Sky Is the Limit: Why Even Sunny Days Can Ground Airplanes

Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.

Back to original post

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-08-2008 @ 8:41PM

cbct3d said...

Sometimes those "blue sky" weather delays are the result of delays at the point of origin of your plane. If the plane you are taking to San Juan is delayed inbound from Chicago due to snow, even though it's clear in Miami where you're waiting, guess what.... you're stuck! What I WOULD appreciate is being told the TRUTH, so I know if I should look for alternate plans or wait patiently (which I CAN do, IF I know what my options are!). I recently spent an extra night in Chicago due to weather delays, waiting for a flight to LAX. The weather delays were from the inbound plane coming from Pennsylvania. Two other LAX-bound flights left because their inbounds came from other cities where there were no weather delays. My plane finally arrived almost 7 hours later - after midnight - and was then cancelled at the gate because the crew's available flight time had run out. I have no problem with the crew not flying because they had been in the air too long (or even sitting on a runway), and they deserved a rest; I DO have a BIG problem that United was apparently unable or unwilling to keep track of this - they should KNOW who the flight crew will be and if they are qualified to fly at any given hour. It was inexcusable for United to keep their passengers (and some of their flight crew, too!) waiting at the gate for almost 8 hours, knowing within the last 2-3 hours that the crew they had scheduled would be unable to fly. It wouldn't take too much of an effort to write a program that would start a flight crew's flying time on an internally-available computer countdown clock so something like this won't happen again. Scenario: Plane won't land until midnight? Check. I see on this program that the copilot will time out at 1:00am, so we can't use him on a cross-country flight. Let's find somebody else to copilot (or announce 3 hours earlier that the flight is not going so pax can rebook) What's so difficult about THAT?

6-09-2008 @ 1:03PM

scarlet said...

The good news is that airlines do use a program for that and they are quite good at figuring all that out. The problem is that you don't know everything going on behind the scenes. True scenario: I worked a flight going into SFO. I was supposed to turn around and return home for my last leg. Bad weather in SFO called for a ground stop that lasted from 8am to 3pm. No flights coming in, or going out. I got home just barely legal to fly (and paid no more for my time). But if the ground stop had gone on further, where would they have gotten a Flight Attendant from? All reserves are not sitting at an airport waiting to take a flight--if they were they would go over the legal limits also. No one is flying in-- so they can't pull from another domicile? In SFO that day even the freeways were not reliable. So ground personnel are just praying that the ground stop will be lifted before the crew is illegal. And if the flight gets off before then--you would never know. Weather affects positioning of planes and crew. You can't pull off miracles and make either appear where and when you want them. Both are subject to the same kind of stranding that you experienced. (I have sat for hours and days sitting in a remote airport waiting to get home for missed appointments, family events--believe me if I had that kind of magic, I would have made it happen.)
I have yet to fly one single leg where my crew didn't have the best interests of the passengers governing their decisions. Every weather warning that I know of was legitimate and covered in our crew briefing (professional decisions--not some unprofessional, behind-the-scenes "let's-tell-em-this" crookery.) And yet I've seen suit and tie professionals yell and rant about airline safety decisions. It's like a pilot on the street telling a CEO how to run their company. Everyone has a story, we shouldn't be so quick to judge. I for one give my passengers the benefit of the doubt in every single instance. That means, if you yell at me, I'm going to smile at you and offer you a bottle of water, a pillow, a listening ear. Most likely you got bumped on a flight, had a bad TSA experience, are heading out for a funeral...who knows what. People are basically good. On both sides of the street.

Add your comments

Your comments:

Remember me

E-Mail me when someone replies to this comment

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.