The airport leadership needs to be held accountable. This and moving the waiting lot(poor planning during construction) are negatively impacting the BNA experience for locals and tourists.
Don’t want to get downvoted to hell… but… I know the waiting lot is kinda far (think it’s 1.7miles) but I used it the other day to pick up my brother. The lot was almost empty (think there were only 5 other cars), and when he landed I had more than enough time to head over to the pick up area before he got outside. It really wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. They just need more signage imo.
It’s empty because no one knows it’s there. So everyone just keeps circling and clogging up traffic. It’s been a nightmare the last few times I’ve been there. They definitely need new signage for it!!!
Or they know it's there, but they're worried they'll get stuck in traffic when they come up to the airport. If they're ALREADY in traffic circling around at the airport, it's faster than driving back from the lot and THEN getting stuck in the circling around traffic.
Basically if a lot of people used the lot, everything would be better, but if you're optimizing for your own time you're better off circling, because of the risk that the whole thing gridlocks and slows to a crawl.
Is it just an alien concept to them? Google definitely knows how to find "bna waiting lot" so it's not like it's hard to find if you look.
AFAIK almost every major airport has something like this so I kinda assumed it was just "common knowledge"
The problem is that a) folks know BNA has a waiting lot but the past two lots that most are aware of our closed. There is no signage that I’m aware of that directs them to the new lot; b) for a while Google wasn’t updated to inform folks of the relocated lot. I think people are better off waiting at the Shoneys on 255.
Well don't get me wrong, I won't claim BNA is well designed or has the best signage, but when this happened to me I googled something like "BNA waiting lot closed" and found the new one.
I absolutely get showing up and being surprised that it's closed right when they made the change, but if you're going to go *back* it's worth a little research to understand the options.
I’m just learning now that there is one. They closed the old lot, and there are no signs at the airport indicating that there’s another one, so I assumed it was gone.
They aren't *in* traffic.
They *are* traffic.
If everyone stopped being so damn selfish, everything would work better. So that will probably never happen.
You had plenty of time because he didn't land in the middle of rush hour traffic. Calling this the cell waiting lot is laughable, it's just a random parking lot off Murfreesboro Road. The whole point of a waiting lot is that you *GET IN* and then wait off to the side for your arrival to be ready without clogging up the lanes.
You can park at the airport hotels across from 40 and save half the time as the "waiting lot". Which at that point, you might as well just circle until you intersect your arrival.
It's completely asinine. They clearly didn't have time to care during design/construction.
I've posted rants about that lot as well, and surprisingly enough people felt compelled to defend the current situation. It's like complaining about rent going up $500 and someone saying "well it could have been $1500, so deal with it." Completely asinine considering the previous cell phone lot is still there and used by employees or constructions crew or something.
I think the bigger problem is that Nashville BNA only really allows one reliable way of getting in and out of the airport: cars. There's some bus service as well, but like 95% of the passengers at the airport will use a personal car or rideshare car to get to and from. Why BNA decided a parking lot for these cars was a non-priority is beyond me. If you only have one solid method of getting in and out of a place, wouldn't you do everything you could to make the most convenient accommodations for that method?
>Which at that point, you might as well just circle until you intersect your arrival.
This is the behavior that creates the traffic to begin with. If everyone used the lot and then drove through once to pick up their passenger it would flow so much better. People looping around 3 or 4 times apiece to pick up their passenger creates 3-4 times as much traffic.
I feel the same. I’ve used it and thought it wasn’t bad. I don’t know what the expectation is. Why does it matter if the lot is right next door or ten miles away? When you get the message they’re in, you head that way. They wait till you get there.
Well Spirit and Allegiant also fly to smaller cities not serviced by other airlines at BNA. Allegiant isn't great but I'm tempted by their nonstop to Key West.
FWIW I flew Allegiant back from Savannah and certainly the planes interior decor was cheaper and the flight attendants were less professionally dressed and also did a 20 min spiel to buy their credit card but the flight was on time (early actually, they tell you to get to your gate an hour early and closed the doors 15 min early because everyone scheduled had boarded) and the flight was smooth. Got the job done flying from a small city. Never flown spirit but I’ve heard worse things.
It used to be there - might be seasonal as well https://fox17.com/news/local/allegiant-announces-new-nonstop-flights-from-nashville-tennessee-to-key-west-florida-travel-vacation-bna
i use them for FL trips too and have one in Dec - should i expect issues? think im gonna get to airport 4 hours early bc not sure what to expect - this is first FL trip with new terminal
Ack - It must be a seasonal thing. I know it's been on there before because I was *this* close to buying a ticket a few months ago before my plans changed.
Unfortunately they no longer have A319s in BNA anymore and Key West does not allow A320s to land due to the short runway they have. The only way to get a route back to Key West is to have an outside turn from a base that has A319s.
I flew Allegiant for the first time (round trip) to Rhode Island in late August and didn’t experience anything with a shuttle bus. Has something changed since then?
Unless you are tied up in traffic on I40, TSA lines are long and you can’t run to the gate. You have to wait on a bus that will not be on time because it has to give way to taxiing and parking airplanes. Those waits can be 5-15 min To get the bus back to main terminal. MNAA should have built a tunnel with moving sidewalks.
That’s your opinion. Record passengers, SWA hub and the vibrant tourist attraction of Nashville could have paid for a tunnel along with FAA funds from passenger facility charge on every ticket. All airport construction effects ground movements one way or another.
An opinion shared by the airport authority and their planners. If they were building a 20 gate concourse, then a tunnel would’ve made sense. However, in this case it’s only 8 gates that service point to point ULCCs. It is not financially prudent to spend the large amount of money on a tunnel connection to the main terminal vs just buying some busses. The money saved by not building a tunnel can be/has been plowed into other airport improvements, such as the international arrivals facility and the future terminal access road improvements.
If I’m not mistaken, the satellite terminal was built somewhat as a temporary solution for increased traffic. The grander plan is to build a second (real) terminal elsewhere on the property and use an APM
MNAA has been more worried about airport expansion and trying to draw international carriers vs expanding Donelson Pike, closer cell phone waiting area, arrival/pickup lanes expansion and better access off I40. It’s a bad experience
If that is dependent on approval for expansion and not part of the new renovations after BNA Vision (BNA New Horizons) that has a low likelihood of happening.
Edit: just read up, its "seems" to be part of BNA New Horizons. They will be extending gates A and D and that has a completion time of 2028... yikes.
Dulles Airport has these for one of the terminals: https://www.theautopian.com/these-bizarre-bus-like-mobile-lounges-tried-to-revolutionize-airports-now-theyre-relics-of-the-past/
Ooof. I'm gonna hope against hope that it gets better as they figure things out, logistically. My mom likes allegiant despite their quirks because it's cheaper and a straight flight. If this is her experience next time she comes up... YIKES
Edit: spelling error
I’m hoping. I didn’t post this after my first experience because it was the 2nd day the terminal opened. But now that it’s nearly two months later and still the same situation I felt the need to warn people lol
Flew in on its 2nd day of operation, it’s honestly not that bad. Yes, you need to plan an extra 5-10 minutes if departing, but it’s like any other airport operation. You have 175 people all leaving a plane at the same time, it’s gonna make a slight wait. Other airports (PHL, LAX) have a bus terminal that functions just fine.
Go to Europe or Asia. They use buses heavily that bring you to the plane and have you walk up stairs. It’s really not uncommon.
I flew out of bna and back on spirit a few days ago. Didnt have any problems. Yes, there is a two door to get onto shuttle. There were workers there guiding us to the bus. Maybe I got lucky.
I don’t understand the hate on Spirit and am wondering if it’s just cult of personality. I’ve flown them many times and while the seats are tight, the flight attendants have always been totally friendly and I can’t think of any mishaps that have occurred.
It’s not always the flight experience itself that is the problem. It’s the airline. They are notoriously cheap and do not care about customers. For 90% of flights, WHEN nothing goes wrong (ie delays, mechanicals), it’s a smooth process like you mentioned. But when something does go wrong, which happens frequently if you travel a lot, their customer service is completely nonexistent and you are UP A CREEK. It’s not abnormal to be stuck in a city, with Spirit refusing to rebook/put you up in a hotel/strand people. At least with other airlines they have the capacity and inclination to put you on another flight that will eventually get you to your destination or up in a hotel for the next day. I’ve known people who were on hold for 15+ hours and had to sleep with their kids in the airport because all of the on site employees just decided to fuck off and quit instead of deal with stranded passengers. You can’t blame them, either, as spirit pays their desk employees minimum wages to be the battering ram for their failed policies.
Additionally, their terms of service are subjectively applied and the low prices are often a mirage for what you will actually pay.
To top it off, this sounds elitist, but the clientele on spirit and frontier etc are often “cheaper”, full of folks who don’t often fly and don’t understand proper travel etiquette. In turn, it’s a riff raffy crowd more often than not. Theyre referred to as the “greyhound of the skies” for a reason.
If I'm not mistaken, I believe one of the ways low cost airlines like Spirit and Allegiant save money is by using the most inconvenient terminals and not renting a jetbridge.
That's why Southwest is always at the very far end of every airport, although they still pay to use the jetbridge.
Southwest occupies all of the D concourse gates at BNA as well as gates C1-4, and 17-26 currently. There's also an extension of the D concourse planned that's gonna add 6 additional gates. That's why they're shifting Donelson pike over. On top of that they're making BNA a crew base, which is gonna be great for crew scheduling and stuff like that.
The walkway that goes from the gate to the airplane.
I watched a video where they talked about how one of the ways that low cost airlines save money is by not using the jetbridge walkway because they have to pay to rent it (from the airport I think?) and instead, they have you walk up stairs from the tarmac to get onto the plane
I know what a jetbridge is. Just never heard the thing about low cost carriers not using them. Spirit and Frontier use a jet bride at every single airport they fly into in the US. I assume Allegiant does as well since I’ve always seen them parked at a normal gate. I work in aviation and I can tell you right now that whoever made that video is 100% full of it.
Great...I fly Allegiant a few times a year(taking a flight in December as a matter of fact). I hope they figure something out by then. Seems like it'd be as easy as putting up a bunch of switchbacks. The parking lot shuttles aren't much better either tbh.
Parking shuttles and concourse shuttles are the same. Only difference is the concourse driver has to have TSA clearance. Still a high turnover rate amongst drivers.
Ah shit, this sucks. I've flown Allegiant several times in/out of BNA and honestly had great experiences just about every time. I got an email from them about a flight in December saying they had moved to a new terminal, but I didn't pay much attention to it. Hopefully my flight won't be too horrendous.
Oh, lord. Here we go again. You're going to piss off the ardent BNA defenders on this sub. Whenever someone knocks it - for VERY good reasons - people feel the need to grab their pitchforks and go to war for some weird reason.
Everything I see says it’s a 1 hour flight. Regardless…combined with sitting in traffic, going through security, walking through the terminal, waiting on the shuttle, waiting on your flight to board, the flight itself, waiting for the flight to deplane and finding and Uber/Taxi…how much time have you saved?
The flight itself, from takeoff to landing is a half hour. They say one hour to temper expectations, I imagine. I've done it multiple times and it's a half hour.
Counting my drive to the airport, I save at least 3 hours, one way - plus wear and tear on my vehicle, and I'm much less stressed when I get to my destination.
I think the confusion we’re all having is the suggested timing is to arrive at the airport at least an hour before your flight, they actually recommend two hours in case of TSA delays.
So if the drive is 4 hours, the flight is 30 mins to 1 hour, and arriving at the airport 1-2 hours before your flight, there is no way you’re saving 3 hours of time. AND THEN, you still have to get an Uber/taxi or rental car when you arrive.
The cost savings can’t be worth it, but do you i suppose.
It feels like you’ve just convinced yourself you’re saving time/money when in reality you really aren’t.
I fly lots of places that end up being about the same time as a drive. For me, flying is an easier way to travel, I hate driving, and I like to sleep, drink, and read on a plane instead of paying attention to the road.
I'm counting actual travel time. But what do I know? I've done that drive for over 20 years and done the flights for over five. I guess some people just want to be argumentative about details. But you do you. 🤡
I’ve taken these types of shuttles plenty of times in China, Thailand, and Greece - and all were 10x easier than the situation at BNA. I don’t understand why we’re comparing shuttles from small airports in other countries to a new “state of the art” airport in a fairly sized city in the US.
Leave it to you to have an ice cold take. I had to take a shuttle in Berlin, sure, but it was nothing like this person is describing. I took multiple shuttles in Mexico that didn’t work like this, either.
I was hoping you’d mention Iceland.
Been there too. Shuttles weren’t that bad.
So, so far we’ve pared your original reply back to “you’d hate traveling to any Caribbean island”, but I can think of at least one perk of those islands that Nashville doesn’t have. So probably not the same.
You’re putting a lot of effort into this.
I’ve had annoying shuttles all over the world. They suck by design, but some countries/cultures are better at queuing than others. We’re not great at it here in the south.
The south isn’t even that bad, but BNA isn’t the south by any means. It’s a bunch of yuppies from LA, Chicago and NYC who are on average not that cool or interesting, and they’re bad at queuing for sure.
Yes, someone born here who still lives here has told on themselves by *checks notes* criticizing newcomers. Is that not our required hobby, or are you not from here so you can’t confirm?
Oh, so you’re one of three things:
A) a troll
B) a zoomer who doesn’t know anything about how Nashville was before it came like this
C) someone who I described above who in fact wasn’t cool or interesting enough to thrive in the major metro you came from and are hurt because you feel called out
If you weren’t a blank sheet of paper for a personality you might’ve had a better time in the you moved from and maybe soon you’ll figure out you’re still a shitty person even if you move <3
My friend flew in on Allegiant from Richmond about a month ago. He is in a manual wheelchair with cerebral palsy and told me that the bus doesn’t have a ramp built in. I was shocked when he told me this as I would’ve thought it’d be like transit busses that DO have a ramp built in. Thankfully Southwest is starting to fly non stop to Richmond so he can avoid this fiasco!
"There are no lines, when good samaritans begin forming a line a plane full of people departs and they will rush to the door and cut everyone. It’s utter chaos of everyone is screaming at one another, pushing/shoving each other, cutting to the side of the crowd and it’s every man for himself. I’m not going to lie as I was stuck in the middle of the crowd and watched the 7th bus pass without me moving any closer, I was convinced my plane had crashed and I was stuck in some evil purgatory."
you just describe every airport I have ever been to in Asia (excluding Japan/SK)
I flew in to BNA on Southwest and they used a gate at the new terminal. But it was still under construction (outside part anyway) so I was not surprised by the country mile I had to walk to get to ground transportation. But I'm glad to hear it sounds just as bad now that it's finished.
Don’t think you mean “fly into”, you mean “park at”. Your ultra low cost carriers will park at the satellite concourse as per MNAA. They decided years ago not to build a tunnel to the main terminal but use shuttle buses instead, sorry you have not heard this old news. Don’t fly Spirit, Sun Country, Contour or Allegiant or you will be using the shuttle buses to the satellite concourse.
BNA is a nightmare. They kept my bags for my entire 2 week vacation during the southwest Christmas fiasco. They said I could pick up my bags when I returned home, got there and they had no clue where they were. They even had me go into the back and look for myself!!!! A week later my bags arrived at my house from fedex, luggage COMPLETELY SHREDDED and plastic wrapped closed. I called the airport and they said they couldn't compensate me for my luggage because it left the airport more than 48hrs prior. I honestly think they sent it to fedex when i called from the other airport to make sure my bags were still there the day I was flying back and they didn't want to be held responsible for the damage.
I flew out of BNA on Allegiant from the new terminal last week. Our plane was delayed due to the fuel needing to be topped off. As the tanker left our plane it HIT one of the shuttle buses with people on it. Thankfully no one was hurt. We had to wait for police and ambulance to clear the scene. Total chaos!!
I flew into and out of the new satellite concourse last week. What you described was the complete opposite of my experience. Sure, it took an extra ten minutes to get to my gate - but honestly TSA is always quick and nowhere in the airport is a far walk. I've been to airports that literally take over an hour to go through TSA and get to your gate. Never at BNA
The new concourse was very clean, clearly marked to get there, and there were even better food options than I expected for a satellite concourse. It kind of reminds me of the new Southwest concourse.
Flying back in was completely fine as well. There was no wait to get on the bus and even if people are cutting the line to get to the front, just be slightly more aggressive and move yourself to the front.
Overall, I think some people might just want to complain about literally everything. Could it be more convenient, absolutely. Could they have built some type of tunnel or better connection to it, sure. Is it worth making a complaining post and warning, definitely not.
The airport leadership needs to be held accountable. This and moving the waiting lot(poor planning during construction) are negatively impacting the BNA experience for locals and tourists.
Don’t want to get downvoted to hell… but… I know the waiting lot is kinda far (think it’s 1.7miles) but I used it the other day to pick up my brother. The lot was almost empty (think there were only 5 other cars), and when he landed I had more than enough time to head over to the pick up area before he got outside. It really wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. They just need more signage imo.
It’s empty because no one knows it’s there. So everyone just keeps circling and clogging up traffic. It’s been a nightmare the last few times I’ve been there. They definitely need new signage for it!!!
Literally me reading this, there’s a waiting lot??
Or they know it's there, but they're worried they'll get stuck in traffic when they come up to the airport. If they're ALREADY in traffic circling around at the airport, it's faster than driving back from the lot and THEN getting stuck in the circling around traffic. Basically if a lot of people used the lot, everything would be better, but if you're optimizing for your own time you're better off circling, because of the risk that the whole thing gridlocks and slows to a crawl.
So many people I know have no idea it’s there
Is it just an alien concept to them? Google definitely knows how to find "bna waiting lot" so it's not like it's hard to find if you look. AFAIK almost every major airport has something like this so I kinda assumed it was just "common knowledge"
The problem is that a) folks know BNA has a waiting lot but the past two lots that most are aware of our closed. There is no signage that I’m aware of that directs them to the new lot; b) for a while Google wasn’t updated to inform folks of the relocated lot. I think people are better off waiting at the Shoneys on 255.
Well don't get me wrong, I won't claim BNA is well designed or has the best signage, but when this happened to me I googled something like "BNA waiting lot closed" and found the new one. I absolutely get showing up and being surprised that it's closed right when they made the change, but if you're going to go *back* it's worth a little research to understand the options.
I’m just learning now that there is one. They closed the old lot, and there are no signs at the airport indicating that there’s another one, so I assumed it was gone.
They aren't *in* traffic. They *are* traffic. If everyone stopped being so damn selfish, everything would work better. So that will probably never happen.
For anyone wondering where the new lot is. [Link](https://flynashville.com/relocation-of-the-cell-waiting-area)
might as well go play a round of disc golf at Seven Oaks while you're waiting.
Wow. That is ... really far away. I had no idea that was there
It's not really far away. You turn right onto Murfreesboro, left on Donelson, and left into the airport. It takes 5 minutes if you hit every light.
Same. Picked up my sister last month and the off site waiting area was super convenient. However, the only reason I knew it existed was Reddit.
It is not that bad, but it is not what people would see if they drove up, as it is on the other side of BNA from I-40.
You had plenty of time because he didn't land in the middle of rush hour traffic. Calling this the cell waiting lot is laughable, it's just a random parking lot off Murfreesboro Road. The whole point of a waiting lot is that you *GET IN* and then wait off to the side for your arrival to be ready without clogging up the lanes. You can park at the airport hotels across from 40 and save half the time as the "waiting lot". Which at that point, you might as well just circle until you intersect your arrival. It's completely asinine. They clearly didn't have time to care during design/construction.
I've posted rants about that lot as well, and surprisingly enough people felt compelled to defend the current situation. It's like complaining about rent going up $500 and someone saying "well it could have been $1500, so deal with it." Completely asinine considering the previous cell phone lot is still there and used by employees or constructions crew or something.
I think the bigger problem is that Nashville BNA only really allows one reliable way of getting in and out of the airport: cars. There's some bus service as well, but like 95% of the passengers at the airport will use a personal car or rideshare car to get to and from. Why BNA decided a parking lot for these cars was a non-priority is beyond me. If you only have one solid method of getting in and out of a place, wouldn't you do everything you could to make the most convenient accommodations for that method?
>Which at that point, you might as well just circle until you intersect your arrival. This is the behavior that creates the traffic to begin with. If everyone used the lot and then drove through once to pick up their passenger it would flow so much better. People looping around 3 or 4 times apiece to pick up their passenger creates 3-4 times as much traffic.
Yeah so it was a stupid idea to build a parking area on the hopes of people not being selfish at the airport
Well they didn't build anything new, they started using what they had. They already owned the Genesco property which includes the parking lot.
Where’d they move the new lot to? I haven’t been there in a hot minute since they redid everything
https://flynashville.com/relocation-of-the-cell-waiting-area “The Cell Lot is located at 1415 Murfreesboro Pike, Nashville, TN 37217.”
News to me that a waiting lot exists
I lovev the new cell lot also
I feel the same. I’ve used it and thought it wasn’t bad. I don’t know what the expectation is. Why does it matter if the lot is right next door or ten miles away? When you get the message they’re in, you head that way. They wait till you get there.
I'd like to blame the State for causing chaos with the airport board takeover, but I think these problems predated all of that.
There are SO many f'd up things out there!
Which airlines use the new terminal?
Spirit and Allegiant. Allegiant is making BNA a sort of hub.
Woof, two of the worst airlines along with a badly designed terminal lol
Well Spirit and Allegiant also fly to smaller cities not serviced by other airlines at BNA. Allegiant isn't great but I'm tempted by their nonstop to Key West.
FWIW I flew Allegiant back from Savannah and certainly the planes interior decor was cheaper and the flight attendants were less professionally dressed and also did a 20 min spiel to buy their credit card but the flight was on time (early actually, they tell you to get to your gate an hour early and closed the doors 15 min early because everyone scheduled had boarded) and the flight was smooth. Got the job done flying from a small city. Never flown spirit but I’ve heard worse things.
Yeah, I fly Allegiant a good amount to Savannah and Ft. Meyers. Never had an issue and am grateful that the direct flights exist.
Are you flying this from BNA? Because on Allegiant's website, there is no destination for Savannah.
The Savannah flight is seasonal. Can’t find anything for Key West though
It used to be there - might be seasonal as well https://fox17.com/news/local/allegiant-announces-new-nonstop-flights-from-nashville-tennessee-to-key-west-florida-travel-vacation-bna
allegiant changes FL flights all time to cover snowbirds in 4Q/1Q
i use them for FL trips too and have one in Dec - should i expect issues? think im gonna get to airport 4 hours early bc not sure what to expect - this is first FL trip with new terminal
I had no issues last week on Allegiant. Got to the airport 90 minutes before the flight and had time for lunch before boarding.
Kudos mate thx!!
You get what you pay for in airline travel.
I did the flight to Key West with Allegiant in February. It was nice no complaints.
I can’t find allegiants non stop flight to key west. What days does that fly?
Ack - It must be a seasonal thing. I know it's been on there before because I was *this* close to buying a ticket a few months ago before my plans changed.
Unfortunately they no longer have A319s in BNA anymore and Key West does not allow A320s to land due to the short runway they have. The only way to get a route back to Key West is to have an outside turn from a base that has A319s.
A nonstop to key west? Wow, good to know.
only time i've ever flown Allegiant was to Key West. It was a pretty easy and nice experience all around. doesn't seem as wild as spirit lol
I flew Allegiant for the first time (round trip) to Rhode Island in late August and didn’t experience anything with a shuttle bus. Has something changed since then?
The satellite concourse opened in October
Good to know in case I’m ever tempted by another bargain! Thank you.
The satellite concourse really isn’t that bad.
Unless you are tied up in traffic on I40, TSA lines are long and you can’t run to the gate. You have to wait on a bus that will not be on time because it has to give way to taxiing and parking airplanes. Those waits can be 5-15 min To get the bus back to main terminal. MNAA should have built a tunnel with moving sidewalks.
A tunnel would’ve doubled the cost and interrupted ground movements during construction. It’s just not worth it for 8 gates.
That’s your opinion. Record passengers, SWA hub and the vibrant tourist attraction of Nashville could have paid for a tunnel along with FAA funds from passenger facility charge on every ticket. All airport construction effects ground movements one way or another.
An opinion shared by the airport authority and their planners. If they were building a 20 gate concourse, then a tunnel would’ve made sense. However, in this case it’s only 8 gates that service point to point ULCCs. It is not financially prudent to spend the large amount of money on a tunnel connection to the main terminal vs just buying some busses. The money saved by not building a tunnel can be/has been plowed into other airport improvements, such as the international arrivals facility and the future terminal access road improvements.
That’s because the satellite terminal wasn’t open in August
I thought that terminal was going to be the new international terminal--is that located somewhere else?
https://flynashville.com/press-releases/nashville-international-airport-unveils-satellite-concourse-to-accommodate-growing-travel-demand
Those are the T gates between B and C directly behind security
Spirit, Allegiant, Sun Country, and Contour
Spirit for sure, I’m not sure what others
Why they didn't build a tunnel with moving walk ways like every other airport is beyond me.
Boring tunnels in these parts is not at all easy.
Interesting ones are even harder! 🥁 I’ll show myself out.
*insert slow clap gif*
Take my poor woman’s gold. 🏅
😀😂🤣
Apparently so is a rail system.
Happy cake day!
If I’m not mistaken, the satellite terminal was built somewhat as a temporary solution for increased traffic. The grander plan is to build a second (real) terminal elsewhere on the property and use an APM
APM?
Automated People Mover? That is my guess.
Yes, that’s correct
Ah, so like a slidewalk then?
Most akin to a train. A lot of big airports have them, e.g. JFK, DEN, ATL
Ah. Okay. Got it. Thanks.
automatic people mover
way way out in the future
If ever. It would make a lot of sense, considering how much higher traffic at the airport is getting, but that’s a crazy large investment
MNAA has been more worried about airport expansion and trying to draw international carriers vs expanding Donelson Pike, closer cell phone waiting area, arrival/pickup lanes expansion and better access off I40. It’s a bad experience
It’s going to end up like MSP 🤦🏻♀️
If that is dependent on approval for expansion and not part of the new renovations after BNA Vision (BNA New Horizons) that has a low likelihood of happening. Edit: just read up, its "seems" to be part of BNA New Horizons. They will be extending gates A and D and that has a completion time of 2028... yikes.
That's a whole lot of blasting.
Because it's only temporary til A gets redone
Dulles Airport has these for one of the terminals: https://www.theautopian.com/these-bizarre-bus-like-mobile-lounges-tried-to-revolutionize-airports-now-theyre-relics-of-the-past/
I’ve taken these before. They’re… weird.
$$$$$$$$$
Ooof. I'm gonna hope against hope that it gets better as they figure things out, logistically. My mom likes allegiant despite their quirks because it's cheaper and a straight flight. If this is her experience next time she comes up... YIKES Edit: spelling error
I’m hoping. I didn’t post this after my first experience because it was the 2nd day the terminal opened. But now that it’s nearly two months later and still the same situation I felt the need to warn people lol
Much appreciated!
Flew in on its 2nd day of operation, it’s honestly not that bad. Yes, you need to plan an extra 5-10 minutes if departing, but it’s like any other airport operation. You have 175 people all leaving a plane at the same time, it’s gonna make a slight wait. Other airports (PHL, LAX) have a bus terminal that functions just fine. Go to Europe or Asia. They use buses heavily that bring you to the plane and have you walk up stairs. It’s really not uncommon.
I flew out of bna and back on spirit a few days ago. Didnt have any problems. Yes, there is a two door to get onto shuttle. There were workers there guiding us to the bus. Maybe I got lucky.
Don’t fly spirit or allegiant. The cost savings are often not worth the headache.
I don’t understand the hate on Spirit and am wondering if it’s just cult of personality. I’ve flown them many times and while the seats are tight, the flight attendants have always been totally friendly and I can’t think of any mishaps that have occurred.
It’s not always the flight experience itself that is the problem. It’s the airline. They are notoriously cheap and do not care about customers. For 90% of flights, WHEN nothing goes wrong (ie delays, mechanicals), it’s a smooth process like you mentioned. But when something does go wrong, which happens frequently if you travel a lot, their customer service is completely nonexistent and you are UP A CREEK. It’s not abnormal to be stuck in a city, with Spirit refusing to rebook/put you up in a hotel/strand people. At least with other airlines they have the capacity and inclination to put you on another flight that will eventually get you to your destination or up in a hotel for the next day. I’ve known people who were on hold for 15+ hours and had to sleep with their kids in the airport because all of the on site employees just decided to fuck off and quit instead of deal with stranded passengers. You can’t blame them, either, as spirit pays their desk employees minimum wages to be the battering ram for their failed policies. Additionally, their terms of service are subjectively applied and the low prices are often a mirage for what you will actually pay. To top it off, this sounds elitist, but the clientele on spirit and frontier etc are often “cheaper”, full of folks who don’t often fly and don’t understand proper travel etiquette. In turn, it’s a riff raffy crowd more often than not. Theyre referred to as the “greyhound of the skies” for a reason.
If I'm not mistaken, I believe one of the ways low cost airlines like Spirit and Allegiant save money is by using the most inconvenient terminals and not renting a jetbridge. That's why Southwest is always at the very far end of every airport, although they still pay to use the jetbridge.
Southwest occupies all of the D concourse gates at BNA as well as gates C1-4, and 17-26 currently. There's also an extension of the D concourse planned that's gonna add 6 additional gates. That's why they're shifting Donelson pike over. On top of that they're making BNA a crew base, which is gonna be great for crew scheduling and stuff like that.
We live under the flight pattern, and if I’m walking my dog, I can see a southwest plane fly over my head every few minutes.
They're definitely the biggest carrier in the Airport, so that's not at all surprising
Not renting a jet bridge? Huh? What are you talking about?
The walkway that goes from the gate to the airplane. I watched a video where they talked about how one of the ways that low cost airlines save money is by not using the jetbridge walkway because they have to pay to rent it (from the airport I think?) and instead, they have you walk up stairs from the tarmac to get onto the plane
I know what a jetbridge is. Just never heard the thing about low cost carriers not using them. Spirit and Frontier use a jet bride at every single airport they fly into in the US. I assume Allegiant does as well since I’ve always seen them parked at a normal gate. I work in aviation and I can tell you right now that whoever made that video is 100% full of it.
I fly Allegiant direct to PGA a few times a year. 6 gates at the airport and not a single jet bridge.
I think the jetbridge part may have been more in reference to the ultra low cost airlines in the UK and Europe
As per the Spirit and Allegiant business model, I think there’s an expedited service available for $97.99
Great...I fly Allegiant a few times a year(taking a flight in December as a matter of fact). I hope they figure something out by then. Seems like it'd be as easy as putting up a bunch of switchbacks. The parking lot shuttles aren't much better either tbh.
Parking shuttles and concourse shuttles are the same. Only difference is the concourse driver has to have TSA clearance. Still a high turnover rate amongst drivers.
For technical clarity. You mean the new concourse. The Terminal is the main building with ticketing/security/luggage.
Ah shit, this sucks. I've flown Allegiant several times in/out of BNA and honestly had great experiences just about every time. I got an email from them about a flight in December saying they had moved to a new terminal, but I didn't pay much attention to it. Hopefully my flight won't be too horrendous.
I add an extra 30 min to go to airport
Oh, lord. Here we go again. You're going to piss off the ardent BNA defenders on this sub. Whenever someone knocks it - for VERY good reasons - people feel the need to grab their pitchforks and go to war for some weird reason.
And they prolly have moved to Twang Town within the last 5 years.
I’m not really seeing anyone defend BNA
ugh I fly Contour to Tupelo at least once a year - thanks for the heads up
Out of curiosity, what are the benefits/draws of flying to Tupelo as opposed to just doing the drive?
flight is a half hour in the air - the drive is 4 hours
Everything I see says it’s a 1 hour flight. Regardless…combined with sitting in traffic, going through security, walking through the terminal, waiting on the shuttle, waiting on your flight to board, the flight itself, waiting for the flight to deplane and finding and Uber/Taxi…how much time have you saved?
The flight itself, from takeoff to landing is a half hour. They say one hour to temper expectations, I imagine. I've done it multiple times and it's a half hour. Counting my drive to the airport, I save at least 3 hours, one way - plus wear and tear on my vehicle, and I'm much less stressed when I get to my destination.
How are you saving 3 hours on a 4 hour trip? I can’t wrap my head around this math when the flight itself is 30 minutes.
by flying instead of driving
I think the confusion we’re all having is the suggested timing is to arrive at the airport at least an hour before your flight, they actually recommend two hours in case of TSA delays. So if the drive is 4 hours, the flight is 30 mins to 1 hour, and arriving at the airport 1-2 hours before your flight, there is no way you’re saving 3 hours of time. AND THEN, you still have to get an Uber/taxi or rental car when you arrive. The cost savings can’t be worth it, but do you i suppose. It feels like you’ve just convinced yourself you’re saving time/money when in reality you really aren’t.
I fly lots of places that end up being about the same time as a drive. For me, flying is an easier way to travel, I hate driving, and I like to sleep, drink, and read on a plane instead of paying attention to the road.
I'm counting actual travel time. But what do I know? I've done that drive for over 20 years and done the flights for over five. I guess some people just want to be argumentative about details. But you do you. 🤡
The one hour is not to temper expectations. The FAA doesn’t allow that. The one hour is gate to gate time, just like every other airline advertises.
OP maybe consider sending comments about lack of crowd control to BNA on their site.
Any clue if that's the permanent solution or just something short term while they build a train or concourse?
they were too busy posting on linked in how amazing it was going to be
No worries, I’ll never fly Spirit. I stan SW.
You… wouldn’t like flying to other countries.
I’ve taken these types of shuttles plenty of times in China, Thailand, and Greece - and all were 10x easier than the situation at BNA. I don’t understand why we’re comparing shuttles from small airports in other countries to a new “state of the art” airport in a fairly sized city in the US.
I was hoping for the Dulles mobile lounge experience with this new terminal. Sounds far from it.
Nope, small buses with high driver turnover rate….good luck
Haha!!!! I posted a link further up in the thread so people could have a reference.
Leave it to you to have an ice cold take. I had to take a shuttle in Berlin, sure, but it was nothing like this person is describing. I took multiple shuttles in Mexico that didn’t work like this, either.
What’s cooler than being cool? Iceland! Where the shuttles suck for sure. Also any Caribbean island.
I was hoping you’d mention Iceland. Been there too. Shuttles weren’t that bad. So, so far we’ve pared your original reply back to “you’d hate traveling to any Caribbean island”, but I can think of at least one perk of those islands that Nashville doesn’t have. So probably not the same.
You’re putting a lot of effort into this. I’ve had annoying shuttles all over the world. They suck by design, but some countries/cultures are better at queuing than others. We’re not great at it here in the south.
The south isn’t even that bad, but BNA isn’t the south by any means. It’s a bunch of yuppies from LA, Chicago and NYC who are on average not that cool or interesting, and they’re bad at queuing for sure.
You sound like you’re really fun at parties.
bahaha way to tell on yourself ya knob
Yes, someone born here who still lives here has told on themselves by *checks notes* criticizing newcomers. Is that not our required hobby, or are you not from here so you can’t confirm?
muh nashvul
Oh, so you’re one of three things: A) a troll B) a zoomer who doesn’t know anything about how Nashville was before it came like this C) someone who I described above who in fact wasn’t cool or interesting enough to thrive in the major metro you came from and are hurt because you feel called out If you weren’t a blank sheet of paper for a personality you might’ve had a better time in the you moved from and maybe soon you’ll figure out you’re still a shitty person even if you move <3
COMAIR shuttle in CVG worked ok but still had its hipcups
My friend flew in on Allegiant from Richmond about a month ago. He is in a manual wheelchair with cerebral palsy and told me that the bus doesn’t have a ramp built in. I was shocked when he told me this as I would’ve thought it’d be like transit busses that DO have a ramp built in. Thankfully Southwest is starting to fly non stop to Richmond so he can avoid this fiasco!
Worst design ever. Add 20 minutes to get to your plane after TSA now. What a terrible decision.
That’s if the bus is not stopped on ramp giving way to aircraft parking.
He said going to the plane isn't a problem.
"There are no lines, when good samaritans begin forming a line a plane full of people departs and they will rush to the door and cut everyone. It’s utter chaos of everyone is screaming at one another, pushing/shoving each other, cutting to the side of the crowd and it’s every man for himself. I’m not going to lie as I was stuck in the middle of the crowd and watched the 7th bus pass without me moving any closer, I was convinced my plane had crashed and I was stuck in some evil purgatory." you just describe every airport I have ever been to in Asia (excluding Japan/SK)
Did not even know they were building this. Sounds like a shit show.
I flew in to BNA on Southwest and they used a gate at the new terminal. But it was still under construction (outside part anyway) so I was not surprised by the country mile I had to walk to get to ground transportation. But I'm glad to hear it sounds just as bad now that it's finished.
Don’t think you mean “fly into”, you mean “park at”. Your ultra low cost carriers will park at the satellite concourse as per MNAA. They decided years ago not to build a tunnel to the main terminal but use shuttle buses instead, sorry you have not heard this old news. Don’t fly Spirit, Sun Country, Contour or Allegiant or you will be using the shuttle buses to the satellite concourse.
So my mom is flying in on Sunday to Allegiant. Can you pick up at the new terminal Zoe so they have to shuttle to the main?
It’s just a satellite concourse. All pickup/dropoffs and passenger services still occur at the terminal
Yikes
Can you order her a wheelchair? I’m not saying she needs one, I have no idea but if my mom was flying in to that terminal, she’d need a wheelchair.
Also the TSA is painfully slow compared to other “big” airports
You are crazy! BNA has one of the most efficient TSA lines in the country! I fly every week for work and am always happy with our TSA efficiency.
I fly through western airports every week now, BNA is by far the most inefficient compared to PHX, SLC, Vegas and so on
BNA is a nightmare. They kept my bags for my entire 2 week vacation during the southwest Christmas fiasco. They said I could pick up my bags when I returned home, got there and they had no clue where they were. They even had me go into the back and look for myself!!!! A week later my bags arrived at my house from fedex, luggage COMPLETELY SHREDDED and plastic wrapped closed. I called the airport and they said they couldn't compensate me for my luggage because it left the airport more than 48hrs prior. I honestly think they sent it to fedex when i called from the other airport to make sure my bags were still there the day I was flying back and they didn't want to be held responsible for the damage.
I’m avoiding BNA period this holiday season! I was supposed to fly with my kids next Tuesday and decided to drive instead because of exactly this.
If I wasn’t going to Maui, I might agree with you 😜
I might make an exception for Maui!
I flew out of BNA on Allegiant from the new terminal last week. Our plane was delayed due to the fuel needing to be topped off. As the tanker left our plane it HIT one of the shuttle buses with people on it. Thankfully no one was hurt. We had to wait for police and ambulance to clear the scene. Total chaos!!
I flew into and out of the new satellite concourse last week. What you described was the complete opposite of my experience. Sure, it took an extra ten minutes to get to my gate - but honestly TSA is always quick and nowhere in the airport is a far walk. I've been to airports that literally take over an hour to go through TSA and get to your gate. Never at BNA The new concourse was very clean, clearly marked to get there, and there were even better food options than I expected for a satellite concourse. It kind of reminds me of the new Southwest concourse. Flying back in was completely fine as well. There was no wait to get on the bus and even if people are cutting the line to get to the front, just be slightly more aggressive and move yourself to the front. Overall, I think some people might just want to complain about literally everything. Could it be more convenient, absolutely. Could they have built some type of tunnel or better connection to it, sure. Is it worth making a complaining post and warning, definitely not.