"Terminally challenged at Logan Airport"

Sunday, January 16, 2005

Terminally challenged at Logan Airport
Poor design hampers peak passenger flow at American Airlines
By Bruce Mohl
The Boston (MA) Globe


At 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 29, travelers walking into the American Airlines
terminal at Logan International Airport had an unmistakable look on their
faces: panic.
   
Even at that hour, the lobby of the cramped terminal was mobbed. Passengers
streamed in for a slew of morning flights, most of which were fully booked,
and airline and airport officials scrambled to keep order. They called out
flights on megaphones and urged anxious passengers waiting to get boarding
passes and check bags to firm up lines that snaked nearly 100 yards down the
terminal.

As bad as that morning was, others during the holidays were worse. On Dec.
21 and Dec. 26, the crowding became so severe that American, after
consulting with airport fire officials, herded together passengers who were
booked on later flights and moved them downstairs to the baggage pickup
area.

All of the major airlines have struggled to survive over the last three
years, slashing costs and fighting over a shrunken customer base. Now that
passengers are returning in growing numbers to airports, particularly during
holidays and vacation weeks, many carriers are struggling to keep up.

American, the nation's biggest airline and the number one carrier in Boston,
is hampered by a cramped, poorly designed terminal at Logan. Passengers who
flew American over the holidays said the airline at times seemed
overwhelmed, with either not enough staff on hand or too many flights taking
off in too short a time.

"There were so many people you couldn't move. It was just utter chaos," said
Jason Stack, who waited two hours in line on the morning of Dec. 28 and
ended up missing his flight. He returned to another jammed terminal the next
morning and finally made it out.

Henry Harteveldt, a San Francisco-based vice president and travel specialist
working for Forrester Research of Cambridge, said American needs to remedy
the situation at Logan quickly.

"American is putting costs ahead of the customer," he said. "They have
probably downsized too many customer service positions in Boston, as they
have elsewhere."

Officials at American say they had adequate staff on hand during the
holidays and insist passenger traffic was heavy but manageable, except for
two days.

Andy Albert, managing director for American at Logan, said on-time
departures improved 20 percent in December compared to the same month a year
ago, although government data for the January-through-November period showed
a slight decline in on-time departures compared to the year before.

The two days when American had to move waiting passengers down to the
baggage area were Dec. 21, when a conveyor belt feeding baggage into a
bomb-detection machine broke down and slowed check-in capacity by 25
percent, and Dec. 26, when a winter storm and cancellations at US Airways
and other airlines spilled over to American and overwhelmed the lobby.

"There were really only the two days that we had any difficulty or taxed our
facility," Albert said. "If we don't have an anomaly like a winter storm or
a mechanical issue, then our facility is able to accommodate passenger
traffic smoothly."

American officials say they were running 22 to 23 flights a day between 6
a.m. and 10 a.m. during the holidays, many of them filled to capacity.
American started processing passengers two hours early, at 2:30 a.m. This
month, with passenger traffic down, American officials say they are
averaging 18 to 19 flights during the morning time period, most of them 70
to 75 percent full.

Officials at the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan, said staff
members were deployed to the American terminal a number of times during the
holidays to help deal with the crowds.

"When they're running full schedules there during the morning hours, it's
extremely busy and we watch it very closely," said Massport spokesman Phil
Orlandella.

Massport has already taken steps to reduce congestion at the American
terminal. Shortly before Thanksgiving, the agency expanded and moved the
security checkpoint away from the American check-in area so that the line of
passengers getting boarding passes and the line going through security would
not overlap.

Over the holidays, the same passengers who had to endure long lines to get
boarding passes and check bags whisked through security relatively quickly.
Ann Davis, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration,
said the longest wait during the peak morning period from Dec. 18 to Jan. 3
was 30 minutes, and that occurred only twice, on Dec. 24 and Dec. 29. She
said those peaks lasted only about a half hour before dropping down.

Albert, American's managing director at Logan, said the airline handled
passenger traffic well during the holidays but can always improve on its
service. He said American is considering adding additional customer service
counter space if next-door neighbor America West moves to another terminal.
Albert said the airline may also add more self-service check-in kiosks.

Jay S. Rein of Holliston, an American frequent flier, said he thinks every
airline struggles with crowds during the holidays. He said American suffers
at Logan because of the configuration of its terminal.

For starters, American has less space than other airlines of similar size at
Logan. According to Massport, American has 23,182 square feet of customer
service space, much of that a narrow corridor linking the check-in counter
area to the security checkpoints.

US Airways has 26,752 square feet of customer service space, much of it
located right in front of its check-in counters.

The American terminal is only about 10 yards wide at its narrowest point and
about 15 to 20 yards wide in front of the check-in counters. That means
check-in lines often have to stretch down the terminal rather than remaining
concentrated in front of the airline counters.

The design of the terminal also is poor. Customers who have already checked
in have to make their way back through the lines of people waiting to get
boarding passes to get to the security checkpoints.

Rein said the terminal congestion makes it difficult for travelers,
particularly holiday leisure travelers not accustomed to airport routines,
to read signs or find airport staff that can help them determine which line
they belong in.

"I think we're just dealing with an old airport here," he said.


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