Seriously?! An hour + taxiing in JFK?

I watched it happen about 3 weeks ago. BIGEY and ELIOT were both shut down for weather so about 30 of us were sitting and waiting out on the double Alphabets. Ground gets on the freq and says for everybody to start em up 'cause we were all going and then rattles out the first sequences. Southwest (who was right behind us I think) gets on and says they can take it from the intersection of 22 (we were departing of 13). Ground ignores them. They say it again and this time ground goes "roger sir... I understand you can take the intersection. You are still number 28."
 
I LUV it!

But I wonder how long SWA will keep serving LGA. I'll bet it goes junior for them!
 
On my flight back to SA we were able to cut in on a couple of Delta flights and as we were taxiing I see the Delta 74 taxiing on another taxi way and they got the departure before the Saudi Arabian flight left 15 minutes later. I just assumed that was JFK!

Pictures later...
 
BobDDuck said:
I watched it happen about 3 weeks ago. BIGEY and ELIOT were both shut down for weather so about 30 of us were sitting and waiting out on the double Alphabets. Ground gets on the freq and says for everybody to start em up 'cause we were all going and then rattles out the first sequences. Southwest (who was right behind us I think) gets on and says they can take it from the intersection of 22 (we were departing of 13). Ground ignores them. They say it again and this time ground goes "roger sir... I understand you can take the intersection. You are still number 28."
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Owned.

:rotfl:

:rawk:

:yup:

:clap:
 
Back in '99 & '00 I flew for a regional "airline"(:rotfl:) out of JFK and frequently experienced this.
One evening, after doing a single-engine taxi for +1hr we ran out of gas even before taking off. I'm sure we weren't the first nor the last to have to explain that to ops.


Welcome to JKF, have a nice day.
 
There was an article is one of the magazines that showed up about a Baron that got lost at JFK trying to find the "G.A.T" (General Aviation Terminal) or so it's called in the article.

That place is nuts!!
 
The "Problem" at JFK is not just all the traffic on the surface at JFK, but the airspace congestion with LGA and EWR so close by. Throw in a few TRW's to shut down some of the departure corridors and you will sit for a looonnng time waiting for -your turn-.

Years ago I was flying freight out of there, 10 pm push, they said we were number 45 in line. There was an approaching line of TRW's coming from the NW, and soon all departures were stopped. We sat another hour, waiting for the thundershowers to pass over, and then of couse the wind shifted to the NW! Well, now they were going to have to "spin the airport" and keeping the same sequence in the line up would cause everyone to taxi all the way around the airport and get back in line for 31. We were near the end of the line, which put us right near the departure end of 31!

I quickly asked (begged) ground to let us go as we were getting short on gas now (AC 690, engines running for hours, no APU) and we were able to take the intersection we were sitting right next to. A minute later he turns us over to tower and we are cleared to go! From last to first! I don't think it bothered the big guys too much, I didn't hear any bitching, they were getting paid by the minute anyway...

That was back in about 1981, JFK has always been a mess, but more so now with more traffic and runway mx in progress. I try to stay as far away from it as possible.
 
Timbo said:
I quickly asked (begged) ground to let us go as we were getting short on gas now (AC 690, engines running for hours, no APU) and we were able to take the intersection we were sitting right next to. A minute later he turns us over to tower and we are cleared to go! From last to first! I don't think it bothered the big guys too much, I didn't hear any bitching, they were getting paid by the minute anyway...
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I've done that in LGA before. We were all the way down at the south end of AA by the MAT and were about number 100 for 13. Thunderstorm rolled over the field and they switched to 4 for departures. We became number 3 to go which was a good thing as our FA was about to time out.
 
Because they try to cut us off on the ground and in the air.

I'm fine with them however, because I get paid by the minute, they don't. So I say put all the SWA's you want in front of me! Waiting on just three of them buys me another sixpack.

But when you are starting an all nighter from SMF to ATL and have to hold short for 10 minutes for the SWA on final, to the wrong runway, because landing with a 10 kt. tailwind will save them 2 minutes of taxi time...well...it gets old when ATC makes everyone else wait for them.
 
I must have lucked out when I connected in JFK on JetBlue after a readeye from LAS. I think our taxi time was less than 20 minutes.
 
SeanD said:
I must have lucked out when I connected in JFK on JetBlue after a readeye from LAS. I think our taxi time was less than 20 minutes.
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It all depends on the time when you arrive and depart.
 
I'd say 1.5 hours is pretty routine there. My personal best was 4.5 hours. That was a money making day. :D
 
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