My observations at the airport: Especially new Terminal 2 (San Antonio, Anton: rental car, rental)

[Rustybolt]

OK so first let me establish two things. 1) I love living in SA and I'm very comfortable here. It is home. 2) I fly a lot. At least once a week and sometimes twice and to locales all across the US. I see a lot of airports. So, beyond the annoyances that are more a problem for the tourists, like lack of a central rental car facility, I have issues with the SAT airport.
Tonight I landed on an American flight and from the time I walked off the aircraft at 6:45pm to the time the bags arrived was 45 minutes. That is ridiculous. The airport wasn't busy. I don't know if the airlines all share baggage handlers or what, but that is unacceptable. I got truly sick of listening to that stupid video of Julian Castro telling me that San Antonio was what America would look like in the future. The longer I waited for my bags, the more I came to realize that the video wasn't a positive, but a negative. The future of America is all about slow baggage. The other thing about T2 I have noticed is the exit from the secure area. They set up this obstacle course so that you have to zig zag as you exit the sliding glass doors. I would have thought in the post 911 environment that this would have been a design consideration, but I guess it was a "duh" moment for the designer. It is no better than the exit in T1 where the space is very congested.
Just my two cents, but dang, we need to improve the process and move our city forward. 45 minutes to get your bags isn't good for business or tourism. Don't know if the handlers work for American or they airport, but tonight wasn't their finest hour (or 45 mins).

[elnina]

It would be also helpful when you voice your observations to the Airport authorities. I am sure they want to know what people feel about the system and how they are doing.


CUSTOMER SERVICE
Russell Weinman: Customer Experience Manager
(210) 207-3820
Russell.Weinman@sanantonio.gov


On their web page there is a note:
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Let us know how we can serve you better, or if there is an issue we need to address.

To submit customer feedback, or report a problem, Click Here ( when you click there you will see a note: Sorry, the page you requested was not found.

[ged_782]

Each airline employs their own baggage handlers. The carousels are common-use, though.

As far as the rental cars, I think the former Economy Parking lot is supposed to become an interim consolidated rental car pick-up and drop-off point. A permanent solution is supposed to be a multi-floor consolidated rental car facility that would be constructed on the site of the current hourly surface parking lot, across from the old Terminal 2.

[Bo]

At non-hub cities, like SA, airlines often just have one set of baggage handlers working at a time. I've had the experience in SA where a delayed arrival will bring two planes in at the same time. When this happens, the baggage handlers have to get the second plane parked, remove the bags from both planes and/or load new bags onto one or both before they can get the arriving bags to the terminal. That would explain the 45-minute delay. Baggage-handling is still a very labor-intensive process.

[ged_782]

Try this link for feedback:
Airport Complaint Form

If the baggage handling system was functioning properly, then the long wait was probably an airline issue. Were the carousels running at all while you were waiting? Were any passengers from other flights/airlines retrieving any luggage while you were waiting?

[BenjaminNicholas]

As a fellow frequent-flier and someone who racked up 300,000+ miles on airlines last year, let me share my experiences with SAT and how it functions...

I know a lot of employees, both with CO and AA, the two airlines I fly most with. Both airlines in the past two years have cut their entire local baggage handling team, opting out the highest paid folks and replacing them with lower, hourly waged handlers. It was hell the first 6 months of dealing with them and they still don't seem to be able to handle any kind of real traffic at SAT without major backups.

Yes, I love the new design of the expansion and look forward to the third terminal, but the employees are still the glaring issue. I waited an hour on the SAT tarmac the other night because they couldn't seem to get our plane into the slot and turn-around another flight at the same time. It was ridiculous. With baggage taking another 30 minutes, it was nearly 2 am by the time I got home. No excuse.

If SAT cannot afford to hire the help that's needed, then why did they overspend on the new terminal in the first place? It's akin to taking a nicely cooked steak and putting fertilizer on top of it. I've emailed many folks about these issues, but all I get back are PR-laden responses that reek of autoreply.

I seriously hope the problem gets better before it gets worse.




BN

[BenjaminNicholas]

Originally Posted by Bo

At non-hub cities, like SA, airlines often just have one set of baggage handlers working at a time. I've had the experience in SA where a delayed arrival will bring two planes in at the same time. When this happens, the baggage handlers have to get the second plane parked, remove the bags from both planes and/or load new bags onto one or both before they can get the arriving bags to the terminal. That would explain the 45-minute delay. Baggage-handling is still a very labor-intensive process.

And FYI, the new terminal at SAT is equipped with a totally automated belt system, much like the ballyhooed one at MSP. This should speed things up considerably, as it's FAR less work for the handlers.

That doesn't seem to be the case at SAT



BN

[db6709]

I have also experienced the long baggage wait here and there's no excuse no matter what the size of the airport or the city it serves.

[Soviet]

Last time I checked baggage in, it came rather quickly! This was last month, the baggage was on KLM-Delta from Dusseldorf-Amsterdam-New York JFK-San Antonio and it seemed to be perfectly fine.

Then again, I had to pick it up in NYC and then check it in again, but that was easy.

I'm flying tomorrow and I won't check anything in. That's how I try to do things as often as I can.

[Rustybolt]

Thanks for the tip, elnina. At least I have somewhere/someone to direct constructive criticism. Also to ged_782. There was only one other flight that was waiting for their bags and that was a Continental flight. Interestingly, I also noted that when our flight arrived near the gate, the plane had to sit for about five minutes waiting for the wing walkers to show up and guide the jet in the last few feet. Maybe they were finishing off dinner or something, but it seemed like a complete surprise that we arrived at all.