Airport construction update

[Pete]

Just received this message from a friend (can't substantiate any of this but he wrote the message from inside the airport while waiting for a plane) and thought some of you might appreciate the news, since the bloody airport website hasn't been updated in months:



- Passenger pickup tunnel is now open. This is the street right in front of the flight arrival luggage carousels that's been closed for construction the past 2 years.

- Delta's check-in counter has temporarily moved over ot the west side next to Northwest

- SOUTHWEST HAS MOVED TO THEIR NEW GATES!!! They now own the gates closest to the entrance (huge news for Southwest for winning those. They just did this in Pittsburgh too and take a lot of pride in getting the gates closest to the security checkpoints).

- The mini food court has opened. Schlotzky's, Sbarro's, Sonic are all now located just east of the Southwest gates.

- A second bar has opened near the Southwest gates. This one is cool b/c it has this room connected to it called "The Mohogony Lounge." Some good chairs and sofas to do some laptop work and relax. They currently have 6 flatscreen TVs in there. The second room of the lounge looks like it's gonna open soon as well, with more couches and TVs.

- "The Big XII Store." All things Big 12. There's a section of apparel for every single school in the conference. I've never imaged of seeing Baylor apparel sitting in a local shop. But lo and behold, there it is. All things are 20% off inside that store for the next week or so.

- Delta's new gates are almost ready. They've moved the ticket agent counters over to the new wing at gates 11 and 12. I'm guessing they'll have their new gates by the beginning of next week. Oddly, I also think they're cutting down from 3 gates to 2 as I don't see a third one with their name on it anywhere.

- America West will begin flights into OKC Friday May 6th. This will give OKC 3 more flights to Phoenix and 3 more flights to Vegas DAILY. This includes a Vegas departure from OKC at 11:40PM and a Vegas arrival into OKC at 3:15AM!!! So for all you gamblers, a great opportunity to squeeze every hour out of Sin City before flying home. I'm guessing they'll be at the far west corner in gate 1.

- Looks like the new luggage carousel for Delta, United, and AA will be open within the week. This means those baggage pickup areas that looked like garages will FINALLY be closed forever. Those things just give the first timers in OKC a bad taste in their mouths.

- The courtyard outside looks like it'll be open within the month. They're pouring concrete for the walkways this morning.

[mranderson]

As many of you know, I am flying to California on May 28, using America West. If I can, I will take a series of shots of the new terminal and the America West area, and include them in my gallery upon my return... This along with a progress report.

Improvements maybe. However, not big enough.

[Pete]

Mr. Anderson, I'd greatly appreciate any photos you could share.


It's absolutely absurd that this board does a much better job of providing such updates than our full-time airport Marketing Director.

[Karried]

http://www.flyokc.com/willrogerssite...g/current.html


Here are some pics from the website,not sure how current they are - I think we should all email today - right now - and ask when we can expect an update on this website?

How many out of town clients and visitors check this site to get updates on their flights or to get terminal info? This is probably the first intro to OK that many will have. We should have more updates other than June of 2004 on the Current Construction page! In fact, I think I'll just cut and paste the above into a message to the Marketing Director Karen Carney.

For general comments or questions:
karen.carney@okc.gov

[Pete]

Those pictures are about 10 months old.

I wrote to Karen about 8 months ago and she promised an update in the near future. A few weeks ago, I followed up with her because nothing had ever been done -- forwarding her previous email with the promise -- and never heard back.

They haven't even updated the site with the press release they did a month ago about the new arrivals curb being open. The site still instructs people to use the transporation plaza.


I know of a couple of good webmasters that would do work on that site for free, in exchange just for a reference. I made this offer to Karen and she did not even bother to respond to my email.


And I agree, the airport website is a waste of a efficient communication and marketing tool and an emabassment to OKC.

[Karried]

Those pictures are about 10 months old.

I wrote to Karen about 8 months ago and she promised an update in the near future. A few weeks ago, I followed up with her because nothing had ever been done -- forwarding her previous email with the promise -- and never heard back.


Well, you know the saying 'the squeaky wheel gets the grease" or something to that effect..

Let's all try again and call and email, it should take less than 2 minutes and don't you think she will take notice if all of us here on this board start writing, say everyday, until it get's updated?

I wrote to her that I would share her response with others so maybe that will prompt her to respond - if so, I'll share it here.

[Pete]

Good job, Karrie.

I think she's written me off as some crackpot from California.


Hopefully she'll bother to respond to you or others.

[ErnieBall]

I just kicked out an email to her. Here's the text:

Ms. Carney,

As I visited the WRWA website today looking for flight information, I couldn’t help but notice how terribly out of date the information concerning current construction at the airport has become. As someone who travels somewhat regularly, I know that businesspeople and tourists alike visit airport websites expecting to find current information about flights, services, and construction so they may better plan their trips. I find it disappointing that my own airport hasn’t taken the time and effort to keep its website up-to-date. I feel that this reflects poorly on WRWA and its attitude towards visitors and citizens of Oklahoma City. I sincerely hope that a better effort can be made in the future to update what is an important public resource and valuable symbol of our airport.

Respectfully,

(Name)
(Corporation)

[Karried]

Awesome letter ErnieBall ! MalibuSooner, give it one more shot - please... I think she will certainly get the hint - I'm from Northern California so she probably thinks I'm a CA crackpot as well, but since I now reside in OK - she might take me seriously.

[Pete]

I'll send her another one.

It would also be helpful to know who Karen reports to, as they should be copied.

[mranderson]

I'll send her another one.

It would also be helpful to know who Karen reports to, as they should be copied.

I would send it to Luther Trent, Will Rogers airport director, plus the mayor, and the city council members.

[Karried]

Do you have that contact info MrAnderson?

Oklahoma City Department of Airports
7100 Terminal Drive
Box 937
Oklahoma City, OK 73159-0937

Luther Trent, Director of Airports

405 680-3322
Fax: 405 680-3211

I can't locate his email yet.....

[Keith]

Do you have that contact info MrAnderson?

Oklahoma City Department of Airports
7100 Terminal Drive
Box 937
Oklahoma City, OK 73159-0937

Luther Trent, Director of Airports

405 680-3322
Fax: 405 680-3211

I can't locate his email yet.....

luther.trent@okc.gov

[Patrick]

I'll also send both Luther and Karen and email. Hopefuly we can flood them both with emails demanding the pics be updated on the site. Might also sneak a request in there that the East Concourse be completed!

[HKG_Flyer1]

Although I just recently signed up for this board and intended my first post to be somewhat more "meaty," I have to chime in on the airport website as well.

Although some people (perhaps airport management included), may think that no one really scans through all the links on a website, I have (and I don't even live in Oklahoma City!). It quickly became apparent that parts of the website were outdated... particularly the construction reporting. If anything, the airport trust should be crowing about this as well as the opening of new, high quality concession operators.

[Patrick]

Hey HKG_Flyer1! First off, welcome to OKC Talk. We're happy to have you here. We'd love to have you help us rally and try to get Karen Carney and company to do a better job updating the airport website. I hope you'll consider sending her an email. The more emails we can send her, the more our voice will be heard. Sure, an airport website is nowhere near as important as the expansion project, or anything like that, but it still reflects an image of our city to outsiders.

[ErnieBall]

Here's the response I got from Karen:

Mr. X,

I do apologize for not having more updated info on the site. You are absolutely right. Some of the problem is a technical issue and the rest is my fault.

Regarding the technical issue: as I was reviewing the site over the weekend, I found many pages that had been updated recently that had reverted to old files. Our IT department has been working on updating and improving security for the City servers and had evidently used an old backup, thus reinstating some old files.

As far as some of the maps and photos, that is my fault. Unfortunately, I do not have an assistant or anyone that I can dedicate to the site and it is not a simple process to update. However, that is getting ready to change. We are planning to unveil a totally new site this week. One of the advantages of it will be new software that will make it much easier to update and pretty much instantaneously.

I do appreciate your comments and hopefully, you will see a much improved site by the end of this week.

Thank you.

Karen Carney

[Karried]

I got the same exact response so at least there should be some improvements in the near future.


Maybe in some small ways we can make a difference!

[mranderson]

I got the same exact response so at least there should be some improvements in the near future.

With the track record of the airport trust and some others, I would not hold my breath.

[ErnieBall]

Well, at least we got a response.

[Pete]

As mentioned previously, Karen sent a similar message to me EIGHT MONTHS AGO after I brought all this to her attention. Then, when I recently sent her another message, she didn't even bother to respond.

I also offered the services of a couple of excellent webmasters who would work on the site for free, in exchange for a reference.


I hope Karen delivers on her promise this time around but it still really bothers me that this situation has become this bad in the first place.

Good night, the airport is spending $110 million on upgrades and they can't even promote it on their own website? To me, this is a symptom of much bigger issues that have been alluded to many times on this board.

[metro]

I sent both Karen and her boss the email. Has anyone received a response yet?

[Patrick]

I sent both Karen and her boss the email. Has anyone received a response yet?

I haven't heard anything back yet, but a few others have. Check out the posts above. metro, hopefully Karen will take the time to reply to our emails and provide better explanations.

[okcpulse]

Karen is getting snowballed. I haven't received my response yet. Maybe this is a wake-up call. Imagine that!

[Patrick]

Karen is getting snowballed. I haven't received my response yet. Maybe this is a wake-up call. Imagine that!

Exactly what she needs. Maybe she'll get the picture and finally take the website off the back burner.

If you haven't sent her an email yet, send her one. There's a sample email on the first page of this thread. Feel free to use it.