Looks like a change in boarding procedures at major stations-info from

[Steve4031]

The title of the thread "Are Gate dragons history?

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,4401184

 

[PVD]

Because of the way the gate to platform setup is at some stations, it will still be necessary to have personnel stationed to have some order. I can't imagine NYP narrow escalators and platforms if it was a free for all, or Chicago or Washington with no one at the door keeping people from rushing the platforms. Eliminating the extra document check lessens their interaction with the passengers, and may make it more pleasant.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

IMHO, this seems to be a change that is in the complete opposite direction that DHS and TSA is going, elsewhere.

 

[jis]

Elsewhere? Airports are fundamentally different from any ground transport station. This is just recognition of the fact that there is no point in securing the front door while the barn door in the back is open. Sanity at last.

 

[railiner]

Elsewhere? Airports are fundamentally different from any ground transport station. This is just recognition of the fact that there is no point in securing the front door while the barn door in the back is open. Sanity at last.

 

[PVD]

I haven't seen too many scheduled airlines leaving LaGuardia and making stops at unstaffed airports or Flag airports on the way to LA. Planes and trains are not operated the same way.

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

Hey, having a country-hopper flight would be pretty cool. Like stopping at NYC, Scranton, Buffalo, Cleveland, and Toledo, on the way to Chicago.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

That would be hilariously uneconomical.

 

[Steve4031]

I flew a Southwest airlines flight years ago that flew lax-phx-omh-mdw. I now pay more to fly non stop.

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[railiner]

Hey, having a country-hopper flight would be pretty cool. Like stopping at NYC, Scranton, Buffalo, Cleveland, and Toledo, on the way to Chicago.

You were born too late....that's the way they operated in the 1920's and '30's....

 

[Bob Dylan]

Although I wasn't around in the 20s and 30s the Regional Airlines up until the 60s ( Ozark,Braniff,Allengeney,Piedmont,TTA etc) used to have flights like this.

I once flew on a TTA DC-3 from Colorado Springs to Albuqurque,Amarillo,Ft Worth,Dallas and Austin.

A Southwest Vegas Flight I once took went Austin,San Antonio,El Paso,Phoenix and Vegas.

Internationally I once flew on a Mexicana Flight (Jet)from San Antonio to Monterrey,San Luis Potosi,Mexico City,Acapulco,Guadalajara,Puerto Vallarta!( that was when the Beer and Tapas were still Free!)

 

[PVD]

Plenty of service to smaller cities, but the passengers and airlines were not alone. They were generally staffed, even if sparsely.

 

[west point]

History has some real puddle jumpers. Both National and Eastern air lines had trips that went MIA - Fll - Ft Pierce - Vero - St. Augustine - Jacksonville - Savannah - Charleston - Wilmington NC - Richmond - Washington - Baltimore - Wilmington, De - Trenton - Newark. Now not all flights served all those cities but would skip some but still a 9 airport stop shows on early schedules.

 

[railiner]

The thing is, there is still service to many of these airports, but now you have to use the "hub and spoke" model to make the connection, that at one time you could do via a multi-stop 'local'...

 

[jis]

Of relevance to this thread, as opposed to nostalgia about the good old days -

- All of the small airports are staffed and have TSA barriers, and there are no "flag stops" for planes.

trains do not operate that way. They operate through unstaffed stations and in principle it is quite impossible to prevent someone putting something on or under the train anywhere on its route, unlike in planes, where once it is up in the air the only way to interfere, unless something was put on board at the airport, is to fire a missile at it.

 

[JRR]

In the old Piedmont days, you lined up on the tarmac, the plane came in, shut down the port engine, passengers disembarked, you loaded and were on your way. Many stops along the way!

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[neroden]

I haven't seen too many scheduled airlines leaving LaGuardia and making stops at unstaffed airports or Flag airports on the way to LA. Planes and trains are not operated the same way.

Never rode on the old local airplane from Philly to Ithaca and Elmira, where Elmira was a flagstop, skipped if nobody was going there? (The "old Piedmont days" happened in upstate NY too... as late as the 1990s!)

Incidentally, it's actually the disappearance of this sort of flight which is making rail service to places like Ithaca and Elmira more commercially viable. The puddlejumpers were serious competition; the hub-and-spoke routes are wildly inefficient for the passengers and mean that going on the ground is likely to be just as fast.

 

[Ind Ben]

In the old Piedmont days, you lined up on the tarmac, the plane came in, shut down the port engine, passengers disembarked, you loaded and were on your way. Many stops along the way!

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Flew from chi to Asheville,nc in 67 was like riding a roller coaster.

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[Alexandria Nick]

That would be hilariously uneconomical.

Not really. The actual aircraft are still running routes like that, they just make everyone get off nowadays. If you go look at the flight history of a random Dash 8 turboprop, they're living out their days waking up in, say, Jacksonville to run Jax, Hilton Head, Atlanta, Tri-Cities, Charlotte, Asheville, Dulles, and work their way back to Jacksonville the next day.

 

[Palmetto]

Hey, having a country-hopper flight would be pretty cool. Like stopping at NYC, Scranton, Buffalo, Cleveland, and Toledo, on the way to Chicago.

Back in the 70's, I once did a Delta ORD-DTW-CLE-BTV-MHT itinerary. It was a dinner flight, and the meal was served between Cleveland and Burlington, VT.

 

[railiner]

That would be hilariously uneconomical.

Not really. The actual aircraft are still running routes like that, they just make everyone get off nowadays. If you go look at the flight history of a random Dash 8 turboprop, they're living out their days waking up in, say, Jacksonville to run Jax, Hilton Head, Atlanta, Tri-Cities, Charlotte, Asheville, Dulles, and work their way back to Jacksonville the next day.

Yes...the crews of many regional's will start a sometimes two day 'tour' with their aircraft, and go in and out of a whole bunch of different cities, before returning to their home base, and being relieved...

 

[Train2104]

I observed 2159 and 2160 board in Penn Station on Monday. It took 4 and 5 minutes, respectively, from the time when the track was announced until one could walk freely up to the escalator (i.e. the line was downstairs).