Boarding planes could have been very different

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There's a world in which everyone boards planes with "mobile lounges", PTVs, or Plane-Mates... but this is not that world. ■ YUL Montreal-Trudeau International Airport: www.admtl.com/en ■ AccessAir: accessairsystems.com/
Thanks to Eric Forest and the airport team, and to Christian Brice for stepping in for additional camerawork!
🟥 MORE FROM TOM: www.tomscott.com/
(you can find contact details and social links there too)
📰 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER with good stuff from the rest of the internet: www.tomscott.com/newsletter/
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Опубликовано:

29 окт 2023

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Комментарии : 2,5 тыс.

@TomScottGo 6 месяцев назад

This week's pinned-comment plug is for my podcast! There are interesting questions and even more interesting answers for free every week: search 'Lateral' wherever you get your podcasts, or visit lateralcast.com

@Rorywizz 6 месяцев назад

cool

@ooooothatsshit158 6 месяцев назад

cool

@Waffles_Syrup 6 месяцев назад

I still want full video versions of lateral.

@tejasvasishta3045 6 месяцев назад

Hey Tom! What happened to your "taking a break" vid?

@AztecAmal 6 месяцев назад

Thank you Scott (Im an avgeek)

@castlehighschool 6 месяцев назад

I used them once. As it was dark outside I had no clue why we were in a 'waiting room' after the boarding gate ticket check. Needless to say that I was even more confused when the 'waiting room' started moving 😅

@chiroyce 6 месяцев назад

Ha that must've been so cool, getting off a plane into a waiting room where you can see out of and it STARTS MOVING!

@Galafador 6 месяцев назад

😂 that's hilarious. I'd love to experience that sometime

@jf_kv_ 6 месяцев назад

Everybody gangsta 'till the waiting room becomes a moving room.

@QALibrary 6 месяцев назад

My experience was via TWA and it hardly had windows and it was dark due to the nighttime

@yaroon4715 6 месяцев назад

The waiting room was done waiting around

@EminencePhront 6 месяцев назад

I rode one of these at JFK in 1987. I borderline thought I had imagined the whole thing, so thanks for confirming this was indeed real.

@LordManhattan 6 месяцев назад

You can finally rest after 36 years of wonder and confusion 😄

@matsv201 6 месяцев назад

I seen them in a Hollywood movie, don't remener what movie it was. I think it was one of the airport movies. I thought it was some kind of Hollywood ficktion untill I a few years later learned that they actually exist.

@PhilLesh69 6 месяцев назад

One of the Die Hard sequels was supposed to be set at Dulles Airport. I think they shot most of it at LAX but spliced in clips of these mobile lounges to make it look authentic.

@russb24 6 месяцев назад

I rode one at JFK too, when the plane blew out 2 tires on landing. They stopped the plane on the runway and got us off with these. This was in the late 90s.

@comicus01 6 месяцев назад

@@PhilLesh69 Sort of relevant: LAX has remote gates... but they take passengers on a regular bus, and then they either climb stairs or use a jet bridge from a small lounge (you can see them on a satellite map view at the west end of the airport). And it's the second Die Hard movie that is set at Dulles (and conveniently forgets about the existence of BWI, National Airport, and just about all other airports within 500 miles such as Philly and Pittsburgh, not to mention some Air Force bases)

@Dakili 6 месяцев назад

I actually work at the Montreal airport and have for over 15 years. One of the main reason why Montreal uses these, is because the airport is right in the city and can barely expand. The PTVs are a good way for the airport to have more planes and passengers without actually having to build more. There's actually a plane parking where the PTVs go to and get the passengers back in the terminal. Another thing to consider is speed and space. While a plane is at a gate, it needs to be plugged for electricity and oftentimes the plane will be cleaned, refueled and more all while taking a lot of space at the terminal. The PTVs at montreal have 4 gate (show in the video) and they take the same amount of space of what 1 regular gate would. Montreal airport being so weirdly made and needed much space, this helps a lot to save space. By the way tom, you should do an episode during the winter on the snow equipement the airport has. Montreal airport is unique in the weather it has during the winter and oftentimes other airports come visit to see the equipment and methods they use. It's quite a sight to behold!

@abdullahalam2088 6 месяцев назад

The winter snow management in any of the big cities in Canada would make a good video tbh. It's quite amazing how efficiently is done.

@sophiamarchildon3998 6 месяцев назад

@@abdullahalam2088 Each city has some interesting aspects to it. Edmonton is very dry and so cold; Vancouver is so mild and wet; but Montréal is intense all over the place.

@cybhunter007 6 месяцев назад

So much for Mirabel being the eastern gateway, being built for traffic that never came.

@oriol108 6 месяцев назад

In Barcelona Airport they have some of these buses and they uses them to lift handycapped people to the plane (when they are not connected to the terminal finger)

@TS_Mind_Swept 6 месяцев назад

Got like 999, guess it's maxed out now :p

@vikenemesh 6 месяцев назад

Big props to them for acquiring the blueprints and manufacturing rights, they really doubled down on being able to supply these things for decades to come

@hb1338 6 месяцев назад

Unlike at Washington, where the cost of repairing or replacing the mobile lounges is prohibitive.

@Starchface 3 месяца назад

The airport management must realize that these PTVs are required for the operation to be sustainable, so it took such extreme measures to ensure an uninterrupted supply. As we see in the video, the work is done by AccessAir, not the airport itself.

@castlering 6 месяцев назад

I have mobility problems and often use a wheelchair when out and about, and when I last flew, I was taken to and from the planes in a much smaller version of one of these. It really was a godsend, meaning no stairs, lounge to plane service without worrying about which gate to be at and so on. It would be so good if these larger ones had become the norm, as they would benefit everyone, not just disabled people like myself.

@DjokovicIsOurLordAndSaviour 6 месяцев назад

Thanks for sharing!

@d7home2129 5 месяцев назад

wouldn't really be helpful to non disabled passengers except for the cases where it is replacing a bus maybe. But not when replacing an air bridge.

@renedescats 17 дней назад

Agreed, I once flew with a disabled relative in a smaller version too and it was infinitely more comfortable for them. Shame that option is so rare

@Isaac-eh6uu 13 дней назад

Seems like it would only benefit disabled people.

@kombuchamooch 2 часа назад

@@Isaac-eh6uu airports notoriously suck for people with physical disabilities, so anything that can make things easier for them is worth implementing

@si1entdave 6 месяцев назад

The cynic in me says that making people walk through large pedestrian terminals means they can go past lots of shops, and that makes more money for the airport, and so that will also have influenced the choice to have skybridges as well.

@bungee7503 6 месяцев назад

A common observation is that Heathrow is a shopping centre with a runway attached.

@pocketpc_ 6 месяцев назад

That's definitely an indirect influence here. The desire to include more shopping inflated the size of terminals, which made jetbridges a more viable option even as the planes continued to get bigger. That, combined with the higher simplicity and lower cost of jetbridges, led to PTVs being a very niche solution.

@zeruzio1345 6 месяцев назад

All they need is a few vending machines and they could also include a thing called "Sky Bridge Mall" where they try and sell you expensive pens, perfumes and luggage scales.

@davideverett7553 6 месяцев назад

@@bungee7503considering Heathrow takes a cut of every sale if your shop doesn't make profit they will turf you out. Bizarrely busses are faster than air bridges and that's why Ryan and easy jet always use them.

@grandtourerpt 6 месяцев назад

On arrival, even on those with a bus ride you still have to walk past a few shops after baggage claim, so it would be the same with one of these

@damienlocutus 6 месяцев назад

The entire Dulles airport feels like a monument to 60's Era techno-optimism and what became of it in practice. And no one who goes there frequently leaves without an opinion of these big "You thought you were there, but you're not yet" trucks.

@vulpo 6 месяцев назад

I had to suffer the PTVs at Dulles back in the 1990s and I think they were just using them to unload passengers from the gates due to a lack of capacity. So if your flight was later than its ETA, off you and all the other passengers would go onto the PTV to await the arrival of your flight somewhere way out on the tarmac.

@MattMcIrvin 6 месяцев назад

The look and feel of it reminds me of Thunderbirds or Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. (And the way it was originally designed around having as many docking sequences as possible contributed to that!) But the newer peripheral terminals where you usually actually access the plane don't have the same vibe.

@hb1338 6 месяцев назад

@@vulpo Exactly. One of the reasons for choosing buses was that their use reduced the terminal size and therefore cost very substantially. Dulles goes into meltdown quite frequently as the terminal starts to fill precisely because it is so small, so the buses are used to relieve the overcrowding.

@Press2GetTheCookie Месяц назад

Do they still use them there? Haven’t been in Dulles for months but only remember these being used in 2019 when the airline I fly with had to park in a remote stand while there were some jobs being done in the airport. Haven’t used it since and never seen anywhere else in the world. Not even in Dulles actually.

@ekduitin123 26 дней назад

@@Press2GetTheCookie It's still in use. I usually find myself in them when arriving on international flights.

@calijguyman 6 месяцев назад

As a life long, frequent user of Dulles, it surprises me to hear that other passengers don't like the mobile lounges. I still get excited every time I ride in one!

@MikeCauchiArt 6 месяцев назад

Tom Scott sightings are now becoming something of a rare pokemon in my life. I walked passed him outside my workplace when I lived in london. Then a few days ago saw "someone who looked just like him" walking down saint-catherine here in Montreal, and here we are getting a video from him in Montreal. Probably see you in another few years, Tom :D

@toamastar 6 месяцев назад

Always wanted to just spot him somewhere near me but sadly idk if there is anything interesting enough for him near where I live lmao

@bernier42 6 месяцев назад

I choose to believe he was making a collab with Ryan George when he noticed the PTVs.

@toamastar 6 месяцев назад

@@bernier42 now that would be an epic Collab but would be very confusing to have two people without the same face lmao :)

@Jehty21 6 месяцев назад

@@toamastarit's in your hands. Surely there is something interesting in your area. You just have to find it and recommend it to Tom.

@jemand8462 6 месяцев назад

you seem to do a lot of walking.

@NecoLumi 6 месяцев назад

Back in my day, we would cling onto the wing of the plane in the middle of a storm and frighten people who looked out the window, like REAL Americans.

@jwalster9412 6 месяцев назад

Bruh

@danielgalef994 6 месяцев назад

Some airlines have introduced this as a seating tier below economy class. I heard William Shatner is doing the commercials.

@sodadrinker89 6 месяцев назад

Unless it's William Shatner.

@Whatwherewhy586 6 месяцев назад

People have it so easy now days. Sad how far we've fallen.

@zym6687 6 месяцев назад

@@Whatwherewhy586 Still not near as far as I used to fall back in my day.

@danielpark9126 6 месяцев назад

As a frequent Dulles airport user, the main problem with these lounges is that you often have to wait 16 to 30 minutes for them to show up after your long flight.

@Dondriver12345 6 месяцев назад

Do you think replacing them by ordinary buses can fix the problem? Definitely not. So, it's just the matter of if your airline includes airbridge fee in your ticket price or not.

@dutchman7623 6 месяцев назад

@@Dondriver12345 Airbridge fee? Pilot fee? Stuart fee? Tax? Tips? Off course everything should be included! Delivery well and alive.

@Dondriver12345 6 месяцев назад

@@dutchman7623 placing an aircraft right to the terminal can cost much higher than you think. Do you know that during the COVID airlines still were paying millions of USD to the airports to secure their slots even though the flights were suspended?

@dijoxx 6 месяцев назад

That's not a problem with the lounges per se but how the airport chooses to operate them.

@rubiks6 6 месяцев назад

@@Dondriver12345 - They have largely been replaced by an underground train, at Dulles.

@mofire5674 6 месяцев назад

Scott's ability to get behind the curtains and get an insider look at how many things work in our world is astounding. I wonder how many times he gets denied despite his vast connections....

@hb1338 6 месяцев назад

His videos offer their subjects plenty of good and extremely cheap publicity, and he almost always tells positive stories. I'd be surprised if many people turn him down.

@Starchface 3 месяца назад

From what I see and read, it appears the responsible parties contact Tom more often than not. I recall Tom saying that anyone doing so must have the authority to invite him onto the site to observe and record the operation. With over 6 million subscribers, I imagine the channel is big enough that it's self-sustaining in that regard. Now he's on the non-schedule schedule, there won't be as many but hopefully we'll see him again before long.

@jasonwodicka8510 6 месяцев назад

A close cousin of these are in use for helping passengers with mobility issues board planes, at least in Reykjavik. My husband and I were there this past summer, and there were a lot of planes using the remote-boarding strategy. My husband was recovering from a broken foot, so we were flagged for mobility assistance. They loaded about eight of us onto a very small version of one of these that docked at one of the doors that wasn't being used for the main loading, and we were able to get off and on the plane without needing to navigate stairs.

@robertlarder1907 6 месяцев назад

Yes, they have- or had- one at Aarhus airport a few years ago, also for passengers with mobility issues. Appeared to work well.

@johndododoe1411 6 месяцев назад

They retrofitted a cargo transport to provide that service for Bill Clinton when he was briefly in a wheelchair during an official visit at CPH airport . CPH doesn't have mobile passenger launches and services all VIP flights from an old terminal building on the opposite side of the airport than civilians (because that location is easily secured with military teams) .

@spiralpython1989 6 месяцев назад

That would have made my recent Euro sojourn so much easier. At almost every airport I travelled within Europe, I was on that plane that docked remotely… with a mobility issue.

@kenbrown2808 6 месяцев назад

I was just thinking it would have been nice to have one when we boarded at a remote stand at KEF.

@denisvermeirre1024 6 месяцев назад

Hi Tom. The transfer vehicle you rode was originally deployed at Montreal's now defunct Mirabel Airport (CYMX). The main passenger terminal was designed with these in mind and skybridges were only added later. Pilots used to nickname the vehicles "submarines" because the roof pillars resembled conning towers.

@GoldAndBlue 6 месяцев назад

I was wondering when someone would mention Mirabel...

@ve2vfd 6 месяцев назад

Yup, I rode them when flying out of Mirabel. Rode them a few times in Dorval too.

@TheTrueSCU 6 месяцев назад

Montreal Mirabel was an excellent and horrible airport at the same time due to these. For boarding, they were quite good as you could get a lot of people from the terminal to every door of the aircraft. For deplaning, they were problematic as they would empty out directly into the passport control hall which could not process inbound passengers fast enough. I spent many an hour sitting on these things just waiting for a door to open up only to have them form part of the queue to go though passport control.

@EGRJ 6 месяцев назад

Huh. I would've gone for something more surface navy. Because the masts look like ship's masts.

@Almafeta 6 месяцев назад

If this thing used to be at Mirabel and is now at Montreal and that means at one point in time, one glorious afternoon, somebody was asked to drive a passenger transfer vehicle down the freeway that must have been a glorious day for the lucky driver

@anothersiguy 6 месяцев назад

As a VA native that’s been to Dulles a fair share of times, the “mobile lounges” are generally hated because it means more sitting and waiting to get to another terminal (they don’t go directly to planes). They’re phasing them out now that they have a subway to travel between terminals. Not sure if it’s actually faster but certainly feels like less waiting.

@heatherduke7703 6 месяцев назад

Exactly, if they actually took you to board the plane, that would be awesome. But as shuttles between terminals, they suck… The metro they put in is so much nicer

@Myriadys 6 месяцев назад

You know, I was thinking "I've been to Dulles several times and don't recall these" but now that you mention you don't actually board planes on them I think I can recall them. I wish I'd boarded planes from them though.

@mattkennedy9308 6 месяцев назад

Reminds me of the story where people complained about waiting around for baggage in an airport, and so they just swapped the baggage carousel so they had to walk further. Complaints dropped since they were walking instead of sitting around.

@Vinemaple 6 месяцев назад

I rode one of the Dulles ones! They were using it as an inter-terminal transport, driving passengers between the three non-contiguous terminals. At the same airport, I've also traveled between terminals on an antique but normal bus, and a subway tram. I always got a kick out of the fact that they used three different vehicles to move passengers between different parts of the airport, and had no idea until now that what I was riding in was one of Saarinen's mobile lounges. In Dulles's defense, they have a unique need for lots and lots of motorized passenger _transit_ between terminals.

@WingsTM 6 месяцев назад

why does dulles have three disconnected terminals?

@kassandraglueck2794 4 месяца назад

When they built the tram/subway system, one of the terminals was supposed to be temporary, as they were going to build a new one. So, they did not put a tram stop there, as why bother when it's going to be torn down soon anyway? Fast forward over a decade and the new one isn't built, and the 'temporary' one is still being used, and can only be accessed via bus or these 'People Movers'@@WingsTM

@JDP5127 6 месяцев назад

I love when Tom admits he isn't allowed to do something like he does at the end of this video. Just a small reminder that while he is incredibly blessed to go see all these great things, sometimes there are small security reasons that keep him a little more relatable.

@dieseldragon6756 6 месяцев назад

I'd hazard a guess it's less to do with security (C'mon...He's airside! 😉) and more to do with the very different training you'd need to be able to drive one of those safely. The vertical lifting part isn't so much the issue (I guess they can only do this once parked/secured) but the *huge* blind spots on these must take the expression « _Angles Morts_ » to a whole new ~ahem~ level! 🧑‍🦯🚌😇

@nikolaus2688 6 месяцев назад

@@dieseldragon6756 Since I very much doubt he has an airside driving licence, especially for whichever category this vehicle falls into, it's probably got to do with with airside safety more than security.

@blaster915 6 месяцев назад

But his RU-vid cred should let him go just about anywhere but military zones.

@jaroslavsevcik3421 6 месяцев назад

@@dieseldragon6756 the biggest problem is the airport itself. You cannot just drive around, you have to get clearance and watchout for any traffic/obstacle etc. If it was somewhere else, like abandoned factory, they would likely let him drive.

@r2db 6 месяцев назад

@@dieseldragon6756 Based upon the vehicle size and capacity, it likely requires a commercial driver license with passenger endorsement.

@RyanVitt 6 месяцев назад

Gonna miss your videos Tom! Thank you so much for everything you have given us over the last 10 years, truly amazing!

@abzy2470 6 месяцев назад

Is he quitting

@rajkushwaha4107 6 месяцев назад

@@abzy2470 He will stop uploading consistently on mondays soon

@nh808 6 месяцев назад

Anyone know how many videos are left until the break?

@Candlemancer 6 месяцев назад

@@nh808 I think until the end of this year? so that would be 8 more

@SnowJester 6 месяцев назад

@@rajkushwaha4107So is he quiting?

@mdbbox5660 6 месяцев назад

I rode these often at Dulles when I used to travel for work. They're mostly gone now. Like a lot of others, I was never really a fan. I think it was mostly because you were getting off a cramped metal tube and were shoved directly into a cramped metal box right away. When disembarking the plane there was this feeling that you'd be able to decompress, but that feeling would fade once you got on the people mover. To hear that they were called "mobile lounges" is a riot. More like a city bus with an open floor plan!

@valo139 Месяц назад

I rode one just recently at Washington Dulles International Airport. Those Plane Mates seemed coming straight from the 1970's. Even the interior odor was fitting...

@ImtheHitcher 6 месяцев назад

I think adding traffic to the tarmac was probably a consideration too. Add this to the baggage, fuel and maintenance vehicles driving around it could make things a bit more complicated to organise (not to mention adding another point of failure) which I'm sure was a consideration at large hub airports

@StarkRG 6 месяцев назад

It would eliminate the need for those extremely heavy pushback vehicles, though, and the problems they introduce (flight crews needing to request a pushback and wait for that to happen, the potential for hitting stuff with the plane as they're pushing them out, and the complexities of returning to a gate if the plane has to wait after being pushed back) so it might just be a wash.

@flyingpanhandle 6 месяцев назад

These could potentially reduce traffic. Often i've left a terminal to get onto a bus, to go to the plan to get up some stairs. These remove the need to have the stairs potentially.

@jonathanodude6660 6 месяцев назад

remember that planes have to sit around currently if theres nowhere to dock. if the little cars went to go pick people up you wouldnt have queues of planes trying to unload at the same time.

@wsommerv 6 месяцев назад

But this wouldn't replace gates, just the buses that already have all those issues.

@MarcFresko 6 месяцев назад

Well yes, they would be a point of failure, but jet bridges can fail too. And they do!

@jackm6593 6 месяцев назад

As someone who lives near Dulles airport, I thought these looked familiar! I don’t think Dulles uses these to directly board planes anymore, but they are still in use to transport people between some airport terminals. The docking functionality is used to align directly with the external terminal doors on both ends of the trip so that you can board and disembark the transport vehicle without stepping outside.

@bigmak40 6 месяцев назад

I had a flight into Dulles about a year ago that had an issue with the jet bridge. They pulled up a mobile lounge to the right side door and we just disembarked into that. It drove us back to the main terminal directly. Definitely handy for situations like that.

@hilman94 6 месяцев назад

It reminds me of Airport 1975 movie, until he mentions the inspiration comes from Dulles

@m0ondoggy 6 месяцев назад

Dulles is my airport. I haven't used them to board, but when I come back on an international flight, they put one on each end of the plane and take us to the international terminal.

@jackm6593 6 месяцев назад

@@m0ondoggy Oh cool! I don’t think I’ve ever flown internationally back to Dulles, but it’s cool to hear they still use them to disembark flights sometimes.

@TheLegoPerson 6 месяцев назад

@@m0ondoggysame here! I've flown international into Dulles several times and can confirm these still see some use!

@gknight710 6 месяцев назад

As someone who grew up flying out of IAD (and still do occasionally) I’m very happy to see they exist elsewhere. I remember being a kid and thinking they were the coolest thing ever. Unfortunately I only got to experience them as a people mover between terminals

@heatherduke7703 6 месяцев назад

That’s all they do at Dulles, they don’t take you directly to the plane. So it’s just one more opportunity to wait in line and an extra boarding/de-boarding step 😕

@sandal_thong8631 3 месяца назад

I remember them at Dulles too. If they're not connecting you to the plane then they may as well build an underground connection with autowalk.

@heatherduke7703 2 месяца назад

@@sandal_thong8631 They have built a metro, but it doesn’t connect all the terminals

@jeffcary37 6 месяцев назад

Thank you for mentioning Dulles. I had flown in there twenty years ago and rode the mobile lounge and couldn't remember for the life of me which airport it was. Tanks again!!!

@fabiankaegy 6 месяцев назад

After having Brady and Grey talk about them for so many years on Hello Internet its cool to finally actually get a closeup look 😂

@andrei19238 6 месяцев назад

Kkkkk

@connorbrown8414 6 месяцев назад

Does this make Tom a Tim?

@TheLaughingPanda 6 месяцев назад

I had the same thought! It's the AT-ATs!

@harvey-6125 6 месяцев назад

Was looking for someone with an HI reference 😁

@Bayb0b 6 месяцев назад

I miss the podcast 😢

@namesundar 6 месяцев назад

That bus looks so cool, I think it really has some niche market in smaller airports around the world

@thijsjuffermans9402 6 месяцев назад

thing is, using a normal bus and a regular staircase is just way cheaper and easyer.

@moos5221 6 месяцев назад

smaller airports don't have remote parking, since there are less planes...it's a problem only large airports have

@MrTurbo_ 6 месяцев назад

@@thijsjuffermans9402I imagine this being preferable for countries where the weather is sufficiently garbage that walking outside for a bit from the airplane to the bus would leave you cold, wet, covered in snow or all at once

@TheMajorStranger 6 месяцев назад

Nah smaller airport don't have the need or budget for this. Like they said in the video those are best used as overspill management on bigger airports on busy days. Smaller airport either are tarmac boarding or smaller terminals.

@Fay7666 6 месяцев назад

Small-medium airports will have buses complementing bridges. Smaller airports will just point you to your plane.

@a_c_v Месяц назад

We got them from the Mirabel airport north of Montreal that was supposed to become Canada's international port of entry. That never panned out for many reasons (highways and train connections were not built, plane range let them reach Toronto direct, Trudeau/Dorval airport ended up being able to scale up), but the PTVs remain.

@hughmcaloon6506 6 месяцев назад

I've used these at Dulles and have found them frustrating. We load (usually over load) and wait, luggage jammed cheek to jowl, standing on top of each other, like in a subway car while the thing loads fully, then carefully disengages from the terminal and rolls to... an island terminal in the center of the tarmac, where we once again wait as people slowly debark, half the people dragging feet as they try to figure out where they are. I've also ridden them almost empty, which was a dream, but that's the rarity.

@ian3580 6 месяцев назад

all while breathing in jet and diesel exhaust. They really suck at IAD

@heatherduke7703 6 месяцев назад

Yes, they’re awful. The metro is so much nicer. If they actually took you to your plane, it would be different

@DCFatCat 6 месяцев назад

Dulles Airport has a people mover! It's so much fun to take it around the planes waiting to takeoff.

@TesserId 6 месяцев назад

I've ridden one there. I was young; and when you're just starting your journey, it becomes part of the adventure.

@Darksaber268 6 месяцев назад

Unfortunately I think they're being phased out since there's a new train that goes between terminals. They are super fun though, especially going up and down

@TXnine7nine 6 месяцев назад

Before they were used to go between the concourses, they were used to board planes just like in the video.

@Shiznit304 6 месяцев назад

i rode one at Dulles in 2020, i think it moved me between terminals

@asphy396 6 месяцев назад

Dulles has trains between a few of its terminals, but these still remain in use for 2 of the terminals

@xXfzmusicXx 6 месяцев назад

Man, I really do enjoy how Tom narrates these videos. It takes a truly talented individual to be able to captivate people no matter what the topic is, but Tom does it every time.

@moonrazk 6 месяцев назад

A bit silly to say "no matter what the topic is", it's not like he's going out of his way to find uninteresting topics.

@xXfzmusicXx 6 месяцев назад

@moonrazk To you, they might all be interesting topics by themselves, but for me, not so much. If it wasn't for Tom I'd probably not watch a video on a ferry boat that's hand pulled to the other side. Or that bridge with the super cheap crossings. Sure some of the topics speak for themselves, but with Tom narrating any topic is enjoyable to watch.

@soundscape26 6 месяцев назад

@@moonrazk Some topics are more interesting than others though... it all depends on your own interests.

@Z1a_qui_boucane 6 месяцев назад

I noticed them at mirabel and Dorval airport in Montreal since I was a kid and always wanted to see more about these machines, I love their design with the two hips on the roof! Thank you for coming to town to give us that inside view! Merci!

@JSDFEnthusiast 6 месяцев назад

I love that tarmac isn't really an aviation term but it's slowly worked its way just as any other term to be silently accepted as a way to refer to the taxiway and ramp.

@tenaciousdean6179 6 месяцев назад

In Britain we use the word tarmac to refer to roads as well so it's used in everyday language here

@ssbohio 5 месяцев назад

In British (and Commonwealth) English, "tarmac" has been used to refer to what we Americans call the "ramp" or "apron" at airports for decades.

@ariaflame-au 4 месяца назад

Tarmac is short for tarmacadam from the Scottish inventor as I remember.

@COPPETsan 6 месяцев назад

In Washington DC I was very surprised when I saw one of these rolling up to the plane. I didn't know anything like this even existed and seeing it roll around the tarmac made me think the sleep deprivation was getting to me.

@raisschultz420 6 месяцев назад

They don't roll up to the plane in DC. You go through a jetway into the terminal, and then board the moving lounge from the terminal. It's terribly obnoxious.

@user-cc7vx7sw4z 6 месяцев назад

@@raisschultz420originally IAD did have them roll up to the aircraft

@frednbauer 6 месяцев назад

At IAD they have been in use since the airport opened, and they are still used both for transport between terminals and for international arrivals. And a lot more than 8.

@arthurbrowne9379 6 месяцев назад

@@frednbauerBut they do not ever pull directly up to a plane, just to terminals (at least while I’ve been alive)

@longhims 6 месяцев назад

@@raisschultz420It was seriously annoying. I had a connection in IAD and after deplaning I walked as fast as I could, only to be directed into one of these... and told we wouldn't be moving until everyone else joined us. So I sat there looking at my watch while all the people who stopped to go to the washroom slowly finished, caught up and crammed inside. If it was direct plane to terminal, it wouldn't have been so bad since at least everyone would board at the same time.

@WizardOfDocs 6 месяцев назад

As someone who wishes traveling by plane had significantly less walking, I wish we'd gotten these in more places.

@arrow_awsome 6 месяцев назад

yah big same. im a cane user and my dad has a walker; and the incline to get on and off the planes are abslute hell for bolth of us

@GameFuMaster 6 месяцев назад

sometimes the walks are forever, especially when your gate is at the furthest end

@akStefan 6 месяцев назад

More walking means less waiting for your luggage. Not sure if it's true, but Heathrow supposedly did that to reduce passenger complains.

@Zestrayswede 6 месяцев назад

I don't mind the walking, it offsets all the sitting you do otherwise.

@Fractured_Unity 6 месяцев назад

That’s why it’s critical for airports to have golf carts for people like you. You are being accommodated and we’re getting our walk, it’s a win win

@ekesa07632 6 месяцев назад

I LOOOVE riding those “people movers” whenever I return to DC. It’s such a quirky little part of my returns to the USA and I’ve never seen them anywhere else. I joked with friends that I’d steal one and travel the world with it. Can you imagine speeding on these on the autobahn in Germany 😅😅😅

@the25thbam24 6 месяцев назад

so real!! not "mobile lounge" but we always just called them "people movers"... i always loved how silly and to the point that was.

@andrerenault 6 месяцев назад

I haven’t fact checked this, but if I’m not mistaken, the ones at YUL were inaugurated at the then-new Montreal Mirabel (YMX) airport and they broke down on their maiden voyage with several heads of state on board. It was an omen of YMX’s fate…

@jurjenbarel2744 5 месяцев назад

It was actually at the Olympics of '76: Mirabel only opened less than a year before and indeed one of those PVTs broke down with a few important deligation members on board. As a result, the opening ceremony was delayed, as they needed those people that were stuck.

@Infinick2 6 месяцев назад

I think an electric variant of these could work well in airports in crowded cities where expansion space is limited

@TheNiteinjail 6 месяцев назад

I think these would be critical to allow some airports expansion where sprawling buildings aren't a possibility.

@wloffblizz 6 месяцев назад

@@TheNiteinjail Thing is, at the end of the day, a bus and a set of stairs does the same job.

@fcormier 6 месяцев назад

It's actually the case in Montréal. There was a bad political decision to transfer international flights from Mirabel to Dorval. Mirabel was built outside the city for international flights with space to expand while Dorval is in the city and was built for local flights with very little space to expand.

@ytzpilot 6 месяцев назад

⁠@@fcormierMirabel used these too even though that was a larger airport, it is likely these are the ones from Maribel and moved over to Trudeau because they look exactly the same just with a refit.

@MonkeyJedi99 6 месяцев назад

@@wloffblizz Swap your set of stairs for either a ramp or stairs AND a small elevator, and I can agree.

@Bismuth9 6 месяцев назад

I had no idea these weren't common around the world! I love your ability to take something from my own backyard that I either took for granted (like this one) or had no idea about (like the 20m diving platform) and make it fascinating.

@agodlessmonstrosity 6 месяцев назад

Of all the people to see on a Tom Scott video, somehow you're one of the most likely

@Takyodor2 6 месяцев назад

Speedrun plane-boarding when?

@martrmbn 6 месяцев назад

Surely if you used these you would have noticed that every destination you visited didn't have them?

@Bismuth9 6 месяцев назад

@@martrmbn I've flown twice in my life.

@christophertweed5576 6 месяцев назад

Lived here 8 years and have flown nationally and internationally from the Montreal airport and have never seen them.

@ethanalan01 6 месяцев назад

Montreal used to have a second airport - Mirabel. It was built in the 70's. It had no gates at the terminal. All passengers were loaded onto Plane-Mates and taken to the plane. Mirabel did not last long. Obviously, there was a lot of technology sitting around doing nothing. Dorval the existing airport does not really have room for new terminals. Therefore, having an external boarding system works fine.

@tolson57 6 месяцев назад

THANK YOU TOM! You finally answered a question I have failed to find an answer for. I had seen the "big lumps", I called the "Sails", at Dullas. I noticed that some had them and some didn't. Now I know what they are and why some have them and some don't.

@DeeTofa 6 месяцев назад

I had the joy of experiencing this at Washington Dulles Airport. It was crowded but still exciting riding a lifted bus

@paulmorales1607 6 месяцев назад

Seems like this could also make boarding more efficient. Half the passangers on one, half on the other and board the mobile lounge by zones so you could distribute them from front to back. Idk just thinking of further applications.

@matsv201 6 месяцев назад

It kind of make sense. The mobile lounge can move while the plane is still being cleaned and really just dock the very last second. Also boarding should be a lot faster not limited by neither tickeing nore stairs

@awesomeman116a 6 месяцев назад

The airport people are so amazing for allowing you to make a video with these!!

@CakeRSq 6 месяцев назад

As mentioned, Dulles Airport (IAD), outside DC, USA, uses these too, they’ve had it for a very long time. They are kind of fun. Some don’t even use a screw drive to lift up/down.

@firebert123 6 месяцев назад

You and CGPGrey could solve this problem together.

@kingkoopa64 6 месяцев назад

Then get made fun of by Alan Fisher

@snowdrop9810 6 месяцев назад

The answer is trains. Always trains.

@kingkoopa64 6 месяцев назад

@snowdrop9810 ahem NORTHFOLK SOUTHERN WHAT'S YOUR FUNCTION-

@ReddwarfIV 6 месяцев назад

@snowdrop9810 This is one situation where trains would _not_ make sense. Trains follow tracks, they can't line up perfectly with an aircraft door.

@mikeybhoutex 6 месяцев назад

@@kingkoopa64 Hookin' up freight cars and loco-motin'...

@mattguey-lee4845 6 месяцев назад

The original concept was closer to having the mobile lounge be the waiting area where you sit for your gate now. I rode them a few times back in the 80&90s when Dulles still still docked them onto the planes. I was always in the 1% that liked the tour ride through the airport. Dulles still uses them to take passengers between the main terminal and the D gates and to the international arrivals terminal.

@FlyingBeeVR 6 месяцев назад

Seems like we could greatly reduce aircraft taxiing time, and simplify the overall design of an airport into a bus/shuttle station/building, an aircraft parking lot + fuel depot near the runway, plus a fleet of these shuttles between the two. Make em autonomous+electric to boot.

@michaelwisniewski6047 6 месяцев назад

@@FlyingBeeVRYes! And with low cost airlines now being so conscious of maximising flight time versus taxi and block time, this would really help both the airlines and the pax.

@michaelwisniewski6047 6 месяцев назад

Imagine the cost of having these things stand around working as waiting areas...

@fltfathin 6 месяцев назад

@@FlyingBeeVR IMO they can even make the "bus" as trailer to the staircase thingy reducing the complexity of the whole thing, on second thought they should fix it at the plane height and let the lower part of the car for luggage, simplifying check-in/out process

@MarkBingley 6 месяцев назад

Always wondered why they had those lumps on the top at Dulles airport. Thanks for filling my knowledge hole!

@AndresRodriguezGuapacha 2 месяца назад

Rewatching this as I sit on a lounge waiting for my flight, surrounded by PTVs everywhere. Thanks tom!

@WingedAsarath 6 месяцев назад

This would have saved me so much of a panic years ago if they had them at Heathrow. I flew Manchester > Heathrow and then changed there to a flight to San Francisco. They didn't send enough buses to disembark everyone at Heathrow and with the flight already being delayed me and this poor much older lady had to run between terminals 1 and 5 to try desperately to make our connection. We made it, but our luggage didn't and I had to wait hours at the other end for my luggage to finally be put on the next flight and shipped to my hotel. I was only 19 and flying by myself, so it was very, very stressful.

@Tuukkohakee 6 месяцев назад

Ah you made the classic mistake of flying through heathrow! Nah but in all seriousness it’s sad how poorly heathrow is managed, especially the ground operations.

@ianbo1 6 месяцев назад

man, one makes the most unlikely friends during flights

@troopsome6254 6 месяцев назад

Something about extremely specific use vehicles just fascinates me, thanks for another informative video.

@jmiquelmb 6 месяцев назад

You should take a look at the giant soviet vehicle that walks very slowly, the ESH 6/45

@troopsome6254 6 месяцев назад

@@jmiquelmb I live about 20km from one. No joke.

@flutechannel 6 месяцев назад

Been on one of these in Montreal! they are so cool! Hope you enjoyed Montreal Tom!

@grab2337 6 месяцев назад

My home airport, Washington Dulles, has these and they genuinely are the coolest thing to ride on! Even got to take a tour of their maintenance operation and see how they worked internally.

@EpicAwesomesauce 6 месяцев назад

Whaaaaaaat!? When you started the video, I instantly recognized the surrounding buildings and trees. I work at YUL, and it would've been amazing to meet you. I hope you enjoyed your stay!

@stirfryjedi 6 месяцев назад

As you noted correctly, Dulles International Airport in Herndon, Virginia still has and uses these. I love the historic pic you used at 2:13, which shows them at the back of the airport. Essentially you would check in, walk across to the right one and be driven to your plane. Now when you walk into Dulles airport, you can still see the back area where those were meant to dock for all customers. As the airport has since expanded to a gate system, most people proceeded downstairs into tunnels for security check. To occasionally exit a plane, or to be taken to gate D, passengers will still be boarded onto them.

@brians9508 6 месяцев назад

tunnels? what? The people movers are used at Dulles everyday as they are the only way to get passengers between the main terminal and Concourse D.

@prithvishivaraman6461 6 месяцев назад

You still have to ride them to get to the D Gates since there's no train connection there.

@stirfryjedi 6 месяцев назад

Thank you guys, I took it once before and memory didn't serve... I will make the correction

@davidgray3821 6 месяцев назад

Many years ago I arrived at Dulles one evening, and no gate was available, so we deplaned via the mobile lounges. Went straight to the terminal. I always liked them.

@oldmech619 6 месяцев назад

My father was one of the engineering team members. I remember him going to Dulles get these movers going. Seeing them again brings a spark of life

@adamsulis99 6 месяцев назад

Great video, thanks! And Thanks to Montreal Airport for helping to show us this great vehicle.

@YoshMaster 6 месяцев назад

Yay Montreal videos! Thanks for coming!

@edhiggs1711 6 месяцев назад

I would make an airport joke but that would just be plane wrong

@gerbenp394 6 месяцев назад

This one went over my head

@MURDERPILLOW. 6 месяцев назад

BOOOOO

@Xeroph-5 6 месяцев назад

Did you have that joke planned out, or were you just "winging" it?

@ooooothatsshit158 6 месяцев назад

Man.

@dr.enigma815 6 месяцев назад

Oh my god...

@tylerrshaw88 6 месяцев назад

The Hello Internet supplemental video we’ve needed for years!

@SylvainMenard 4 месяца назад

The famous plane shuttle from Mirabel airport, north of Montréal! Cool. Thanks Tom.

@TomOConnor-BlobOpera 6 месяцев назад

Interesting! I always assumed the 'lumps on top' were to make them look more like planes, and be easier to spot from the tower. I've only ever seen them at IAD, i had no idea other airports were using them too! The mobile lounges at IAD are one of my earliest memories of air travel.

@misofac 6 месяцев назад

Many big airports actually do have at least some smaller version of these buses. They are called ambulifts. They are used for passengers with reduced mobility (e.g., in wheelchairs) if the boarding process requires passengers to use stairs (whether at the gate or at the aircraft). Those unable to handle the stairs can be transported by such a bus and boarded into the aircraft from the other side. Source: been there, done that :)

@dcarbs2979 6 месяцев назад

Likewise, from loading the aircraft. The dispatcher on the loading team has to organise it (at least at my airport).

@SnowOrchid5076_Illustrations 6 месяцев назад

The wide shot of the 2 PTVs driving across the tarmac are somehow adorable. 1:13

@richardthunderbay8364 6 месяцев назад

I've flown out of Montreal and have experienced these mobile lounges. For me, the main drawback was that it took significantly longer to get to and from the terminal to the plane. I'm glad that I didn't have any connecting flights when I had to use these.

@colinlaliberte470 6 месяцев назад

Those PTV are fund memory of travelling here in Qc for me. They were mainly used in Mirabel Airport (Now only a freight airport) build in the 70s but was significantly easier to travel vs Trudeau airport! I really appreciate all your recent videos in our "Belle Province" ! cheers

@karine-v 6 месяцев назад

Mirabel>PET. It's a shame what happened with that airport and everything.

@witext 6 месяцев назад

I like the idea for bigger airports so you don’t have to walk for ages to get where you want, it would be very handy to just have a single hallway with all the gates. It could also simplify and shrink all the taxiways if all the planes didn’t have to drive all over the airport to get to their gate.

@elijaha773 6 месяцев назад

It would not shrink taxiways and apron space because the plane still takes up the same space while parked as it does with a jet bridge. But some space might be saved by not needing to extend the terminal all the way to every gate.

@mikehindson-evans159 3 месяца назад

Thank you for a fascinating historical document. used the mobile lounges at IAD years ago - it seemed to work for Dulles (which as an aside is now, finally, is on the Washington metro rail network). Nice job

@whiterabbit1632 4 месяца назад

Thank you Tom! I leant something today!!!!

@TorreFernand 6 месяцев назад

Tom Scott never fails to bring out that inner child in me and for that I'm truly grateful

@teelo12000 6 месяцев назад

The one time I ever flew into Taupo airport in New Zealand, about 15 years ago, they just unfolded the stairs off the plane, and were like "okay everyone out you get". And then unloaded everyones bags into a trailer and were like "ok go get them". This all happened at the end of the runway and from there I was to just walk a few steps to the carpark and go on my way - nothing blocking strangers from driving onto the runway if they really wanted to.

@Jawesome1Shazam 6 месяцев назад

I was on one of those in the DC airport when I came back from Europe back in 2015. I've seen them at lots of planes and I remember as a kid being at the St. Louis Airport with my parents and watching one of these things board as a 6 year old I remember waving to the lady in the driver seat and her being unexpected by it and laughing and waving back at me. This video is awesome because it explained those big vertical stabilizer looking things that I've seen them all with. That was cool, I never thought too much about these vehicles outside of seeing them.

@LadyAnuB 6 месяцев назад

I knew I had been on one of these! During the family trip in the summer of 1979. We started at Dulles, wound our way to Nova Scotia, then back to Virginia, and left via Dulles.

@agsystems8220 6 месяцев назад

The most frustrating thing about these not being the norm is that this would make dealing with larger planes simply a matter of allocating them more space on the tarmac. This is important because longer wings mean more efficient aircraft, but aircraft are limited by having to fit airport gates.

@icollectstories5702 6 месяцев назад

They must also fit runways, taxi-ways, de-icing stands, and oh, yes, hangars. Even if you can fit one super-jumbo, their wings may clip the wings of another plane on the parallel taxiway; turning might also be problematic. Like the two-ox rule for cars, you need a really great economic reason to break compatibility with Olde Ways. Even if you took advantage of folding wing-tips, you still have to be able to get a plane from the air to a hangar in the case where the tips won't fold.

@y_fam_goeglyd 6 месяцев назад

That was absolutely fascinating! As someone with mobility "difficulties" (to say the least), they'd be a godsend to me. As it is, having heard from others who have been treated like cattle (they are sure some staff have cattle prods), I'm not planning on flying again.

@TMccrury 6 месяцев назад

I have used the ones at Dulles several times. They are typically used to bring arriving international passengers to the Immigration and Customs area. They still transport passengers between the terminals but mostly now that is done with the underground train.

@jamalgibson8139 4 месяца назад

I just got off a flight at Washington dulles and rode one of these. I was so confused as to what the heck we were on, so thanks for this video!

@drabberfrog 6 месяцев назад

0:17 C'mon Tom, don't be one of those tarmac people. Its an apron. Airports have runways, taxiways, aprons, and ramps but no part of the airport is called the tarmac.

@88porpoise 6 месяцев назад

And "tarmac" is a generic term for any paved surface. So all of those things are the tarmac.

@emidblol 6 месяцев назад

@@88porpoisenot in aviation

@mjordan812 6 месяцев назад

I live about 5 miles from Dulles Airport. As Dulles built additional midfield terminals, the lounges were used to transport passengers between the main and midfield terminals. I've gone for many a ride in them. Today, a subway system connects the terminals, although the lounges are still used occasionally when necessary.

@FrozenBusChannel 6 месяцев назад

List of places where Tom isn't allowed to drive: -Zermatt, Switzerland -Montreal airport, Canada (any more?)

@studyman38 5 месяцев назад

I live near Washington IAD Airport (Dulles) & there are still being used. So cool yet so antique!

@Unionhawk73 6 месяцев назад

I will say, even though it just connects two concourses, the shuttle system that docks to the building at IAD is very cool. It just drives through the ramp area and docks to the building. Like a little room on wheels.

@WarpedMind15 6 месяцев назад

They have these at Heathrow Airport! Scissor version for people with reduced mobility, certainly helpful in the nasty rain. Capped at 15mph apparently when I was in it.

@tkdbrother1977 6 месяцев назад

Brings me back lots of childhood memories of Mirabel Airport. Loved seeing them in action.

@g.belanger8302 6 месяцев назад

Welcome to Montreal!!! Great to see my hometown in one of your videos

@BobFrTube 6 месяцев назад

You brought back my memory of using those at Dulles in the 60s or 70s. Until recently they were still used to get from terminal to terminal there ... until they put in the train.

@rustedplastic 6 месяцев назад

Still used there for international arrivals to get you from the gate to the customs line.

@unsignedmelodeys 6 месяцев назад

As an airside driver at Heathrow transporting cabin/cockpit crews from the aircraft to the hotels, I've only seen something similar for disabled passengers operated by Wilson James, although remote stands are only used due to technical aircraft, they still use regular buses to transport passengers from a remote stand to the terminal hub

@maddie107 6 месяцев назад

I’ve used mini versions for disabled passengers too when travelling with my mum who has mobility needs, quite cool

@igorbarbarossa 6 месяцев назад

That's so awesome. I just flew through Dulles a month ago and saw these and didn't know what they were

@kelvinc 6 месяцев назад

Oh wow glad I clicked this, because the Dulles mobile lounge story is kind of well trod for plane geeks, so I wasn’t expecting something new, but I did not know these are in Montreal!

@adrianscarlett 6 месяцев назад

I always thought it would be cool if a plane could have it's seats on tracks like a roller coaster. You could board in the lounge at your leisure, then the train of seats would be driven into the plane as soon as it was ready, with all It could be modular so you could choose your own seat if you needed extra legroom and the seating arrangement would be built automatically for each flight, cleaning gets done elsewhere.

@fltfathin 6 месяцев назад

And the aircraft can be that cargo plane military uses

@StarkRG 6 месяцев назад

There have been attempts at designing something like this, but the cost of implementing it would be enormous so it never gets done.

@ThatSingingGuy 6 месяцев назад

I had a similar thought, but where the cabins are essentially interchangeable capsules. So you'd take your actual seat at the gate, complete with overhead loading, then the whole thing would be lifted into the chassis of the plane, and locked in place. Another system to go wrong, sure, but also allows for problems to be dealt with in isolation. Problem with the cabin? Move everyone to a new one. Problem with the plane / chassis? Same solution. Obviously late-stage capitalism means leveraging every asset to the hilt, so there would be no spares unless you increase penalties for delays / cancellations to the point where it's the economically preferable option.

@shermer75 6 месяцев назад

I've been on one, it must have been Washington Dulles. I still think about it sometimes! It blew my tiny mind. I absolutely loved it, a departure lounge that detaches itself from the terminal and floats you over to the airplane. The stuff of sci-fi dreams!

@broomguy7 6 месяцев назад

You posted this the same day I landed at Dulles and rode on one of these. Nice.

@WryAun 6 месяцев назад

This was a really fun one Tom! I flew a lot when I was younger and this vision of an alternate reality where another idea took off was quite exciting! It reminds me of your old "a possible future" videos. I miss those a lot! Could we *please* have another?

@carpecanem611 6 месяцев назад

I was on one of these years ago. After raising the compartment, the driver moved forward and bumped the terminal building. All of us standing were knocked down. Luckily the compartment was very crowded, so we ended up just sort of laying on each other. It was funny to see the reaction of the people in the terminal when they opened the door and we literally spilled out.

@kolmogorovaxiom1493 3 месяца назад

That doesn’t surprise me. Those things have literally killed people before. Also, the door opens wide enough that you could literally slip through and fall onto the tarmac. I once noticed that and had to be careful where I step

@scybolt 6 месяцев назад

Très intéressant! - Montreal is my home airport. In fact, I will be picking up family there this afternoon. Very cool! I didn't know how unique these "PTVs" were until now. Thank you!

@kevinflick61 6 месяцев назад

Excellent video by someone who knows how to find things that we never knew we wanted to know about and present them in such an interesting way.

@intrepidfox37 5 месяцев назад

I've been flying in an out of IAD the last few months, so its nice to see the history and intent behind these mobile lounges.

@ThymeCypher 6 месяцев назад

There's an airport by me that the terminal is all one, small building (and at the time, had no AC). There was a single store with nothing to drink (because it was so hot, they had sold out). When it's time to board, you walked straight out onto the tarmac and went up a ramp into the plane.

@lance31415 6 месяцев назад

Used these many times at Dulles to get between terminal islands. Reduced walking but means passengers are yoked to the bus schedule. Dulles has replaced them with tunnels and walkways between the islands. They require lots of maintenance (in winter driving in bad weather and glycol slush) and lots of union bus drivers.