Photo Courtesy of David Ritter
Picture this: Your mother-in-law is coming to visit for the first time. You spent days preparing your house, making sure everything is where it should be. You scrubbed the bathtub and mowed the lawn, and you even cleaned out the car. Dinner is waiting. To be sure you make a good impression, you go to the airport extra early and wait. And you wait. And wait some more.
Meanwhile, your mother-in-law lands early, exits the airplane and goes straight to baggage claim to wait for you. After about 20 minutes, she calls you. You then spend the next half-hour trying to meet up. “Where are you at?” “I’m standing by Baggage Claim 5, but I don’t see you!” “What do you mean? I’m the only one here now!”
It’s not until more back and forth – and a noticeable rise in annoyance – that you pause and ask: “Wait, what airport are you at?” What results is either a funny story for the family reunion, or a long ride from Airport #2 back home.
This occurrence is more common than you think at cities like New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and Orlando, to name a few places where there are more than one commercial gateway for the city. Internationally, Shanghai, Tokyo, Toronto, London, Paris and Moscow are just some of the many cities where multiple airports serve as airline stops. I encounter this wrong-airport situation at least once a month at Reagan National, where I volunteer about 12 hours each month.
Normally, it’s harmless and results in some added parking expenses and a few wasted hours. But this could be avoided if both the traveler and the greeter confirm the following information: (1) Arrival Airport, not just city, (2) Flight Number, (3) Airline, (4) Arrival Time, (5) Departure Airport, (6) Connections. Here’s why:
- Arrival Airport: This is the most important piece of information because that’s where the two of you will end up. Don’t just say the city – Chicago Midway and Chicago O’Hare are not near each other, and Orlando Sanford International and the regular Orlando International are located in different cities and are very different airports – you need to know exactly what airport the plane will land at, and don’t expect your visitor to know there may be more than one possible airport near you!
- Flight Number: This is normally between 1 digit and 4 digits, but it’s hard to remember and easy to confuse with similar-sounding flight numbers. However, this allows an airport representative to easily look up specific flight information, or allows for easier do-it-yourself queries through an airline’s automated flight information service, or on airport arrival screens. You can check to make sure you have the right arrival airport by referencing a flight by its flight number.
- Airline: This helps you get to the right terminal or baggage claim area, or if you don’t have the flight number or arrival airport, this could help focus your search. For example, Virgin America does not fly into Dallas-Love Field, and most international airlines do not fly to New York’s LaGuardia Airport. If you’re at the “other” airport but have the airline name, you may save some time trying to figure out where to meet your friend. It’s more important that you know the airline operator (the company that’s providing the airplane and flight crew) and not what company your friend booked the flight through. Code shares and commuter airlines can complicate this, but most itineraries will have the “Operated by” note under the flight number. If you’re meeting someone who flew on an Air Canada itinerary but transferred at Chicago O’Hare, the second leg of the flight may well be on a United Airlines aircraft. At Reagan National, Air Canada and United operate at different terminals.
- Arrival Time: This is what most people remember (because this is how you base when you leave to meet your visitor) – and sometimes, it’s the only information they have. How many of us have said “I’ll be landing at 7:59 p.m.” and just left it at that? We could try to look up flights based on arrival time, but it’s more difficult without arrival airport, flight number or airline. Many times, we only have a rounded time, such as “She’s supposed to land around 8 p.m.,” which makes it harder to track down which 8-ish flight’s being referenced.
- Departure Airport: If you have a departure airport, we could try to find flights that come from that city. However, there are many variables that would make pinpointing exact flights extremely difficult, especially if connections are involved or if many airlines fly between the cities.
- Connections: Most people will not mention this when they tell their friends to pick them up. They will most likely say the departure city, arrival city (and hopefully, airport), and arrival time. But if you know the connection city (or that it’s a nonstop flight), you could narrow down your search by focusing on airlines that fly between the cities. For example, a flight that connects through Memphis and arrives at Reagan National Airport will most likely be a Delta Airlines flight.
Of course, many airlines now allow travelers to send a copy of the itinerary to a friend directly from its website. This is really the best information, if your guest is comfortable with giving you that information (generally, private information like credit card number, billing address and price of tickets are deleted — but make sure before you hit “send”). Just remember to leave home with all that valuable data, and go to the right airport!
Has this happened to you, a relative or a friend? Do you have any additional tips when it comes to getting to the right airport? Share your stories with us by clicking on the “comments” link below!
- Helpful Traveler Tony
