Ughhh, I wish Tuscaloosa had an airport

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>or at least better options to get to other airports.</p>

<p>lil bro was set to fly out last night (Wed) at 6:45pm out of BHM to come home for spring break. He only has 2 classes on Thursday (which he hasn’t missed any yet) and none on Friday.</p>

<p>Anyway just as his friend picks him up to drive him to the airport he gets a call from USAirways saying they canceled his flight. No later flights are scheduled and all flights are booked solid on his and every other airline until tomorrow (Thur) evening. Two hours notice is all they gave and they won’t put him on another flight until 24 hours later???</p>

<p>He’s had plans to go to a concert tonight in Philly with his girlfriend since Christmas. So the only way to get him home in time was to put him on a greyhound bus from Tuscaloosa at 10:15pm arriving in Atlanta at 3:25am and then getting a cab to the airport to fly AirTran home at 8:45am. Needless to say he ain’t real happy and neither am I. How am I supposed to sleep until he calls me telling me he’s at the airport safely?</p>

<p>I realize this has nothing to do with any of you or UA, but I needed to vent :-).</p>

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<p>So sorry to hear this. While it won’t make you feel any better, do see if you have some recourse with the airlines to recoup your money. Hope that he has made his connections so he can be home soon.</p>

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<p>It’s ok NJBama, vent away!
We learned something crucial this year re: Spring Break travel - don’t schedule flights before the new schedule is out, and don’t ever assume you will be able to miss the last class to get to your flight. You bro got jerked around by USAir for sure, but planning to go to a concert when he had classes Thurs. could have equally backfired on him.
I had DS on a 2pm flight home Fri., figuring he could miss his 1pm class this one time. Turns out they have a midterm scheduled and he would have to take a “0.”
I think it’s unrealistic to hold classes until late Friday but expect everyone out of the dorms by 5pm. Doesn’t leave many options for the OOS student. At the very least they should let the kids stay Fri. night and offer an early morning Sat. shuttle. I’m whining because I have to now drive to the nearest airport with an avail. flight - 5 hours away - to pick him up.</p>

<p>Live and learn - will do everything different next year.</p>

<p>Having an airport in TTown would have made a big difference! Please let us know when you hear your bro has arrived safely in Atlanta!</p>

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<p>NJBama,</p>

<p>Are you raising your lil bro? </p>

<p>Back to topic…Yes, I do wish T-town had an airport large enough to accomodate plane travel to B’ham, HSV, Atlanta, NO, Memphis, etc. It sure would give people more options.</p>

<p>I sure hope your lil bro makes it back in time.</p>

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<p>The 5 p.m. checkout has been a sore spot for several people, not just the OOS students. Last spring, my son’s suite mate (who is an in-state student) had a lab that ran until 5:30 p.m. He had to leave his lab early to return to his dorm to get all his things and go through check out with his RA. </p>

<p>Perhaps a 7 p.m. checkout from the dorms would be better, with the last shuttle being at 6 p.m.</p>

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<p>Momreads: You are absolutely right!! Holding late classes and then expecting the same time checkout is absurd.</p>

<p>NJBama: Hope your brother makes all his connections. I know with my son’s classes he could not miss those Friday ones. Last flight He could take was at 5pm and class does not finish till 3pm. I hope he makes his flight but luckily has a friend driving him to the airport. He could not make any of the shuttles.</p>

<p>We really all should request a later shuttle and checkout time, I think everyone should call housing and politely make those requests.</p>

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<p>Ah, yes, USAirways. Formerly Allegheny Airlines, aka Agony Airlines. The same cancel-happy morons who couldn’t have cared less about how many people slept on the floor at CLT during my son’s 37 hour trip back to Bama from Hawaii after XMAS break.</p>

<p>Vent away, NJ. I’m with you.</p>

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<p>Oh, vent away. Absolutely cannot stand USAirways. Was treated terribly by them once, and refuse to ever fly them again, no matter how fast or convenient the flight.</p>

<p>Don’t know what’s up with housing with these early checkouts. Went through this at Christmas time. Had to be out of dorm even though final just an hour or so before.</p>

<p>I think just letting everybody out at 10 am the next day, Saturday, with the last shuttle being that time, would be sufficient. Not fair to expect RA’s to stay over a whole other day, but at least overnight would be good.</p>

<p>Actually, I think our RA expected kids to be out before others at Christmas, which was perplexing even to the dorm office when I asked about it, but in the end, we had to comply with his schedule.</p>

<p>Still not sure how we’re working things Friday. We’ll try to meet up with son before his last class to pack up the winter wardrobe and a weeks’ worth of clothes for the break, then either spend the night at a hotel or drive back that night. We’re leaning toward spending the night, though, since we wouldn’t be getting on the road until five, and have at least a five hour trip ahead.</p>

<p>I still am perplexed on why kids even need to vacate the dorms for Spring Break. End of semester is only six weeks away, and Lord knows, we’ll be booted out but fast on that day, too.</p>

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<p>Probably not in our children’s college lifetimes, but I can see that in the future, T-town airport expanding to accomodate some jets large enough to do “puddle jumpers” to B’ham, Montgomery, Memphis, NO, etc. </p>

<p>Since T-town is now looking into building a Convention Center (now that alcohol is legal on Sundays), then expanding T-town’s airport would definitely seem likely.</p>

<p>Hey, in that Bama survey…did anyone mention expanding T-town airport?</p>

<p>Tuscaloosa Regional Airport</p>

<p>*According to the FAA’s National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2009–2013, it is classified as a general aviation airport.[2] The airport had 2,200 commercial passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2009.[3] The majority of this traffic was athletic charters from the University of Alabama.
*</p>

<p>*Attempts to Restore Commercial ServiceDuring the 2000s, the city of Tuscaloosa and the airport attempted to lure commercial service back to the airport. Between 2002 and 2006, the airport received $2.2 million in federal, state, and local money to improve its facilities, including $400,000 from the FAA as part of a program to help restore commercial airline service to smaller cities. The city matched the grant with $100,000 of local funding. In 2006, the city authorized paying $8500 to a consulting firm to court airlines in an effort to revive commercial service to the airport. City and airport officials stated their belief that the area was in a different economic picture with the Mercedes-Benz plant located in the city (the only one in North America) and new developments in and around the campus of the University of Alabama, including an expansion to Bryant-Denny Stadium[13][14]</p>

<p>DayJet announced per seat VLJ service on two pilot planes nonstop to 14 hubs in 3 states in July 2008 from Tuscaloosa. However, DayJet discontinued all passenger service operations on September 19, 2008 citing their inability to raise financing needed for continued operations.[15] Jet charters continue to periodically operate at Tuscaloosa.</p>

<p>Facilities and aircraftTuscaloosa Regional Airport covers an area of 724 acres (293 ha) which contains two asphalt paved runways: 4/22 is 6,499 by 150 feet (1,981 x 46 m) and 11/29 measures 4,001 by 100 feet (1,220 x 30 m).[1] Runway 4 is equipped with an Instrument Landing System and approach lights, allowing landings in visibility as low as a half mile.</p>

<p>For the 12-month period ending April 30, 2009, the airport had 56,045 aircraft operations, an average of 153 per day: 76% general aviation, 22% military. 2% air taxi, and <1% scheduled commercial. At that time there were 117 aircraft based at this airport: 73% single-engine, 10% multi-engine, 10% jet and 7% helicopter.[1]</p>

<p>*</p>

<p>I do think the time is right to begin service again. I wonder how large of jets can fly in. If Bama is flying its football team out of it, then the jets must have the capacity for a good number of passengers and equipment.</p>

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<p>*I still am perplexed on why kids even need to vacate the dorms for Spring Break. End of semester is only six weeks away, and Lord knows, we’ll be booted out but fast on that day, too. *</p>

<p>With over 20 res halls, it is NOT cost efficient to leave them open so that a few kids in each can remain in them.</p>

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<p>I feel your pain NJBama. The same thing happened to my DH and DS last month when they visited UA. </p>

<p>We received a phone call from United (flight was booked through US Airways) at 1:30 in the morning telling us that their 7:00 a.m. flight was cancelled. After two hours of frustration the representative from UA claimed to have booked them on a Delta flight. DH and DS arrived at airport at 6:00 a.m. to learn that UA hadn’t paid the booking fee. They then drove from Chicago to Milwaukee, WI to catch a flight that I found for them. They missed their tour at Auburn and it screwed up their itinerary for the rest of the weekend. </p>

<p>Their return flight was pushed back from 4:50 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. They finally arrived in Chicago (car was in Milwaukee, where they were supposed to land) at 3:30 a.m. DH had to take the Amtrak train from Chicago to Milwaukee to pick up his car the next day. </p>

<p>They never apologized. </p>

<p>The next time we fly it will be on a different carrier. Southwest is supposed to be good. Delta might be better, I’m not sure.</p>

<p>I’m still fighting to get our money back. American Express is helping us at this point. </p>

<p>I hope your brother got home safely and you got some sleep.</p>

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<p>this winter’s storms have made things worse all over. My sister has had problems getting her kids back and forth to their colleges…in Boston and in Nashville. flights cancelled, etc.</p>

<p>At least the colleges seem to be very accomodating of all of these travel issues.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone. Happy to report lil bro has now made it home safely and in time. </p>

<p>A late night bus to Atlanta isn’t an ideal option but it’s an option nonetheless, and I’m thankful we were able to use it and get him home.</p>

<p>AL34, I agree with you about being careful with travel plans on days when class is still in session. In this case though we knew we were safe. The two classes he missed today were MA - 121 and EN -102. We knew going in that all MA - 121 tests are done in the math lab and not during regularly scheduled class. So if this turned out to be a test week he could have just scheduled his exam for a day earlier in the week. And we knew his English class didn’t have in class exams, only papers that are due. So we figured if a paper was due on the day he’d miss he could just get it done early and turn it in a day or two ahead of time. But I realize in the coming years that this won’t always be the case and we’ll need to be careful when making his travel plans around Thanksgiving and Spring Break.</p>

<p>Back when I was a student at UA the Tuscaloosa airport did have a few puddle jumpers that connected to bigger airports. Hopefully they can get something like that going again even if it’s just a couple flights a day to ATL or Memphis. </p>

<p>FYI for OOS travelers. There is a shuttle that runs from BHM to ATL for $60 one way. Just throwing it out there as another option for your kids to get to and from Atlanta if you can coincide the schedules and get a ride to BHM to catch it. If USAir had called us earlier with notification of the canceled flight we could have used that method to get him to ATL instead of the late night bus. Just another point I’ll be emphasizing when I talk to the USAir public relations rep :-). AMTRAK is another option although it’s limited as only one train a day goes through Tuscaloosa.</p>

<p>Mom2K, I don’t raise him on my own but I do help in raising him. My mom was 48 when she had him while I was a student at UA. So with the huge age difference and the fact my mom & step dad are getting up there in years and experiencing some health issues, myself and our other brother and sisters all help in “raising” him. And since I’m told that I’m the one who “influenced” him to go to UA, I get to handle all things college related. Including co-signing for PLUS loans. oh joy :-)</p>

<p>Anyway thanks for letting me vent and hopefully no one else will have their flight canceled this weekend.</p>

<p>edit: Thanks lovemykids. Sorry to hear of your troubles as well. Canceled flights really amp up the stress level that’s for sure.</p>

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<p>NJBama, you’re a great brother. Your lil bro is lucky to have you.</p>

<p>Thanks for the tip on the Atlanta shuttle. There’s a lot of students from the Atlanta area who might want to use this as an option to get home, even.</p>

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<p>NJBama, who is the contact point for the Atlanta shuttle?</p>

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<p>Let me in chime in on the USAirways hate. A few friends and I were going to Philadelphia though Charlotte (bc the nonstop flight was cancelled) a few years back. I think the plane literally almost crashed while landing in Charlotte. The weather wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t like a thunderstorm or hurricane, either. It was very foggy, however, as the plane was preparing to land. Somebody said that it didn’t look like we anywhere near the runway and the plane suddenly jerked back up as if the pilot realized the same thing. It took us another half-hour to land.</p>

<p>There was also the fact the weather delayed our flight so much that we missed the connection to Philly (the last one of the night) so we were given the option to sleep on a chair or the floor of the terminal. We choose to go to hotel at our own cost. The real “hilarious” thing was when we got to Philly the next day, our checked luggage was already there. Somehow USAirways was able to have our luggage make the connection but not us!</p>

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<p>I could see in the near future, if the economy ever recovers, a return to commercial flight in Tuscaloosa. The city is certainly larger, but more importantly, it seems to be that Birmingham is basically turning into a commuter airport. If it weren’t for Southwest, the only options available would be commuter jets to the huge sorting hubs like Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, etc.</p>

<p>I personally don’t see the point of driving to Birmingham just to get on a 50-set commuter jet to Charlotte to make a connection. I think there would be a local demand for commercial air services, especially now that commuter jets have gained more public acceptance.</p>

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<p>Love it, feenotype. We too “missed” our connection, but our luggage made it. We however were not offered a free chair or floor, just a shuttle to a hotel that We had to pay for. And the next flight wasn’t the next morning, no, it was the next EVENING. Over 24 hours with no clean clothes and no toothbrush. Yuk! I’m wondering if US Airways is cancelling flights because they’re too cheap to pay a flight crew if there isn’t 100 percent occupancy.</p>

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<p>S is asking me if he can come home for Thanksgiving already. Since he has signed up for Alabama Action that would be more than 4 months away if he doesn’t come home. I told him he could have a choice- fall break or thanksgiving. He feels more of his friends will be home at the same time for Thanksgiving, he is probably right. I guess I will look into flights as soon as his schedule is confirmed. Most expensive and worst days to fly, what are you going to do.</p>

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<p>A long time ago, there was a flight on a 19-seat plane from New Orleans (or Memphis) to Tuscaloosa, then Anniston, then Atlanta. </p>

<p>Flight delays and cancellations are going to happen, but they still suck. One of the great things I’ve noticed about having elite status is that I can basically call and tell the agent what I want to be booked on in the event of a delay. With flights flying fuller, there are fewer seats for passengers affected by delays and cancellations. </p>

<p>I really don’t mind the regional jets except for the fact that they are often the first flights delayed and because they are not operated by the big-name airline, often have widely differing levels of customer service from what I experience when flying mainline. Part of BHM’s problem is that it is very close to other [major] airports. Regional jets provide frequency and are relatively inexpensive to operate. As much as I enjoy flying a DC-9, 737, or A320 the 134 miles to Atlanta, it’s an expensive flight to operate, especially if it is only half full. In reality, the route is better suited for a turboprop (still technically a jet, albeit with propellers,) but they’re not very popular in the South.</p>

<p>I could see Tuscaloosa getting 3-5 times a week service to Orlando or St. Petersburg, FL on Allegiant, but that’s about it. What I’d like to see instead is convenient, low cost transportation to the Birmingham airport from Tuscaloosa. If Columbus/Starkville, MS can have some limited flights, we can at least have a bus to Birmingham.</p>

<p>In regards to housing requiring a checkout at 5PM on Friday, I agree that it is annoying, as is not opening up the dorms until Sunday. Flights are VERY expensive on the Sunday after spring break. As for RAs who decide to make everyone check out early, I’m sorry, but my contract says that I have a 10 am Saturday checkout. Take a later flight, even if it costs extra. When I’ve applied to be an RA, it is made very clear that RAs are the last to leave and may have to pay extra for a shuttle to BHM or spend a night in an airport hotel.</p>