re: NOLA: "New airport 'like a Mercedes with flat tires'"

I expected the airport to be a disaster. I thought it was a boondoggle and followed all the problems and setbacks during construction and during the delayed opening. I travel often and am a cynic by nature. That being said, I did not have a single problem at any point on my trip this weekend. We departed Friday late afternoon and returned today around noon. No traffic. The parking was easy to navigate, had clear signage and is more convenient to the terminal than the old one. Security line (TSA Pre) had 3 people in front of me. Baggage was not a problem. We arrived early, anticipating problems, so there was a lot of time to wander and observe. I didn’t see anyone having issues with flights, food, security, etc. I had pizza, a beer and coffee.

We returned around noon today and taxied right up to our gate. The bags were on the carousel when we got there. The baggage and long-term parking are so close that we just walked the bags to the car. Entire route covered. At the old terminal, the driver had to walk a ton, get the car and circle around while the others waited on the curb.

The old terminal was super convenient due to familiarity. It functioned OK. It had zero amenities and the charm of a Greyhound bus station. I did not expect to give a positive endorsement after the weekend but here I am. Everything was nicer. Food and drink options are colossally better. The old terminal had $12 beer and dirty lines. Everything was as convenient, or more convenient, than the old one. I’m reading this thread and am really surprised that some people had a completely different experience. I have talked to 3 or 4 other people/groups who have flown out of the new terminal & nobody had any problems other than one person who was part of the temporary baggage issue.

The new terminal is fine.

I assumed getting there to the property was going to be an issue. It does not seem to be and that will improve more if they ever build the interstate ramps.

But predicting ineptitude by anything managed by the City of NO is as safe a bet as betting that the sun will rise.

It seems the thing Mitch sold up on the most are the biggest failings.

TSA, which may be fixable if they fire all the personnel, is less efficient at peak times. Mitch bragged they expected this airport to keep growing yet it is not prepared for current peaks. And we have not gotten to the busiest times of the year.

It was supposed to be the future. Well, the future is ride sharing and whatever idiot cousin did the planning should be outed as the inner roadway design is a nightmare. YOu do not have to be a civil engineer to see the flaws. These flaws are hard to correct now that the airport is built. I almost wonder if the taxi companies paid someone to screw up Uber/Lyft.

The baggage problems allegedly can be fixed but how long and how much? We have seen recently that folks in this city cannot stay awake for a shift to keep our city from flooding or build a street that connects with driveways or bill people the correct amount for water so I would not count on whatever clowns this city hires to quickly fix the baggage issue. Of particular interest is the water billing issue which was software related like the baggage. That started years ago and they keep paying the same contractor more money and cannot fix it.

Back to expansion. Mitch spoke of future needs and I cannot see the room to expand this airport past its current gate number. And some of those gates are close enough where you cannot park planes in neighboring gates which kind of makes them worthless.

A lot of the problems seem to be the folks they have hired to work. This city hiring practices look like Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman having anal sex in a burning building. They have zero quality control nor do they care.

A Southwest pilot comfirms there are as many issued on their end. And the issues seem less "new airport" issues than incompetent people issues.

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This is somewhat surprising. They absolutely know all the volumes to expect and seem to have failed miserably. There are probably dozens of airport planning consultants that could’ve designed the flow to perfection. We probably let cousin Monty pick the paint and design the security details

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If the city had ever had consultants worth a warm bucket of spit produce a long term plan this airport could have been special. They could have delayed some of the expensive changes to the old terminal and put that into the new. I think they were loathe to do some things at the new facility because they did not want questions about why they just wasted so much money on that at the old facility.

The new Indy airport, which has more gates than the new MSY with a million and a half less passengers, has their rental car facility in the garage connected to the airport. Most parking is also walkable. That takes a lot of shuttles our of the traffic. Building parking garages is certainly an economy of scale as each additional space built will lower the cost per space of construction. Since they were building a new facility I would have built the garages at the new MSY on the level of Disney at Disney Springs. Enough space to accommodate peak traffic 10 years for now and room for rental facilities and the uber/lyft wait area.

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Building parking garages is certainly an economy of scale as each additional space built will lower the cost per space of construction. Since they were building a new facility I would have built the garages at the new MSY on the level of Disney at Disney Springs. Enough space to accommodate peak traffic 10 years for now and room for rental facilities and the uber/lyft wait area.

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The "original" plan called for 30 gates and 1 garage. What got built was 35 gates and 2 garages.

I absolutely think not having a dedicated path to a direct uber/lyft zone is a huge miss. I wonder if part of this is because when the plans were produced, Uber/Lyft weren't as popular as they are now. The use of rideshare has exploded over the last few years, yet, it seems like it was an afterthought in their planning.

I know the airport gets a cut of taxi fares, do they get a cut of the Uber/Lyft fares? Do they have much of an incentive to do the right thing for the Uber/Lyft services?

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TSA, which may be fixable if they fire all the personnel, is less efficient at peak times.

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How much control does the local airport board have over TSA staffing? I'm asking because I want to know where to direct my anger. Of all the issues, this seems like the least excusable. You know damn good and well what the passenger counts are, there is simply no excuse for not being properly staffed at the checkpoint. If you know traffic counts ebb and flow throughout the day, then you schedule shifts and breaks to reflect that. But if the local TSA management doesn't care... what can be done, really?

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A lot of the problems seem to be the folks they have hired to work. This city hiring practices look like Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman having anal sex in a burning building. They have zero quality control nor do they care.

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As I said earlier, the vast, vast majority of airport employees aren't subject to the city hiring practices, because they aren't city employees. TSA does their own thing, the airport board hires the major concessionaires who then hire their own employees to run retail/food/beverage/parking/shuttles, etc. Airlines and rental care companies hire their own people, etc.

It's indictive of a lot of problems in this place. Our employee base sucks, and our management base is worse. The manager that yesterday was running your local shitty Popeyes is today running a retail shop at the airport. They don't know how to hire employees, staff, order supplies, etc.

Having more food/retail options just means more shitty unqualified managers and employees, sadly.

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Could you explain where those gates go? And will they like the current gates where you cannot use them all at the same time?

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I believe they would extend A, not 100 percent sure on that.

Is using all the gates at the same time a necessary or practical idea? How long is a plane at a gate? An hour, max? Meanwhile it seems like a gate is only used every 2 hours or so (for 1 hour, i.e. each 2 hour period, the gate has a plane for 1 hr and no plane for 1 hr). So staggering use seems like a fine thing to do.

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The state would have done a far better job. They are not perfect but are far better at such things than the inept folks in New Orleans.

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The same state that knew in 2013 the airport needed interstate access and will take until 2023 to provide it? The same state that built a useless bridge in St. Francisville? The same state with a 15 billion dollar road construction backlog? The same state that hasn't maintained Zephyr Field, and had huge time and cost overruns in construction and updates to the Dome and SKC (except for when unlimited FEMA money is involved)?

Look the state may be better than the city... but the city is the worst government in America and the state is the second worst.

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Could you explain where those gates go? And will they like the current gates where you cannot use them all at the same time?


I believe they would extend A, not 100 percent sure on that.

Is using all the gates at the same time a necessary or practical idea? How long is a plane at a gate? An hour, max? Meanwhile it seems like a gate is only used every 2 hours or so (for 1 hour, i.e. each 2 hour period, the gate has a plane for 1 hr and no plane for 1 hr). So staggering use seems like a fine thing to do.

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The state would have done a far better job. They are not perfect but are far better at such things than the inept folks in New Orleans.


The same state that knew in 2013 the airport needed interstate access and will take until 2023 to provide it? The same state that built a useless bridge in St. Francisville? The same state with a 15 billion dollar road construction backlog? The same state that hasn't maintained Zephyr Field, and had huge time and cost overruns in construction and updates to the Dome and SKC (except for when unlimited FEMA money is involved)?

Look the state may be better than the city... but the city is the worst government in America and the state is the second worst.

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Sadly, the State still would have done a better job. Yes, the choice is like deciding if you would rather screw Rosie O'Donnell or Roseanne Barr but one is better. In that case I don't know which one so I am not sure it was the best example.

During peak times, you do need most of the gates, and we were sold that peak times were one of the reasons we needed the new airport. Planes also have issues that require them to sit longer at the gate and you ever know when you need the other gates. What good are having that many gates if you cannot use them at the same time?

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More than you do. Southwest just added gates in Denver not to long ago. I think Birmingham had a renovation not long ago either. When these people tell me things like that i tend to believe them....more than you who obviously has zero idea on the topic.

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So you equate adding gates and a renovation to be the same as a completely new terminal? OK

Why would it be a big deal for you? You work there and don’t give a shite.

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Why would it be a big deal for you? You work there and don’t give a shite.

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What? I don't work at the airport. Hell I only visit the airport 4-5x a year.