Ok now this is a rare sight, a mobile lounge being used to load passengers into a plane at IAD

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Mystery_Member@reddit

That was fairly routine at IAD in the early 90's and earlier. They didn't have enough gates with jet bridges.

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kevin_from_illinois@reddit

United showing how innovative they are, by adding more gates without adding more gates. Cost management at its finest.

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Kasaeru@reddit

United doesn't have any control over the gates, the airport does.

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BanTarry@reddit

Not true. United pumped $1BN into DEN to expand a concourse. Airlines most certainly control what gets built at their hub airports.

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cguess@reddit

I was on these all the time in the late 2000s and mid 2010s even.

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user-110-18@reddit

This is a COPA flight from Panama. I haven’t taken that flight for about six years, but when I did take it regularly, we always had to use the mobile lounge.

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AceCombat9519@reddit

This belongs to United Airlines. Looking at it it's registered in the United States COPA have the Panamanian HP registrations.

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user-110-18@reddit

Ah. You are right. I often confuse the tail logos.

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cameraview1970s@reddit

These were featured in the movie “Airport ‘75”. They’ve been around for a very long time.

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Historical-Tour-2483@reddit

Always wanted to do this but never hit the “jackpot” on IAD flights. I’ve ridden them between terminals but would love to load/offload on one one day

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BlatantConservative@reddit

Nah it sucks.

Each one can only hold lime 60-70 people so the plane has to let people off piecemeal.

People get the animalistic crowd instinct to rush out in a giant mob and then the FA stops you like four or five times. People groan and complain.

Might be nice if you're in first class.

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Historical-Tour-2483@reddit

Oh for sure I can see that but one they’ll be a thing of the past

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bingeflying@reddit

Not rare though. Those fuckers don’t give a fuck about anyone else on the ramp I’ve had them cut me off several times

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Bluishdoor76@reddit (OP)

Dude, driving by C1/2 is a gamble with these things coming in and out of the international corridor gates.

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MegaBobTheMegaSlob@reddit

Huh, last time I flew we boarded directly into the plane when I left, and got off the plane with one of those when we came back

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Last-Cherry2626@reddit

Yep, that’s what they use when an international gate isn’t open. And some of the gates that arn't connected to customs

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polishprocessors@reddit

Did you, or did you walk off the plane, a few hundred yards down the terminal, THEN hop on one of these? That's quite common...

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MegaBobTheMegaSlob@reddit

Nope, went right off the plane into one of these.

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polishprocessors@reddit

Crazy! Well as you see elsewhere, quite rare, hope you enjoyed it!

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bingeflying@reddit

Oh right yeah I’ve actually never seen that in person

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Last-Cherry2626@reddit

Killed a southwest ramper 12ish years ago. The driver got promoted

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Last-Cherry2626@reddit

Killed a southwest ramper 12ish years ago. The driver got promoted

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dad_guy428@reddit

They have gotten a little better. There were a few instances some years ago and I think they vetted some of the drivers. Still not good, but better than it used to be

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TbonerT@reddit

Not rare, I’ve flown many times out of dozens of airports and never seen one of these before.

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Fourteen_Sticks@reddit

Try being in a little Cirrus that’s the same color as the pavement taxiing down A or B from 19L to Jet Aviation…

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Last-Cherry2626@reddit

That’s a planemate, they go up and down to mate with the plane. Mobil lounges are the terminal to terminal ones that don’t go up and down cuz it’s a standard level.

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Icy_Huckleberry_8049@reddit

NOT a rare sight. That's what they're used for - loading and unloading of passengers from planes. That's their purpose.

Before the outer terminals were constructed, these were used hundreds of times a day for boarding and unloading of passengers.

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fly_awayyy@reddit

As OP says it’s rare for the airport even though that’s what their original purpose was. Worked at IAD for many years this is not common causally at a gate…

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Icy_Huckleberry_8049@reddit

I was there in the end of the 80's and early 90's before the outer terminals were built and these operated all day long, every day of the week.

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fly_awayyy@reddit

Well they still operate all day long to and from the IAB. Docking onto a plane is rare nowadays especially at a gate.

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Bluishdoor76@reddit (OP)

what I meant by rare, they dont use them for that anymore and havent for a very long time. They're now only primairly used for moving passangers from international flights to customs and from moving passangers from concurse D to concurse A, or main terminal to concurse D. As there is no train connection that goes to concurse D yet.

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kazak9999@reddit

No train that ends at the D gates. The C and D gates are one big, continuous terminal so you can take the train to the C gates then hoof it in the terminal down to the D gates.

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Bluishdoor76@reddit (OP)

Correction, they're off loading passengers

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motophoto5000@reddit

Had the same thing happen during a power outage around 2005.

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stackology@reddit

Assuming this is parked at a contact gate position, is this to get the pax to the main terminal FIS?

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this was at gate C11, there was some issue with the gate and they couldn't get it to work. So they brought in a mobile lounge to off load the passengers. This was an international inbound flight so they were very likely taken to customs.

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kurtbitner@reddit

If this was taken today it was UA 2634 ATL-IAD so it was NOT an international flight

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Bluishdoor76@reddit (OP)

I said international cause this mobile lounge type is normally the one moving people to customs. The one that is used for moving people between terminals doesn't have the screws.

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shiftyjku@reddit

Was going to say that's a 737 tail so if it was international it wasn't from very far away.

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Recent_Tap_7378@reddit

Since when did they start using cybertrucks at airports?

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Western-Sky88@reddit

That's so rare that I'm actually surprised anybody was around who had the training to do it.

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ywgflyer@reddit

YUL has these as well, they are used for aircraft parked on hard stands on the apron north of the terminal building.

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MagPistoleiro@reddit

What's up with the two chimney like thingies on top of it?

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ywgflyer@reddit

The cabin of the mobile lounge is operated by hydraulic pistons that move it up and down to match the door height of the aircraft. The 'chimneys' are where the length of the hydraulic ram/piston that operates this system resides.

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InitialProtection605@reddit

Maybe a rare sight outside of IAD, but almost every flight I've been on out of Dulles I've ridden on those 😅 Honestly they are some really cool machines 💯

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HaMerrIk@reddit

Wait they could just do this the whole time

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Acceptable_Tie_3927@reddit

a mobile lounge being used to load passengers into a plane

Plot twist: all of them have contacted the Andromeda strain and are being transported in this airtight land-ark, to be flown to a secret underground base at Area 51 and never to be seen again. X-files starts whistling in the background...

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NotToBeChanged@reddit

Using them at the tail of an aircraft is likely quite uncommon. But I've been driven to "my" plane at IAD at least once this year. Was a Brussels Airlines flight back to BRU. The "gate" was one at the end of the concourse where the mobile "lounge" docked and after a LONG wait drives out to the plane parked quite a bit away, to deliver you to your plane from the front door).

When they use them to get you to customs and immigration, they're somewhat OK, but to drive you out to your plane, you sit in them for WAY too long.

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shaftman14@reddit

It’s not a mobile lounge. It’s essentially a “people mover” to get passengers between terminals.

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Gdigger13@reddit

My god, ORD needs one of these.

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ChairmanJim@reddit

The original name from the designer was mobile lounge. Its explained in the short video in this thread

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shaftman14@reddit

Good to know, but it’s a weird name for what they are. I’ve been in a few and they’re very much like a public bus.

When I think of a lounge I think of drinks and snacks. Or at least a little bowl of mints.

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Bluishdoor76@reddit (OP)

Mobile lounge is what we call them here, never heard them be called anything else tbh

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BlatantConservative@reddit

I always thought that if you called them by their real name, you're a cop. Like the same kind of thing as if you called Gatorade colors by their legal name.

They're sky camels.

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DudeWithAnAxeToGrind@reddit

I call them tundra buggies. Because that's the closest thing I can compare them to given their size.

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MikeyMIRV@reddit

My wife and I call them “sand crawlers.”

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Bluishdoor76@reddit (OP)

They feel that big when they drive by next to you, 2 years in and driving at the airport for a year, and it's still a bit nerve-wracking.

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shaftman14@reddit

I stand corrected…kinda - https://dcist.com/story/23/06/21/va-dulles-airport-people-movers/

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Available_Sir5168@reddit

So it’s like a bus?

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shaftman14@reddit

Pretty much, yeah. Fancy purpose built bus. They kinda “dock” to the buildings so passengers can traverse efficiently…ish.

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AndHeCycledAway@reddit

I experienced that once too, I have no idea where or when as I was only a kid then, but I remember loving it

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oojiflip@reddit

This was such a strange experience when I went to dulles! Means you don't step foot outside of a closed space until you leave the airport! (admittedly a jet bridge does the same thing but you actually drive to the terminal in this thing)

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fungus909@reddit

Oh, that’s why they are lifted like that. I thought it was just to make them look cool.

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ListenOk2972@reddit

I watched the Pope get loaded onto a plane in one of these

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jstift@reddit

It’s called a People Eater

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Katana_DV20@reddit

Hilarious, it's like it came from a cartoon.

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DudeWithAnAxeToGrind@reddit

Didn't know they use those tundra buggies to directly board / unboard passengers. I've only seen them used to shuttle people between terminals.

IMO, calling them "mobile lounge" is misleading. On the inside they simply look like extra wide subway car. They don't look anything like "lounge".

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Bluishdoor76@reddit (OP)

I've always thought the name is odd, but if you look up mobile lounge on google, the IAD mobile lounges are literally the first thing that pop up lol

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facw00@reddit

IIRC this one is actually a Plane Mate, which is sometime considered something different, though I'd group them all as Mobile Lounges.

My understanding is that they were still commonly used to bring passengers from arriving international flight (especially from developing world airlines) directly to Customs from the plane, but I'm not going through IAD often enough to be confident in that assessment.

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DudeWithAnAxeToGrind@reddit

Well. Good to know that's how they are officially called. I'll still keep calling them tundra buggies, sounds much more cool ;-)

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BlatantConservative@reddit

I call them mechacamels.

Trying to get away with the most absurd name you can is a fun part of going through Dulles.

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fly_awayyy@reddit

Yes for all the people that b***h and complain about them, this is where their versatility comes in handy. Aerotrain breaks down? Great have a backup/ original system. No gates available for a new airline remote stand for you and we’ll shuttle you so you can operate. Diversion or IRROP event where all gates are occupied? They hook up and get passengers off so as long as they can park the plane safely. Forget other major airports where you would have to wait hours for a gate I’m looking at EWR lol.

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HettySwollocks@reddit

Looks like they nicked a train carriage and stuck it on wheels.

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hicky1999@reddit

Now I can think of many things to call these but Lounge does not come to mind

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JanTroe@reddit

I got to use one of those in Philadelphia in 1999.

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thereader17@reddit

Still use this in Montreal

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joecarter93@reddit

Here’s a good video on the ones at YUL

https://youtu.be/j3OqAN4ISOw?si=Yz60hhi9jm4Ys4j5

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ChairmanJim@reddit

Thanks. The video says they are converting to electric to answer another poster.

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agha0013@reddit

Used to ride on these awful things in Mirabel back in the day. They had some bridged gates at the terminal but most planes were parked out on the apron and served by a whole fleet of these trucks. The front face of the main terminal was just a whole line up of doors for them to mate with.

coming back from a family vacation in a warm place in the 1980s in the middle of winter, these things were punishment. cold, loud, stinky, uncomfortable

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MikeyMIRV@reddit

Anyone know what the large “fins” on top are for?

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Bluishdoor76@reddit (OP)

That's where the hydraulic tubes stick out. Basically, that's how high it can raise itself.

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wlonkly@reddit

Because of those fins, I learned from my retired pilot uncle that back in the day of Polish jokes they were called "Polish helicopters".

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fly_awayyy@reddit

They’re jack screws you can see them underneath actually.

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cach-v@reddit

Jeez I thought it was so the tower / planes could see them lol

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BlatantConservative@reddit

They store nutrients and water for the dry months.

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ekkidee@reddit

Exhaust stacks.

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legardeur2@reddit

These people movers were used to embark passengers from terminal to aircrafts as early as 1975 when Mirabel airport in Montreal was inaugurated.

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ExocetC3I@reddit

There's still a few of them over at YUL as far as I know, just in case they have to send an aircraft to a remote stand.

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Numitron@reddit

A few of them are rusting away on a lot at CYMX.

Makes me sad every time I go over there and see the remnants of a greater thing.

Good place to practice towered airports without going into the chaos of CYHU now though.

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ExocetC3I@reddit

Less community noise too. I can imagine the community around St-Hubert is none too happy about the prospect of a bunch of commercial services starting up.

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Ivebeenfurthereven@reddit

NIMBYs delenda est

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gappletwit@reddit

Yup. I was in one last week. Terrible.

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legardeur2@reddit

Why was it terrible? They’re called lounges in Washington!

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gappletwit@reddit

Often crowded. Always slow.

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legardeur2@reddit

I didn’t know that. Thanks for the info.

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W33b3l@reddit

We all know that's just a covered K loader with seats lol

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Dangerous_Mix_7037@reddit

Used to be SOP in Jeddah

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Carp12C@reddit

Whenever I fly through Dulles, I make it a point to take a ride on these! Montreal also uses mobile lounges to board planes from time to time.

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Mountain_Frog_@reddit

They would be great if they didn't seem to have the passenger air intake right next to the diesel exhaust...

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Ivebeenfurthereven@reddit

They seem like a pretty good candidate for battery electric, or at least LPG conversion

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MildlyConcernedIndiv@reddit

I've ridden on these to and from planes several times at IAD and once at YYZ. It's been since COVID I've been thru either of those airports. Are they not using them any more?

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Bluishdoor76@reddit (OP)

They're used extensively at IAD to ferry arriving international passengers from C concourse and A/B concourse and taking them to customs. They're also used to ferry passengers from D concourse to the main terminal, B concourse and A concourse as the D gates don't currently have access to the underground train network. They also occasionally use them to ferry passengers from C gates to main terminal when maintenance is being performed on the trains. The last use and most rare use of them now is well this, it's original purpose of transporting passengers directly from the aircraft to a terminal usually when there's major issues with the jet bridge and the aircraft can't be redirected to a different gate.

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MildlyConcernedIndiv@reddit

Ah. Thanks for the info!

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spddmn77@reddit

Makes me think of a school bus and moon rover combined lol

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eneka@reddit

I call them the moon buggies

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BlatantConservative@reddit

Basically what it feels like to be inside lol

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KPbICMAH@reddit

absolutely worth r/BitchImATrain

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spoiled_eggsII@reddit

These things aren't rare at IAD are they?

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BlatantConservative@reddit

OP is saying it's rare for one to be schlorping passengers directly out of the plane.

They bus people between terminals all the time.

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urzrkymn@reddit

I like how it has vertical stabilisers.

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BlatantConservative@reddit

Common misconception!

Those are actually humps that store fat and water for the Virginia dry season. In this picture they appear to be fully stocked up but if you take a look around February/March when they're depleted, they can be 40 percent smaller and floppy.

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TyrannoNerdusRex@reddit

They could speed up boarding if they put a big piston on the back end. Press a button and just FWOOMP people right into the plane.

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source4mini@reddit

Unloading is like a solder sucker but for people.

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praythedelayaway@reddit

Jesus, the airlines would save so much money if people were preseated in the airport terminal and then slid into place like a C5. Why has nobody thought of this?????

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thedman9052@reddit

It's been proposed several times actually but they always decide it's not worth the cost.

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Key-StructurePlus@reddit

Not a mobile lounge. It’s a COVID/Flu/common cold moving petri unit. Bringing respiratory illness to travelers since 1965….

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Timely-Pass8854@reddit

So is this basically a railway wagon?

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Sorry-Mortgage7661@reddit

I guess this is for wheel chairs

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TG10001@reddit

Is my mind fucking with me or was I on one of these on a delta flight from FRA to IAD as recently as 2018 maybe?

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fly_awayyy@reddit

Delta doesn’t fly FRA-IAD only Lufthansa or United. But if you did yes you had to get on one to go to immigration.

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TG10001@reddit

It was indeed a United / LH codeshare, thanks for pointing it out

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Pangea_Ultima@reddit

Only poors leave the lounge to board thru a gate with the peasants

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Final_Winter7524@reddit

Back in the early 2000s, I swear, I was on those damn things for almost every flight - international or domestic. Any terminal change, and you had to take those things.

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jzorbino@reddit

I had this happen on an American Airlines flight in Madrid a few days ago. There were several of us disabled/on crutches and they had us exit into one of these things. I’d never seen one before.

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Majortom_67@reddit

Not rare

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SmokinTires@reddit

I assume this is at the remote ramp beyond Concourse C/D? I’ve never taken a flight from there, and I’ve always assumed that is for emergency aircraft parking or overnights

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Bluishdoor76@reddit (OP)

nope, this was C11, jet bridge was not working so they brought this to off load them and take them to customs.

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PaleInvestment3507@reddit

DFW used these a lot back in the day.

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Foundrynut@reddit

I worked at IAD in mid 90s. Delta used to fly an L1011 in from Germany. (I think it was flight 60) The passengers were deplaned by mobile lounge and moved to customs/immigration.

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BigGrayBeast@reddit

i experienced that in 95 United from Madrid. Loved not having to walk a mile to customs.

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Joelpat@reddit

I flew swissair from Zurich to IAD in 2002. They deplaned us onto the people movers, and then we sat on them for more than an hour. Not a happy memory.

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rocketshipkiwi@reddit

I’ve been on those a few times, they are really cool. Like a bus in side and they lift you up to the door level of the plane. Generally when they didn’t have air stairs and they needed lift on/lift off.

Can’t remember where it was though.

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FeedMeCrabs@reddit

This is what they were originally designed for. The idea was that travelers would relax in the terminal, away from the noisy ramp. Dulles was one of the first (maybe the only?) airports to test this idea. Jet bridges seem to scale better and ultimately became the favorable option.

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joecarter93@reddit

Trudeau (Montreal) uses them currently during peak times as well. I think the other airport in Montreal (Mirabel) used them too, before it has closed. One of the terminals at JFK might have used them in the 70’s too maybe?

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thealbertaguy@reddit

Leave your own state or country once in a while... they're used around the world.

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Airwolfhelicopter@reddit

Didn’t the Space Shuttle use something like that after landing?

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joecarter93@reddit

NASA bought a couple of them for this purpose

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nqthomas@reddit

Yes

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Tr0yticus@reddit

Those things are so bizarre to ride on

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Double-Show-2625@reddit

I've been working at the airports for years and I've never seen this before!

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siouxu@reddit

Ok, what if, guys, guys listen...guys, listen, what if, we use the mobile lounges to then dock with the terminal and deplane and enplane passengers? Guys!?, listen, guys, this is going to save gate space, lower costs, and be more flexible. I think we're on to something. Airport of the future shit. Next we do a huge circular runway. Guys?

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guijappe@reddit

It is not rare. I lived in Washington DC for 5 years and used the mobile lounge several times when departing fom and arriving at IAD.

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NintendoThing@reddit

I’ve been on it several times, most recently last year coming home from Europe via CDG

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honore_ballsac@reddit

Many many years ago, the first time I entered the USA, I landed in a PANAM 747 (LHR - IAD). Deplaning into one of those vehicles to go to the terminal was a mind blowing experience as a first timer. All I knew up to that day was either jetways, getting on a bus to board the plane or walking on the tarmac to the plane (small airports).

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gappletwit@reddit

Lounge seems to be a mischaracterization.

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Desperate-Tomatillo7@reddit

I feel that IAD has weird transportation stuff.

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ajmezz@reddit

I worked at the ramp tower for a few years and one of the positions was dispatching the lounges for pax pickup/drop off. Lounges were used in this fashion on almost a daily basis, especially during the summer when there wasn’t room at the gates or certain airlines didn’t feel like paying their fees. Place is a nightmare during the banks with all the moving parts.

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Flighthome@reddit

These things are still around at YUL and have been in service for a long time at YMX too

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QuestionMarkPolice@reddit

That's not a mobile lounge at all. It's used to move people between terminals and gates. Dulles uses those every day all day.

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Bluishdoor76@reddit (OP)

Like I pointed on, another reply, that's just what we call them here at IAD. Also, yes, these are everywhere at IAD, but they are not used like in the picture at all anymore. This is extremely rare, usually done when there's issues with jet bridge.

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