Meeting visitosr at the arrival gate

06-02-2002

Mary McCrea of Allison Park recently wrote to us wondering about her chances of meeting a visitor at a Pittsburgh International Airport arrival gate, in these post-9/11 security days.

She has a sister-in-law in her late 80s who is visiting this summer. McCrea is concerned that her guest will be confused when she arrives at the airport, and she would like to meet her when she deplanes.

Normally, only passengers with tickets for departures are permitted past the security checkpoint in the landside terminal. Is it possible, McCrea wonders, to get special permission to meet her sister-in-law at the gate?

Yes, it is. According to the US Airways Web site page on airport expectations, "Special arrangements can be made at the check-in counter to provide gate passes for parents and guardians of children traveling alone and passengers with special needs." In some circumstances, gate passes also can be obtained to accompany outgoing passengers to their departure gate.

Obtaining gate passes is relatively simple, although it requires waiting in lines at check-in counters.

On the day of the flight, arrive at the airport at least one hour prior to the plane's scheduled time of arrival or departure.

Park in the short-term lot, where the first half-hour will cost $1, as will the second half-hour. (We're recommending this step for most people meeting incoming passengers, since waiting at the curb is not permitted and the luggage service has been running even slower than normal. Unless you're absolutely sure the passenger will be waiting with luggage at the curb, it's better to pay a few dollars rather than make multiple orbits of the circuit road.)

Once inside the terminal, head for the check-in counter of the airline operating the flight you're expecting. In addition to giving the customer service representative your name and a photo ID issued by a government agency, you will have to provide the name of the passenger you want to attend to and the flight number and explain why your help is needed. If the reason is valid, one person will receive a gate pass, which will let you go through security to the gate.

We recently confirmed this information at the airport and discovered that while the rule holds for all carriers, individual airline policy specifics may differ.

Customer service representatives at the US Airways counter were very familiar with gate passes and seemed ready to provide one when warranted. Counter reps at other carriers we questioned were more guarded, admitting the passes could be issued but only under extenuating circumstances.

In any case, it is also important for passengers with special needs and children traveling alone to make themselves known to the airline when they check in for their flight.

Policies regarding unaccompanied children depend on the child's age. On US Airways, children must be at least 5 years old to travel without an adult. Those age 5-7 may travel unaccompanied on domestic flights that are nonstop or direct (one stop with no change of plane). There's a $40 service fee in addition to the price of the ticket. Unaccompanied children between the ages of 8 and 11 also may travel on itineraries that involve connecting flights, but the service fee is $75 each way.

"Passengers with special needs" is a less precise category. In general, this refers to people with a physical or mental condition or age infirmity that makes it difficult for them to travel on airplanes or navigate the airport on their own.

Of course, as an alternative to the gate pass, you can arrange to have the airline transport the passenger from the arrival gate to the shuttle train or, if necessary, even through the security check-points. Advance arrangements can be made for wheelchair assistance, and, upon arrival, passengers can request transportation on one of the electric carts that shuttle around the air side terminal to the elevators at the top of the escalator bank. If necessary, they also can be taken from there in a wheelchair to the passenger pickup area outside the land side terminal. All at no additional cost.

A fountain's source -- a correction

The Pittsburgh Walking tour we published several weeks ago has met with overwhelming reader interest, with hundreds of requests for extra copies. Our pocket-sized version is now available from the PG Store, along with posters and T-shirts of Dan Marsula's cover illustration.

However, several readers, including Donald Gibbons and Dick Lehman, have called attention to a mistake associated with the water source for the fountain at Point State Park.

Rather than being drawn from a subterranean river of glacial origins said to flow under the city, the water comes from a well sunk into a thick bed of sand and gravel which underlies much of the Downtown area.

According to a Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources article on the geology of Pennsylvania's groundwater, the sand and gravel aquifer was deposited by glaciers, but there is no underground river. The liquid that soars so majestically into the air is merely river water that is filtered through this porous layer. "As long as the river valley contains water, there will be water in the sand and gravel aquifer, making it seem as though the wells are tapping an underground river."

We stand corrected.

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