tracys2cents

The F A A has confirmed that airline delays were worse than ever in 2006 and are only going to get worse. What used to be 3 and 4 hour delays in airports are now turning into days. With most every flight being filled to capacity...it is getting harder than ever to just "book you on the next flight out".

Their solution for us? "Hunker down, it will get worse before it gets better".

That and "be sure to give the airline your cellphone number, so that they can call you and warn you about any delays!" Yeah RIGHT! They can't even answer their phone lines, and now they're going to CALL US?

In other news, one of the people stuck on the tarmac for TEN HOURS last year, with passengers upchucking all around her and toilets overflowing...is trying to get a "Passenger's Bill of Rights" through Congress. I'm off to write my congressman!

GoTravel

I was called by the airline when my flight was cancelled/delayed in Chicago two weeks ago.

It is an automated phone call.

I automatically assume that all my flights will be delayed or late and always bring a big fat book with me.

I took the 800 page biography Jane Goodall with me for the Chicago trip.

It isn't any worse than it was pre 9/11.

tracys2cents

The FAA states that 2006 was worse than 2000 and 2001. I've heard of phone calls in advance due to cancellations....but "updates on delays" while you're in the airport, never. You're lucky if they give you a straight answer at the ticket counter, much less over the phone.

GoTravel

I flew around 50 segments in 2006 and didn't find it to be any worse or any better than pre 9/11.

LGA has gone back to the mess it once was.

Yes, I got updates on delays while at Dulles airport on my cellphone for a IAD/CHS flight.

sylvia3

MIL got an automated call (in CA) that her UA flight was cancelled (the Denver airport blizzard). She spent 2 hours trying to get a human to talk to, and finally got a fellow in India who assured her that she could get the 8:30 a.m. flight to Denver. This was 2 hours after UA had cancelled ALL flights to Denver. Glad she declined to race to her CA airport to try and catch that nonexistent flight!

nina

I think it's gotten worse, maybe it's just my perception but my husband only gives it a 50% chance of not having any delays on his weekly business trips.

It's really getting ridiculous.

And they do call now if there's a delay, they call at home and cell phone. This way, you get the bad news sooner!

GoTravel

I'm the same way nina, I give it a 50/50 chance of being delayed.

clarkgriswold

If the FAA admits that it's gotten worse, it's gotten worse.

Next time your gate agent tells you there will be a two hour delay, pick up the phone and call the airline. Check your flight number. Half the time they tell you it's on time, or already in the air!

Last week when I tried to check-in online, the system told me that my flight was cancelled. When I called the airline to re-schedule, they told me, nope, everything was on time. What to do, what to DO? The next flight was the next morning. Do I head to the airport on the chance that the phone agent had the right information...or would that be a wasted trip. I trusted the phone agent since he was adamant. And you guessed it.....

Dukey

Any thoughts from the "glass half full" folks????

rkkwan

Here's my take:

I do believe delays, bumping and luggage lost are getting worse, in general.

However, the savvy traveler has easier access now than ever to find out about delays and delay statistics. One can check raw data from bts.gov, from fancy sites like flightstats.com that process those data, or even flightaware.com that lists exact take off and landing time for many flights in the past months.

And of course, one can ask here if such and such a connection is advisable, or what's my chance to making that meeting.

Also, most airlines will announce on their website if/when there's projected weather problem and will reschedule travelers for free during the specific period.

---

So, because I use all those tools, many of them aren't available in 1999/2000, I am able to choose my flights and connections wisely and carefully for myself and all the relatives whose travel I'm responsible for. I steer them away from close connections, I tell them what to do in case a flight is severely delayed or cancelled - use the cellphone to call the airline or call me - instead of waiting in line to get answers from overworked gate agents. I rebook them if there's an impending snowstorm in Newark or Chicago. I tell them when it's okay to check luggage and when better not to. And so on.

So, for the frequent flyer that's willing to learn and find out, no, the adverse effect of the delays have been less than around 99/00. But if one doesn't know about these things, then sure.

elmom

i don't know about half full, but we flew home from SLC and the plane was 40 minutes late... long story short we had a connection with 30 minutes to spare. Knowing we would miss the connection, I asked a "steward" if he could call the gate, do anything b/c most of the plane was makinga connection, alert the connection...etc.etc
He listened to me talk and then said,"Sorry, everything is computerized." and walked away.
When my son asked me, what I had asked him, I quietly said,"I was asking that doofus to hold our connection." He came back down the aisle and said,"The term is steward." (not doofus)
HA HA

clarkgriswold

If your first plane is delayed and you will miss your connection, they are supposed to re-route you from the get-go. Airlines are not supposed to put you onto a flight that is scheduled to miss a connection.

LvSun

Airlines called us a few years ago and asked for hubby - told him the flight had been rescheduled to leave 2 hours later. They also called the hubby of the couple we were traveling with and told him same thing.

Imagine our surprise when we got to the airport and discovered the airlines had changed the flight time for the 2 husbands but had not changed them for us wives. Our flight had taken off on schedule.

Who would have imagined the change in flight time only applied to half of each couple.

Luckily we got seats on the plane with our hubby's.

clarkgriswold

That's a classic, LvSun!

Stuck in Atlanta for four hours, I asked the Delta counter for a copy of their "contract of carriage". The agent said "what's that?" I pointed to the sign that they had on the counter which said something like "the contract is available from any gate or agent, just ask for your copy, it's your right". We laughed as we talked to 6 or 7 different agents around the terminal...all of whom didn't know what we were talking about. Then a "supervisor" came along and looked at the sign. "Oh, THAT?" she said "I can print you up one, I guess, but our printer is very slow, it will take about 3 hours". "That's okay" I said, "we have a four to five hour wait".
When we went back to get our copy, there had been a shift change...and...you guessed it...nobody knew a thing about a "contract of carriage". I can only imagine how they're going to handle the "Passenger's Bill of Rights"!

LvSun

Clark, hahahahaha
That is funny.

Oh well, considering all the planes and all the people flying every day - we should not complain too bad.

However, being held on a plane for several hours should be a major offense. Can you imagine sitting there looking at the terminal with food, etc and not being able to get off the plane. That would be torture!

sunbabe

We encountered a new one last week. We sat on the plane for an hour because the ground crew "couldn't figure out how to fuel the plane". No joke! After an hour the pilot allowed us to exit the plane for restroom break (the lavatory on the plane wasn't working). We reboarded 1/2 hour later and sat another 1/2 hour because we had to wait for other planes to move out of our way.

Jolie

Speaking of sitting on a plane for hours, we once took a flight that had a plane change in San Francisco, then on to Reno.

San Francisco had fog, so instead of landing at SFO, we landed at . . . Reno! Except that Reno could not accomodate a 747, so nobody was allowed to de-plane. So we sat on the plane at the Reno airport for 3 hours until the fog in SFO lifted and we could land there. Then I changed planes in SFO and flew back to Reno where I could finally de-plane.

But 3 hours really wasn't too bad. It's not like the 10-hour ordeals other people have endured where the toilets are over-flowing.

Cali

We must be the luckiest travelers. We fly a lot for both business and pleasure and we really don't have many delays and rarely get in late. In fact on our last flight we left about 20 minutes late and got in 15 minutes early flying from East Coast to West Coast. We do try to never go through Chicago or Denver but otherwise have changed planes or made stops in other cities with no problems. I feel super lucky after reading all the horror stories. Hope our luck continues.

tracys2cents

Ugh. I'll never forget the night we were stranded at Cinci airport, and they shuttled us 75 minutes to a hotel in another STATE ( I think it was Indiana). They gave us a voucher for a meal at the hotel restaurant...but the hotel HAD no restaurant! 90 minutes after we arrived at the hotel, we got a phone call telling us to shuttle back to the airport because our new flight was leaving in 2 hours. Sleeping in the airport overnight would have been a luxury compared to this nonsense.
The airlines won't let us make a change without paying hundreds, yet expect us to jump through hoops when THEY need to make a change.

rkkwan

But tracy, the CVG is in Kentucky anyways, and not far from Indiana.