RDU Airport needs to expand — and it could use a little spiffing up while we’re at it
We recently traveled from Raleigh to Orlando, and reality hinted this would be the day’s last flight to see The Mouse. A friend ended up switching to our flight after three unmerciful attempts to board a different airline that same day.
And yet, with everyone FINALLY boarded on this delayed flight, with the door about to close, with wheels almost ready to go up, enter the dude to change this fairy tale into a groan.
Is it wrong that after waiting more than 12 hours to board, our guilty pleasure was watching this dude get escorted off the plane? Is it irony or divinity that the dude’s shirt proclaimed: “Carolina low life.”
Welcome to summer travel.
Be patient.
Be kind.
Shut your mouth.
I have empathy for anyone in a public-facing business. Everyone’s an expert, critic or stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. Airport and airline employees take undue grief often for factors they can’t control.
Any major weather delay at an airport is like a pile of toy blocks in the hands of a cranky 4-year-old on a candy high. Best intentions get scattered quickly — flights are diverted or canceled, along with restaurant reservations and park tickets to hang with Mickey and Minnie. And there always are unintended consequences.
When the dude got booted, three other family members likely felt obligated to deboard. His walk of shame turned into a parade.
My wife and I travel regularly and have seen the best and worst of airports and airlines. Often, it’s travelers who create the shake-our-heads moments because of 1) Boorish behavior; 2) Inflated sense of entitlement; 3) Complete cluelessness that the world doesn’t want to listen to their phone conversations on speaker mode.
RDU needs to expand
We’re not surprised that RDU did OK in J.D. Power’s 2022 customer-service ranking of U.S. airports. Overall, it’s a good airport that sends an inviting (albeit laid-back) message that the Triangle is a welcoming place open for new businesses.
FlightAware.com’s data for RDU show the Triangle’s airport is having growing pains with flight activity up about 15% compared with two years ago. The weather issues and resultant flight cancellations last week exacerbated the case that RDU expansion is a must-do.
RDU’s expansion plans call for adding gates to both terminals and major changes to baggage, ticketing and rental-car areas. Runway expansion also factors into this complicated puzzle that will take decades to finish,
The RDU governing board didn’t exactly highlight parking in its expansion shopping list. Maybe it’s because parking needs require local governments to decide on the Triangle’s transportation infrastructure. If commuter rail isn’t realistic, RDU needs better parking options than RDU Economy 4, which has the ambiance of a Gulag for tardy travelers. (Pro tip: Book parking in advance or monitor RDU’s parking capacity at park.rdu.com.)
How about a little pizzazz?
Terminal 1 — home for Southwest and an assortment of newer airlines — has all the personality and pizzazz of a storage facility. We can only hope that Terminal 1’s expansion includes a design upgrade so it feels and looks more like the aesthetically cool Terminal 2. It’s time the terminals act like twins.
If you’re reading this and have high-level sway at RDU, don’t interpret my observations as complaints about RDU’s inability to handle high-volume days, its sketchy parking, or how Terminal 1 isn’t on Architectural Digest’s list of future cover shoots. Who knows, maybe there is a Pinterest board somewhere with images of Terminal 1’s vending machines.
Besides, what do I know? I’ve never stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.
I’m simply a grateful traveler living the Carolina cross-my-fingers-that-dude-isn’t-on-our-next-delayed-flight life.
Bill Church is executive editor of The News & Observer. He prefers early direct flights and aisle seats.