Riding on a Rare Mobile Lounge at Dulles Airport 

For those of us that grew up there, these were a normal part of life. Before September 11th, you used to also be able to go pickup arriving passengers on the other side. It used to make trips to the airport a lot of fun.

These used to take us straight out to the plane

Back in the 1990's, I rode something similar to this at JFK. Only once boarded, the ones I rode would lower before driving. Then once at the other terminal, it would raise back up. Pretty cool!

It´s cool! If I had known I would have tried it when I was in Dulles.

Had seen them shown in certain movies and shows in the past, surprised those are still around. Look like a cool ride.

I didn't know they were rare. Seems like every time I used to connect there back in the day I had to use one. Haven't been there recently though.

wow those mobile lounges are neat.

I remember something similar at JFK back when I flew in 1991 but it had very few windows, and they had elevators for them. We used one to move from one part of the airport to another.

It’s quite easy to get on one of these actually, step 1. Take a flight to Istanbul, step 2, fly back to Washington, step 3, mobile lounge! I actually go on these things every time I come back from Istanbul, a nice effective way of getting around the airport

apparently, these were supposed to pick people up directly at the plane, and bring them to the terminals. There are pictures from the 1970s of that. Considering the 747 came out in the 1960s, shortly after these made, I'd imagine they were obsolete immediately! They'd need 4 of them for 1 plane!

I rode on of those at Dulles just a few hours ago, it was kinda neat.

I feel lucky to have been on one of these if they are rare. Last time I was on one was when some of the jetbridges at LaGuardia Airport we’re not functioning properly and we either had one of these or had to take a bus from our flight. I don’t know if it was this exact vehicle but it looks pretty familiar to me.

I was at a Car Auction in 2016 and there were about 7 of these up for auction. I had no idea what these were until I googled them.

The first flight I took in 10 years and I get on that to fly out and get on it to fly in. It is a pain in the ass to get on though- people actually pushed me out of the way

Always thought it was interesting that they have 120V outlets in the passenger area on those things.

Nice view of a Boeing 747 at 1:35 there.

I rode one of these coming back from Munich. I have never seen one before I rode one that night. Very strange thing if you think about it.

I've taken it before when I was young.

I loved being on it

Lambert St. Louis airport had these.

Should have done a full "cab view"

Ive rode on these multiple times

These things are really dangerous for ground workers

Nice!

Great video. I like these mobile lounges too. They use them as shuttle buses to the "D" gates midfield concourse and probably will keep doing so until the permanent "C" and "D" gate concourse is built which will then use the underground Aerotrain. They used to have special ramps on one end so people could walk directly into aircraft from them. These were the 21 original lounges built for the airport when it opened in 1962 before the widebody aircraft were introduced. Around 1992/1993 these lounges were overhauled and rebuilt for shuttle bus use so they look similar on both ends now. There are a lot more Plane-mate lounges that rise high enough to serve widebody aircraft. These ones do the international arrivals to take people from aircraft to customs and may still do some passenger boarding.

This appeared at the beginning of one of the old Airport movies. Can not remember which one though.

Cool

Hello DieselDucy

How much longer are they in service for?

I Went On It A While Ago.

These are not used much anymore

I went on it it was really fun

Made in 1962 by The Budd Company 😊

So there's Dulles and that airport in Montreal. Are there any other airports that still use this system?

These were still operational??

LOL That's cool.

Does anyone know what engine and transmission this one uses?

Wait that’s rare? I go on them all the time my local airport Dulles int

Wtf is that?

Meanwhile at Reagan International--------"May we present to you the payphone"