Looking for a quick route in and out of Central Oregon? The Redmond Airport might not be your best bet. Want to check your flight status online, or check arrivals for someone you’re picking up? The airport does not have a website – or even a phone number – to call for this information. In fact, finding a general number for the airport is a bit of a scavenger hunt.
Your tax dollars have funded a three lane roadway past the front door, but if you’re picking a traveler up from RDM you won’t be allowed to pause along the curb – not even for a moment – without a warning (or ticket!) from the airport police. Instead, you’ll need to physically leave the airport grounds, drive a lap around the campus- wasting gas, polluting the air – and come back again. The three-lane roadway in front of the airport will remain empty while you take this small trip. You, like me, might end up paying to park rather than drive around and around – and maybe that’s the point.
Though TSA has been up and running for over five years, it still “takes longer to clear security at the small Redmond Airport than at any large city airport,” which is a comment I once heard from a major airline flight attendant. As a frequent flyer I, too, am often amazed at how inefficient the Redmond system is – though it appears that employee turnover is almost nil.
Stories of friends and family who have missed flights at Redmond, due to lack of counter help, chaos in the security line, or less-than-accommodating customer service are too ubiquitous to count.
Central Oregon can use as much commerce as it can get; we can’t afford to have an airport that runs inefficiently or that deters travelers like myself, who now contemplate a drive over the pass to leave from PDX rather than dealing with a morning of headache at RDM.
Tamara Houston
This article appears in Dec 25-31, 2008.
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As a fairly frequent flier from Redmond I have always found the staff to be extremely professional. I have never had any problems getting out of Redmond. Show up early and get thru security as soon as possible. Show up on a close schedule and you gamble at making your flight no matter what airport you are flying from.
My understanding is that you can’t pause along the curb at ANY airport anymore due to the fact that there is a fear that terrorists will park their explosives-filled vehicles at the entrance to an airport and blow everyone away.
“…we canâ ™t afford to have an airport that runs inefficiently or that deters travelers like myself, …”
So true. And the guy who sits near the entrance to the security line, reading the newspaper, while the lady checks IDs and Boarding Passes, is amazing. Once I went through recently, the passenger in front of me stated: “I wish I got paid to sit around and read the newspaper.”, he just laughed. He gives all government workers a great name.
Tamara,
Ever heard of FlightTracker!!!!!!!! I have flown out of RDM many times over the last 8 years and have never missed a flight for any reason. Lighten up
Right on, Jazzman.
We fly an average of 10 to 12 times a year. With the availability of internet early check-in and flight alerts texted to my cell phone, we don’t need to arrive at RDM until about 30 minutes before our flight and we still seem to have 20 minutes to kill while we are waiting to board.
This letter makes no sense to me.
Perhaps a cell phone parking lot would be nice. But curb-side pick-up has not posed a serious issue, either. Check flight status, arrive five minutes after scheduled landing (or 15 minutes if bags have been checked). It’s not difficult.
As a business traveler, last year on average I flew an avg of 2x per month. I have almost quit flying through Redmond, the average time I have sat in the gate along with other travelers, and our flight was delayed, not just by 15 – 20 minutes but 2 hours. There was NO announcement made, we all had to go back through security to rebook flights, I missed my connections and ended up in SLC for over 8 hours, I arrived in NYC only 1.5 hours before my customer meeting, instead of the day before. I have missed flights from there due to no personnel at the counter 40 min before my flight, security would not let me through because of my bag size. It is rediculous! If I have the time, I prefer to fly out of Portland, more options, better staff, better equipped to handle last minute issues.
Most airports, especially large ones, allow cars to stop and wait for a bit before ushering them on. My point in my original letter is this: if there are three vacant lanes – paved no less – in front of the airport door, it seems reasonable to let people wait for a bit (in their cars of course).
As for the website – Medford and Eugene Airports have one – we should have one too. Places like airports should be easy to contact, easy to find on the web, etc. I would check flight status, as suggested by one reader above, prior to leaving Bend. But again, there is no webpage for the airport, which is the mechanism that other airports (like PDX this last week) use to communicate airport specific weather conditions, etc.
I’m glad to hear that other travelers have had a different experience and RDM, and I’m waiting for the day I can say the same. In my most recent travels I boarded a half-full plane; the other passengers were still trying to get through security.
Tamara, the airport does have a website (which I found by searching for “RDM airport” on Google).
http://www.ci.redmond.or.us/internet/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=233&Itemid=343
For the record I have always had a very pleasant experience traveling to and from the Redmond airport. Security runs much more smoothly there than at other terminals – usually it takes only moments to pass through the line as long as you are prepared (ID & ticket ready, laptop and “gel baggie” out of luggage).
I have always relied on the airline to communicate schedule changes and weather conditions and that seems to have worked well.