Cellphone Lot Open For Patrons at Bradley International Airport

People looking to pick up family and friends arriving at Bradley International Airport now have a place to wait until they’re called.

Airport officials quietly opened a cellphone lot in a former waiting area for taxis on Route 75. It is located on Light Lane, which runs parallel to Route 75 (Ella T. Grasso Turnpike), near the intersection of Route 75 and Schoephoester Road.

Motorists should follow the posted signs on Schoephoester Road which will direct them to the cell phone waiting lot on Light Lane.  This waiting area is equipped with a sign with a QR (Quick Response) code that allows customers to use their smart phones to scan the code and be connected directly to Bradley’s latest flight arrival information.

Security personnel in front of Terminal A are handing out informational cards to drivers about the lot, officials said.

Thought had been given to erecting a video monitor for people waiting in their cars to monitor flight arrivals but that would be an expensive undertaking, Airport Administrator Eric Waldron said. The airport’s landside operations manager David White looked into setting up a board with a QR photo, Waldron said.

“The opening of this cell phone waiting lot is in direct response to our customers’ requests; we are committed to enhancing our stakeholders’ total travel experience at Bradley International Airport," CAA Chairwoman Mary Ellen S. Jones said.

In the first few weeks since the lot has been created there has been sporadic use of the area, Waldron said. The airport will be erecting more signs directing people to the lot, he added.

Kevin Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority said in August some of the CAA board of directors had told him the airport has received a lot of complaints from passengers that there was not a place for people to wait temporarily in their cars to be called on their mobile phones to pick up someone at the terminal. Vehicles are only allowed to stop in front of the terminal to pick up or drop off people, not park or stand for long periods of time.

Other airports around the country have created similar lots, he said. The location of the lot has to be far enough away where people won’t use it as a parking lot and then walk to the terminal, Dillon said.

The taxis were moved closer to the airport earlier this year after complaints from Windsor Locks officials and business owners about noise problems and reports of the drivers running across Route 75 to get to some of the businesses.

Dillon said last week that airport staff moved quickly in preparing the lot.

“I think staff did a good job with this concept which came up a month ago,” Dillon said.