Will Rogers World Airport

[HOT ROD]

it does get really cramped when several flights arrive at the same time or even moreso, when there are several departures in a row. ...

[gopokes88]

Hey Josh,

How does this program with Priority Pass work? (If you know) Is it the vendor who signs up to be in it or the airport and reimburses the vendor? This would be an awesome thing for Cross Grain Brewhouse.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/priori...term=editorial

[Josh Ryan]

Hey Josh,

How does this program with Priority Pass work? (If you know) Is it the vendor who signs up to be in it or the airport and reimburses the vendor? This would be an awesome thing for Cross Grain Brewhouse.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/priori...term=editorial

Looking into it. I noticed that a February story references "free-standing" restaurants as their partners. I was looking at the list to see if any of the restaurants belonged to a master concessionaire (Delaware North, HMSHost, etc.). How it would work is Priority Pass would have a contract with the airport, likely because they manage a lounge there. They would then work out a reimbursement system with the partner restaurant. The two questions I will try to get answered: 1) Do they partner in airports that do not have a lounge yet (GSP's common use lounge was set to open this fall, SYR doesn't look like it has one)? 2) Would/Do they partner with restaurants that are a part of a master concessionaire contract (all the restaurants in OKC)?

[gopokes88]

Looking into it. I noticed that a February story references "free-standing" restaurants as their partners. I was looking at the list to see if any of the restaurants belonged to a master concessionaire (Delaware North, HMSHost, etc.). How it would work is Priority Pass would have a contract with the airport, likely because they manage a lounge there. They would then work out a reimbursement system with the partner restaurant. The two questions I will try to get answered: 1) Do they partner in airports that do not have a lounge yet (GSP's common use lounge was set to open this fall, SYR doesn't look like it has one)? 2) Would/Do they partner with restaurants that are a part of a master concessionaire contract (all the restaurants in OKC)?

Just as a reference, IIRC, PP had no lounge in Denver and then one day Timberline Bar and Grill popped up.

[shawnw]

https://newsok.com/article/5605696/a...al-expansion.?

[warreng88]

Final approach: $65 million OK’d for renovation of Will Rogers terminal

By: Brian Brus The Journal Record August 23, 2018

OKLAHOMA CITY – The city Airport Trust approved the final construction plans Thursday for $65.3 million in renovations and expansion of Will Rogers World Airport’s terminal building and related facilities.

Airports Director Mark Kranenburg said the primary goal of the project is to increase gate capacity because Will Rogers has only one leasable gate now, which limits marketability to other airlines.

The city also needs to stay on pace with the federal Transportation Security Administration’s passenger-checking processes, officials said. To more efficiently accommodate travelers, the airport will build a new security checkpoint with more space on both sides of the scanning equipment.

The Oklahoma City office of Frankfurt-Short-Bruza Associates has been contracted to design and oversee the project, which includes a new concourse, four new gates, more concessions and larger reception lobbies. As the space is designed now, passenger greeting takes place in a narrow lobby immediately adjacent to the TSA checkpoint and is split by escalators to the baggage claim area.

Rick Johnson, FSB’s chief operating officer, described the new design as something more akin to a “town square.” The design will also provide visitors with upstairs, panoramic views of the airfield with more seating space on the pre-check side of TSA.

Johnson said he felt good about the budget so far.

“As good as we can,” Johnson replied to trust members. “The tariffs and things – there are some issues we are trying to mitigate. We hired a second estimator and went through another estimating process to be sure we were comfortable with the numbers we were putting forward.

“There was a lot of discussion about the impact of tariffs,” he said of President Donald Trump’s realignment of international trade. “There’s some unknowns we have done our best to predict.”

Construction will be funded by general airport revenue bonds paid by passenger facility charges and revenue.

The trust expects to receive bids for the construction by the end of October with work beginning in the first quarter of 2019. It is the third and final phase of a plan that developed out of a long-range study conducted about 25 years ago.

Airports spokeswoman Karen Carney said the expansion plan speaks well of city leaders’ foresight decades earlier when the trust acquired plenty of land on the southwest part of the metro for future expansion.

That space is needed now, according to airport data. In June, about 208,000 passengers got on planes at the city-owned airport, an increase of 20,000, or 10.6 percent, from the same month in 2017. For the calendar year to date, Will Rogers reported an 11.7-percent increase.

[HOT ROD]

surprised there's no actual comments yet from anyone. I for one am elated with this, they can't build this soon enough.

Here's a direct link to the film https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=ZlayuVpgeiM

[brianinok]

surprised there's no actual comments yet from anyone. I for one am elated with this, they can't build this soon enough.

Here's a direct link to the film https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=ZlayuVpgeiM

I think It's very important they are building it now too. They might even be a little behind the curve actually. American might actually want another gate now. If Delta tries to add JFK or LAX they might want another gate gate. Southwest, if they increase MCO and try to add any CA routes to connect us to their Hawaii flights they may also want a fourth gate. That's just existing carriers that I can see possibly wanting 3/4 new gates.

[shawnw]

You'd think the airlines would be communicative enough with the airport that they'd know if they should do something drastic like go ahead and get started on the east terminal while they were at it...

[catch22]

I think It's very important they are building it now too. They might even be a little behind the curve actually. American might actually want another gate now. If Delta tries to add JFK or LAX they might want another gate gate. Southwest, if they increase MCO and try to add any CA routes to connect us to their Hawaii flights they may also want a fourth gate. That's just existing carriers that I can see possibly wanting 3/4 new gates.

Delta was just fine with 3 gates when they had about 20 flights a day. They’ve really consolidated everything through Atlanta with larger equipment and fewer frequencies (and closing MEM/CVG). I think they are down to 12 or 13 flights a day. They actually probably utilize their gates the least of the big 4. American is probably the only one close to needing extra gates. Southwest used to have 23 flights a day and they’ve piled back over the past 5 years to about 17.

[no1cub17]

Hopefully we see some actual usable F&B options. Coolgreens is such a waste of space it's insane.

[Celebrator]

Hopefully we see some actual usable F&B options. Coolgreens is such a waste of space it's insane.

Why? I truly don't know. Hours of operation? I love having the option of good, healthy food at the airport from one of my favorite local restaurants.

[PhiAlpha]

Why? I truly don't know. Hours of operation? I love having the option of good, healthy food at the airport from one of my favorite local restaurants.

Yeah that was my thought as well. I thought cool greens was a nice addition.

[brianinok]

Yeah that was my thought as well. I thought cool greens was a nice addition.

I agree. I love having cool greens at the airport. I wish it was more centrally located, though.

[PhiAlpha]

I agree. I love having cool greens at the airport. I wish it was more centrally located, though.

True. It seems like most of the F&B complaints, other than operating hours and general operating issues, are from those who want a specific option that we don't have or want our F&B options to be a carbon copy of other airports. With the new restaurants that have been added over the last few years, we really have a solid variety of food options available now. Having more would be great, but I feel like the selection is pretty good now especially for a small, non-hub airport.

As a compliment to the airport staff, Josh or someone else must be listening to the complaints because the operating hours of a few of the restaurants seem to have improved. I flew out late on Friday night (around 9 PM) and both Cross Grain and Schlotzsky's were still open and serving people when I boarded my plane at 8:30. I was able to grab a great burger and beer from Cross Grain when on previous trips, everything was closed around 8:00.

[Josh Ryan]

True. It seems like most of the F&B complaints, other than operating hours and general operating issues, are from those who want a specific option that we don't have or want our F&B options to be a carbon copy of other airports. With the new restaurants that have been added over the last few years, we really have a solid variety of food options available now. Having more would be great, but I feel like the selection is pretty good now especially for a small, non-hub airport.

As a compliment to the airport staff, Josh or someone else must be listening to the complaints because the operating hours of a few of the restaurants seem to have improved. I flew out late on Friday night (around 9 PM) and both Cross Grain and Schlotzsky's were still open and serving people when I boarded my plane at 8:30. I was able to grab a great burger and beer from Cross Grain when on previous trips, everything was closed around 8:00.

This is good to hear. We continue to address complaints with the Delaware North manager, especially regarding early closures. The more you send us specific info, the more it helps us. Email us at wrwa@okc.gov to contact us directly.

[no1cub17]

Why? I truly don't know. Hours of operation? I love having the option of good, healthy food at the airport from one of my favorite local restaurants.

No doubt it's a healthy option and their food isn't bad at all. But they're not open for breakfast, and they're not open for dinner. There is literally no place to get breakfast on that side of the airport if you have an early flight. And I'm not taking 5 AM, I'm talking at 7 AM. My wife and i would've loved to have a breakfast option at 6 AM on that side of the airport. Literally every other airport we transit has at least one option (even my hometown AZO). In my opinion an airport with limited F&B options like OKC deserves better.

Not sure if they've extended their evening hours but I find it insane that they've never been open past 6 PM at least in my experience. Maybe OKC's airport management aren't aware that there are many flights that depart after 6 PM.

[Josh Ryan]

No doubt it's a healthy option and their food isn't bad at all. But they're not open for breakfast, and they're not open for dinner. There is literally no place to get breakfast on that side of the airport if you have an early flight. And I'm not taking 5 AM, I'm talking at 7 AM. My wife and i would've loved to have a breakfast option at 6 AM on that side of the airport. Literally every other airport we transit has at least one option (even my hometown AZO). In my opinion an airport with limited F&B options like OKC deserves better.

Not sure if they've extended their evening hours but I find it insane that they've never been open past 6 PM at least in my experience. Maybe OKC's airport management aren't aware that there are many flights that depart after 6 PM.

no1cub17, this is exactly the type of information that we need, but with specifics. Give me a date/time when Rt. 66 was not open by 7AM. We look into these complaints immediately and try to get a handle on whether it was an anomaly (personnel shortage) or if it is an operational decision by Delaware North management. Looking through security footage of the past 7 days (8/20-8/26), Rt. 66 was open for breakfast before 5:15AM each day except Sunday, when they opened at 6:30AM.

As for Coolgreens not being open after 6PM, it is very difficult for them to remain open when they would see only a handful of customers after that hour. As the total number of customers slims in the evening, Delaware North focuses their evening staff on keeping the more frequented food options open for a longer period of time. Rt. 66 Bar and Grill is going to be the choice of more passengers in that situation.

[Celebrator]

No doubt it's a healthy option and their food isn't bad at all. But they're not open for breakfast, and they're not open for dinner. There is literally no place to get breakfast on that side of the airport if you have an early flight. And I'm not taking 5 AM, I'm talking at 7 AM. My wife and i would've loved to have a breakfast option at 6 AM on that side of the airport. Literally every other airport we transit has at least one option (even my hometown AZO). In my opinion an airport with limited F&B options like OKC deserves better.

Not sure if they've extended their evening hours but I find it insane that they've never been open past 6 PM at least in my experience. Maybe OKC's airport management aren't aware that there are many flights that depart after 6 PM.

Got it. Yeah, those hours don't seem very diner-friendly. They should develop a simple breakfast menu--Tucker's did for their airport location. Delicious!

[shawnw]

If cool greens can't stay open downtown for dinner then I don't see that happening for the airport. Personally, I'd like to see BOTH happen.

[gopokes88]

Who wants a salad for dinner tho

[shawnw]

1) They have more than just salads
2) You can get a pretty hardy salad
3) Have you tried Salata? GIANT salads and wraps, more than enough to fill anyone up for any meal

[catch22]

Perhaps a concept that has a wider range of selections should be in the coolgreens location? A concept that can survive off breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

[OKCbyTRANSFER]

Schlotzsky's added the self order kiosk, that helped speed up my purchase the other day. Good addition there

[HOT ROD]

Perhaps a concept that has a wider range of selections should be in the coolgreens location? A concept that can survive off breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I agree with this. I think Coolgreens isn't the type of place that can stand by itself. If it were the same kiosk type restaurant in the food court area, I bet business would be booming as people would have CHOICE between it and other options. By itself, Meh.

I'd advocate for WRWA to relocate Coolgreens to the central concourse area near Sonic/Schlotsky's etc and put something like McD/Burger King at the current Coolgreen's spot. Not that I like or want McD/BK there but THEY would bring the crowds as a single tenant and would cover breakfast/lunch/dinner and late night.