When Southwest first started flying international at LAX, their inbound international flights would park at Terminal 2 because U.S. Customs isn't available at Terminal 1. Here's a view of Terminal 2 from last September:
When they were using gates at Terminal 2, Southwest would usually reposition the aircraft to one of their Terminal 1 gates once the inbound passengers and cargo were unloaded. But now that their international arrivals are at the TBIT, most of those airplanes go back out as flights from the TBIT instead of repositioning. We've noticed Southwest buses running between the TBIT and a bus gate adjacent to Gate 12A.
In the shot above, a bus can be seen between the construction area and the tent that houses baggage sorting, while another bus is waiting. The bus has to back down an alley that runs to the foot of the stairs, better seen in the shot below:
Occasionally, we'll see something else parked there:
In rare instances, Southwest will actually be assigned Gate 151 at the TBIT. This gate is at the head of the C-10 alley, and is almost invisible from the tower. I've highlighted it in the shot below:
In the shot above. Southwest has just left Gate 151 and is about to exit the C-10 alley. You can see the open end of the jetway just under the first "1" of the 151 that I put in. Below is a shot of how the gate appears from the tower when it is occupied. Gate 151 is a narrow-body gate, most often used by COPA. As you can see, it's very difficult to see if someone is parked on this gate, and almost impossible to tell who it is:
Do you have closed circuit TV to those unseeable gates?
ReplyDeleteHave you seen this website? https://youtu.be/X_63M5E726Y
I watch it when cargo-law gets too overwhelmed. It's fun to watch, sometimes the planes are scooting backward down the 24's instead of taking off or landing.