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Why aren’t drop-offs at PDX in the same place as pickups? Both the arrival and departure levels are constantly jammed, plus rideshare drivers who are dropping off have to go all the way back down Airport Way to Northeast 82nd and make a U-turn to do a pickup. Wouldn’t dropping off and picking up in the same spot be more efficient? —Jonathan T.
Upon careful inspection of your letter, Jonathan, I have determined that what at first appears to be one large question is actually two smaller questions standing on each other’s shoulders in a trench coat. The first is, “Why do airports segregate the arrivals area from the departures area?” and the second is, “Why is getting from one to the other such a goat rope?”
While some smaller airports let their freak flag fly by allowing arrivals and departures to mix freely, most separate them. One reason: Dropping off a passenger is quick and easy, but picking one up usually involves at least a few minutes of waiting in the car. That translates to more cars at a time; putting arrivals on the ground level makes it easier to add lanes of traffic to hold them.
Inside the airport, it’s the arrivals who move quickly and the departing passengers who find themselves milling about the airport for hours (or, if they’re flying Spirit, days). It makes sense to put these latter lost souls on the upper level with all the shops, “restaurants” and other amenities designed to separate travelers from their cash. Arrivals, who are usually out the door in minutes, get a no-frills ground floor where baggage claim meets a lot of “authorized personnel only” areas for airport operations.
As for those put-upon rideshare drivers, it turns out that they (at least the ones working with Lyft) have to return to a special staging area just off 82nd and Airport Way after every drop-off. In other words, they’re making that long U-turn you deplore every time anyway.
The rest of us, however, used to be able to turn around more easily. For decades, a “Return to Terminal” road allowed drivers who, say, had just realized they were short a child or two to flip around less than half a mile from the terminal. Unfortunately, PDX closed this handy stargate in 2018 to make room for more rental cars. This left us with the 2-mile-plus loop (described, with admirable chutzpah, as “safer and easier”) that we enjoy today.
Questions? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.
