?

I’d think that’s not as much an issue these days. Anecdotally, have you had this problem at LAX in the past three months?

My issue with lack of gates is pre-covid. Even here in CLT, this problem happened frequently prior to (and even after) the addition of Concourse A, as AA increased to over 700 daily departures here.

Lisboa.

Definitely LAX pre-COVID.
Once I had the choice of flying out of BUR with a stop or LAX with no stop. I chose LAX and with the 50 minute wait for gate, slow arrival of the parking shuttle, and traffic on the 405, it would have been faster to take the one stop into Burbank.

It's happened to me at LAX on AA more than once, nearly missed a connection. It did happen to me one evening on DL at T4 at JFK.

This happened to me a number of times on WN upon landing in SAN. When the flight arrived early, often we had to wait for an open gate.

pre covid, ORD seems to be for me where this always happens.

Sdmccray1984 wrote:

My issue with lack of gates is pre-covid. Even here in CLT, this problem happened frequently prior to (and even after) the addition of Concourse A, as AA increased to over 700 daily departures here.

Concourse A was added in September or October 1986 and lengthened in the 90s. I think you mean A North.

Has happened to me in the last few years at LHR (T5 BA 744), DAL (AA 738) and SEA (AC Q400)

More often than not, this happens for me at DCA - it's not worth it if your flight lands early as you'll always have to wait for a gate to open.

CV990A wrote:

More often than not, this happens for me at DCA - it's not worth it if your flight lands early as you'll always have to wait for a gate to open.

This can be more of an issue at medium-sized airports than at large ones because there’s less supply. I had an hour wait at OGG not too long ago because the plane on our planned gate went mechanical and IINM OGG is all common use.

bfitzflyer wrote:

pre covid, ORD seems to be for me where this always happens.

Yep ORD is common enough to have a dedicated area to stick you while you wait.

T18 wrote:

bfitzflyer wrote:

pre covid, ORD seems to be for me where this always happens.

Yep ORD is common enough to have a dedicated area to stick you while you wait.

I remember last year landing at ORD 27L on an AA flight, we started taxiing in toward Terminal 3 (past 1 and 2) and then, shortly before we entered AA territory, the plane did a full 180 onto the parallel taxiway, we were told our gate was occupied, and then ended up circling the entire building complex, backtracking the full length of 9R/27L before eventually coming back in over the taxiway bridge that crosses the access road. That tour took like 20-25 minutes.

I think everyone here is not remembering the king of waiting for a gate...LGA

Nothing like landing from your 90 minute commuter flight on your flying torture machine they call a CRJ. Only to have to wait for the same amount of time as your flight for another crap box to finally leave the alley or for when the weather goes tits-up like it does every other second in NYC to mean that planes aren't leaving so you are sitting in a plane that feels like it was in its heyday when mullets were cool and OJ Simpson was just a football player just praying for a gust of win to send the plane into the river so you enjoy the sweet release of death.

I've waited more than a few times on arrival in SNA.

This is an American thing, right? I see here mostly American airports mentioned. As I am mostly flying around Europe and Asia, it happened to me only once: LHR. Never anywhere else in Europe, never in Asia. So I guess it has to do something with the gate allocation.

As far as I know, gates for flights in the US are more or less fixed for their respective airlines and flights, right? Gates in Europe and Asia are allocated on a more dynamic basis, so you don't have to wait until "your gate" is free, because there is no "your gate". You have a full terminal for your use and there you can technically go to any available gate (of course taking into account if it's a domestic/Schgen or non-Schengen flight). In Frankfurt for example when arriving on a Schengen flight, there are around 30 possible gates at the terminal (and many more parking positions for bus transport) and I never had to wait for a gate there. We arrive and get one of the available ones assigned to us. I can happen, that we have to wait on the taxiway for other planes pushing out of the ramp, but that's it. In case of unforeseen delays, you'll just get another gate. And as much as I don't like bus boarding/deboarding, I still would prefer that over waiting for half an hour or more in the plane after landing.

Is there a certain reason, why in the US gates are used like that and what's the big advantage of that?

I think T5 at LHR is notoriously bad. I don't understand why at an earlier point they can't tell you that it will be from T5B or C piers rather than the main A terminal. Even if the exact gate is not known it would mean you could at least get to a closer lounge. I know you can sometimes guess most of the WBs will go from B & C and the NBs from A, but its not an exact rule and you can often get caught out backtracking on yourself or having a longer than expected trek to the gate from the lounge if otherwise.

eurotrader85 wrote:

I think T5 at LHR is notoriously bad. I don't understand why at an earlier point they can't tell you that it will be from T5B or C piers rather than the main A terminal. Even if the exact gate is not known it would mean you could at least get to a closer lounge. I know you can sometimes guess most of the WBs will go from B & C and the NBs from A, but its not an exact rule and you can often get caught out backtracking on yourself or having a longer than expected trek to the gate from the lounge if otherwise.

That's for departure, I think OP means the plane waiting for an available gate after landing, a common issue in the US.

In the UK they don't tell the passengers which gate it is until pretty late, because they want passengers to stay in the central shopping area. Airport/airlines/staff know it well in advance, just ask some staff or see if it's on the BA app.

VSMUT wrote:

eurotrader85 wrote:

I think T5 at LHR is notoriously bad. I don't understand why at an earlier point they can't tell you that it will be from T5B or C piers rather than the main A terminal. Even if the exact gate is not known it would mean you could at least get to a closer lounge. I know you can sometimes guess most of the WBs will go from B & C and the NBs from A, but its not an exact rule and you can often get caught out backtracking on yourself or having a longer than expected trek to the gate from the lounge if otherwise.

That's for departure, I think OP means the plane waiting for an available gate after landing, a common issue in the US.

In the UK they don't tell the passengers which gate it is until pretty late, because they want passengers to stay in the central shopping area. Airport/airlines/staff know it well in advance, just ask some staff or see if it's on the BA app.

Ah yes sorry, understand topic meaning now.

conaly wrote:

Is there a certain reason, why in the US gates are used like that and what's the big advantage of that?

Yes. It incentivizes investment in the facilities by the carriers that use them.

But I think the disparity between the US and the rest of the world has more to do with utilization than with anything else. A place like ORD domestic has utilization much, much higher than virtually any European or Asian airport once you account for the lack of hardstands.

Cubsrule wrote:

conaly wrote:

Is there a certain reason, why in the US gates are used like that and what's the big advantage of that?

Yes. It incentivizes investment in the facilities by the carriers that use them.

But I think the disparity between the US and the rest of the world has more to do with utilization than with anything else. A place like ORD domestic has utilization much, much higher than virtually any European or Asian airport once you account for the lack of hardstands.

You have to check the operations of busy Japanese domestic terminals. Basically separated into JAL and ANA gates.
For both airlines, when the plane lands, the gate is still occupied by another flight, but just in time when it almost arrives the terminal, the previous flight is being pushed back so that they can taxi in smoothly and the depaturing flight can tax out afterwards. I was impressed when I saw such operations continuously in Naha.

Its all about punctuation and efficiency.

hongkongflyer wrote:

Cubsrule wrote:

conaly wrote:

Is there a certain reason, why in the US gates are used like that and what's the big advantage of that?

Yes. It incentivizes investment in the facilities by the carriers that use them.

But I think the disparity between the US and the rest of the world has more to do with utilization than with anything else. A place like ORD domestic has utilization much, much higher than virtually any European or Asian airport once you account for the lack of hardstands.

You have to check the operations of busy Japanese domestic terminals. Basically separated into JAL and ANA gates.
For both airlines, when the plane lands, the gate is still occupied by another flight, but just in time when it almost arrives the terminal, the previous flight is being pushed back so that they can taxi in smoothly and the depaturing flight can tax out afterwards. I was impressed when I saw such operations continuously in Naha.

Its all about punctuation and efficiency.

Not sure I understand the difference. I don’t think there’s any airport anywhere where aircraft wait for gates if everything is operating on schedule. What am I missing?

We had a similar thread a couple of months ago where I explained the London City, LCY, procedure from a passenger.
I was in Frankfurt and we all had boarded on time only for the captain to tell us we would be running 30 minutes late due to a lack of gates in London City. He said we weren’t even allowed to take off from Frankfurt when one knew in advance the gate would be blocked upon arrival. It’s just too many planes, too few gates and the taxiway situation in LCY that would make this special procedure.
In contrast to circling around the destination airport, which happens quite often at Zurich, you just stay on the ground.
Made sense to me.

I have tried it many times in FRA when arriving on non schengen flights

It’s happened to me on DL flights at LAX and SLC waiting for +20 minutes at each airport. As well on AS and AA at LAX again, waiting about 20 minutes each time. Also once waited 30+ minutes for a gate at CUN.

global2 wrote:

It's happened to me at LAX on AA more than once, nearly missed a connection. It did happen to me one evening on DL at T4 at JFK.

I've had to wait for 30+ minutes at T4 a few times as well when arriving on domestic flights.

Other airports that quickly come to mind for me are ORD (both AA and B6), Terminal E at Boston after an early arrival during the international rush hour and arriving into T5 at LHR.

Cubsrule wrote:

hongkongflyer wrote:

Cubsrule wrote:

Yes. It incentivizes investment in the facilities by the carriers that use them.

But I think the disparity between the US and the rest of the world has more to do with utilization than with anything else. A place like ORD domestic has utilization much, much higher than virtually any European or Asian airport once you account for the lack of hardstands.

You have to check the operations of busy Japanese domestic terminals. Basically separated into JAL and ANA gates.
For both airlines, when the plane lands, the gate is still occupied by another flight, but just in time when it almost arrives the terminal, the previous flight is being pushed back so that they can taxi in smoothly and the depaturing flight can tax out afterwards. I was impressed when I saw such operations continuously in Naha.

Its all about punctuation and efficiency.

Not sure I understand the difference. I don’t think there’s any airport anywhere where aircraft wait for gates if everything is operating on schedule. What am I missing?

It happens in LAX almost everyday even the weather is fine and almost all flights are operating on schedule.

hongkongflyer wrote:

Cubsrule wrote:

hongkongflyer wrote:

You have to check the operations of busy Japanese domestic terminals. Basically separated into JAL and ANA gates.
For both airlines, when the plane lands, the gate is still occupied by another flight, but just in time when it almost arrives the terminal, the previous flight is being pushed back so that they can taxi in smoothly and the depaturing flight can tax out afterwards. I was impressed when I saw such operations continuously in Naha.

Its all about punctuation and efficiency.

Not sure I understand the difference. I don’t think there’s any airport anywhere where aircraft wait for gates if everything is operating on schedule. What am I missing?

It happens in LAX almost everyday even the weather is fine and almost all flights are operating on schedule.

Are you speaking of waiting for a gate or for waiting for a path to a gate because of alley congestion?

Cubsrule wrote:

hongkongflyer wrote:

Cubsrule wrote:

Not sure I understand the difference. I don’t think there’s any airport anywhere where aircraft wait for gates if everything is operating on schedule. What am I missing?

It happens in LAX almost everyday even the weather is fine and almost all flights are operating on schedule.

Are you speaking of waiting for a gate or for waiting for a path to a gate because of alley congestion?

waiting for a gate, everyone above mentioned they have to stay on the taxiway because the gate was still occupied by someone else.

The only time I’ve ever had to wait an extended period of time to get to a gate was at ORD. I swear it took us 40 minutes to get from the runway to the gate. IRRC we were moving most of that time. So I don’t know if we actually landed in Milwaukee and taxi’ed to Chicago or if ORD plays musical chairs with the gates after the sun goes down.

O’Hare? My guess is that you landed on Runway 9L/27R !

e38

e38 wrote:

O’Hare? My guess is that you landed on Runway 9L/27R !

e38

Yeah, I think it was 27R since we came in over Lake Michigan. I actually looked it up today and it took 36 minutes to get to the gate. I wasn’t far off. Haha. I was quite peeved though as I had already missed my connection by an hour at that point.

I did love the ERJ-145 I flew in on though. It was my first time on an Embraer and I had low expectations for this one, but I would take one of those any day over a CRJ (especially if its a CRJ-100/200).

LAX it was common for all the morning AA and Eagle flights to be 30 min early and still have their gates occupied. Alaska and United not as much, Delta somewhere in between. Southwest was usually pretty good about changing the gate for the inbound if the original was still occupied. The foreigners we would usually get relief because the city manages all their gates and they penalize airlines pretty heavily for pushing late.