Some flights at TIA give passengers another way on and off, reducing the time planes spend on the ground.

Agency

June 6, 2006

TAMPA - Every air traveler stuck in the back of coach knows the drill. The plane stops, lights come on and you wait as dozens of people ahead of you scramble for bags and slowly file out the front.

For fliers on some airlines, relief may be on the way.

Airlines are increasingly using both front and rear doors to get passengers on and off planes faster. Their goal: substantially cut the amount of time aircraft spend on the ground at airports.

United Airlines, AirTran Airways and Air Canada are testing double-door boarding and deplaning on select flights at Tampa International Airport.

JetBlue Airways has used the procedure at warm weather cities since its start in 2000. Now, JetBlue lets passengers use the back door at 30 of 37 airports and plans to add the last seven, including its hub at JFK International, this year.

Airlines run into some obstacles making it work. Some customers don't like climbing portable steps into the plane or staircases from the ramp into terminal. Gate agents tell passengers in the back they're welcome to use the front door instead.

Some airports don't want civilians on the ramp, where they might get in the way of baggage carts and fuel trucks, says Mark Ahasic, JetBlue's director of operations planning. Airlines typically don't use the rear door if the ramp is slick with rain or snow.

United is pinning its hopes on a new Y-shaped loading bridge that lets passengers use both doors at the same time. Canadian discount carrier WestJet uses the automated bridge in Vancouver and Calgary.

Denver will be the first U.S. airport to get the "DoubleDocker'' bridge from Dewbridge Airport Systems this summer at five gates used by United's low-fare arm, called Ted.

The carrier could bring the loading bridge to other Ted airports, including Tampa International, if the DoubleDocker works out in Denver.

In February, Ted began rear door loading and deplaning with portable steps for flights at a gate on a quiet corner of Airside E.

The time needed to unload inbound passengers on Ted's 156-seat planes and board departing passengers has been cut to as little as 15 minutes, station manager John Dahl said.

"In a nutshell,'' he said, ''we've reduced the time by 50 percent.''

That savings could help ground crews get a late incoming plane back on schedule, Dahl said.

If United adopts the procedure at enough airports, officials said, the airline could squeeze extra flights out of the same number of aircraft.

One morning last week at Tampa International, travelers waiting for a Denver flight heard an unusual preboarding announcement.

Passengers in rows 12 to 26 were invited to use emergency exit doors at the gate "if you are physically able,'' walk down to the ramp, up portable stairs into the plane and store their carry-on bags. The rest would board the traditional way after passengers in the first 11 rows.

Warren Wood of Evergreen, Colo., was puzzled why the airline wanted him and his wife, Judy, to go outside to get on board. They didn't like using stairs to get out after their flight arrived in Tampa.

''It felt like we were landing in Mexico,'' he said. They followed the crowd out to the plane anyway.

An hour later, passengers arriving from Chicago started walking out the rear door moments after the first front-row travelers came out of the loading bridge.

"I love it,'' said Andrew Hahn of Wesley Chapel, who was seated in row 20. ''I'd have been on that plane another 20 minutes.''

Other airlines aren't as excited about the idea.

Southwest tested prototype dual-door loading bridges made by a different manufacturer in Dallas and Austin, Texas, a couple of years ago.

They cut the time planes spent at the gate by about five minutes, said spokeswoman Marilee McInnis, but "the costs exceeded the benefits to us.''

Southwest still uses a dual-door bridge in Albany, N.Y., that airport officials paid for with a state grant.

United and Dewbridge declined to say how much the bridges cost.

Airports typically pay for loading bridges and get the money back through gate rental fees to airlines.

American Airlines, the world's largest air carrier, is watching what competitors are doing but has no plans to use both doors for boarding and deplaning passengers, a spokesman said.

Aviation consultant Michael Boyd called the procedure "an interesting concept'' that might work for some carriers. But it won't save time at a busy hub like Denver, where Ted planes need to wait for connecting passengers from regular United flights, he says.