About a month ago, Massport officials announced a brand new remote terminal for Delta and JetBlue passengers at the Framingham Logan Express. Starting on June 1st, the terminal allows for passengers to check in, drop off bags, pass through security, and be dropped off directly at the gates. With our upcoming trip to Orlando on Delta, Philip and I decided that would be a great chance to test out the new terminal. In short? It was an absolute success!
One important thing to note – the remote terminal is completely separate from the regular Framingham Logan Express. It has its own parking lot and building on Flutie Pass, which is where the old overflow parking lot used to be before they built the current parking structure.
Pricing is the same as the regular Logan Express from Framingham at $9 a person one-way. However, unlike the regular Logan Express, tickets must be pre-purchased a minimum of 90 minutes prior to your bus departure. Remote terminal buses leave on the hour from 4AM, with the last bus of the day leaving at 11AM.
Our flight was scheduled for 7:05 AM, so we were recommended to hop on either the 4AM or 5AM bus when we pre-purchased our tickets. Knowing this trip was a bit of an optional one, we opted for the 5AM. We figured if anything went wrong, we’d just go home. But even with the 5AM bus departure, we still were asked to arrive no later than 45 minutes prior to our scheduled departure. Bag drop closes 45 minutes prior to departure, and security closes 35 minutes prior to departure.
We were living a bit dangerously, and arrived in Framingham at 4AM. We had pre-paid our parking fare and had no issues finding a spot. That said, the lot was mostly full, with only a few random open ones. I would have concerns with finding a spot later in the day or during school vacations.
As we walked in, there were two separate lines for Delta and JetBlue check in and bag drop. While waiting for to drop our suitcase, staff were walking around marking the bags with either red or blue tags based on which airline you were flying. Our only concern with the bag drop was simply that when I checked us in to our flight online, I thought we’d each check a bag…and since the staff are so new, they were having issues with our check in when we only showed up with one. I felt a bit bad to force them into a training experience first thing in the morning! I will note that despite them stating bag drop closed 45 minutes prior to bus departure, they didn’t seem particularly strict about it and we saw people continuing to check bags pretty much until they opened security.
After check in, we were asked to sit in the terminal and wait for security to open up, which it did around 4:30AM-ish. They requested everyone with TSA Pre-Check line up first, then they let those without line up behind. We were the last of the Pre-Check group, but I didn’t notice any difference in how the people behind us were screened. I will say, the TSA agents were the nicest, calmest, sweetest agents I’ve ever experienced in all of my travels. I wonder if it’s a specialty role, but they definitely didn’t seem as exasperated as most I’ve seen. In particular, a teenager wearing a Sunflower Lanyard was escorted to the front of the line and allowed to go through first with their family. Another woman wearing a sweatshirt was asked if she felt comfortable removing it before the agents screened her – rather than just telling her she needed to remove it. Those are little things, but the little things MATTER.
From security, we were led to another holding area. The holding area had water and a vending machine. When the bus was ready, the teenager and their family was asked if they wanted to board first, another small thing that mattered. Our bus tickets were scanned, and we headed towards the bus. Carry-ons that wouldn’t fit on the bus were tagged similar to the luggage and put in a different hold.
We departed two minutes early on a freezing cold and cramped bus. I probably should have put my Cotopaxi Alapa 24L in the hold or in the upper space. Given it was so early, we hit no traffic and arrived to the secure side of Terminal A at 5:35. The red-tagged bags were unloaded, with carry-ons left on the walkway for pick up a la pink-tagged bags on a jet-bridge. We walked in where the Terminal E shuttle picks up, which is in the extended section of the terminal. For us, that was great – we were departing out of gate A18 and planned to grab some coffee in the Delta Sky Club anyways. And we got a note from Delta that our bag was loaded onto the plane, so that was great to see.
One important warning – if ANYTHING happens to the bus, it is no longer considered secure. In other words, if you break down on the side of the Pike, you’ll be given a new bus, but dropped off in the front of the terminal, rather than at the gates. Consider that when you choose your time of departure.
Summary:
1. Remote terminal is at Flutie Pass, NOT at the main Logan Express bus stop in Framingham
2. Bag drop closes 45 minutes prior to your bus time.
3. There’s a spot to fill your water bottles after security so you can bring something to drink on the bus
4. The bus was FREEZING, so bring an extra layer
5. The bus only runs between 4AM and 11AM for now, but hours might get expanded later
6. The Delta drop off point is in the extension to Terminal A, rather than the main area and is the first stop
Closing notes? We’d absolutely do this again. Philip says his favorite part was driving right onto the tarmac. Mine was just avoiding bag check and security at Terminal A (although we would’ve just done carry-ons for this trip if we hadn’t been testing the system)…and also the mile walk across the terminal over to the extension.
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