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One three-hour airline delay this summer ... and the industry survived
The latest data from the Department of Transportation suggests that airlines are figuring out how to survive in a world of on-the-ground delays that can last no more than three hours. The summer travel season had only one delay that was affected by the rule. This is a 98.5 percent decline from the summer of 2009. The airline industry mobilized, when faced with the prospect of the three-hour rule, to counter that there would be a substantial increase in canceled flights, as the threat of hefty fines would cause them to pull the plug. Yet, this hasn't really happened either. Cancellation rates for the spring and summer were:
- May: 1.24 percent
- June: 1.5 percent
- July: 1.43 percent
- August: 1 percent
According to MSNBC:
So, what were the dire consequences forecasted by the airline sector?That's an acceptable tradeoff, says DOT. "Although the rule has been in effect only a short time, we've seen no tangible increase in flight cancellations," said spokeswoman Olivia Alair, "which means airlines are taking action to prevent delays without canceling flights, as some industry critics claimed they would."
Those critics would no doubt include airline consultants Darryl Jenkins and Josh Marks, who published a report in July stating that the new rule would lead to an additional 5,200 cancellations per year (both directly and indirectly), at a cost to the public welfare of $3.5 to $3.9 billion over the next 20 years.
Jenkins and Marks stand by their projections, creating a situation in which the same data is leading to two perspectives. But, one thing is clear: in terms of percentage, flight cancellations have stayed consistently under the 15-year average for four consecutive months.
[photo by nafmo via Flickr]
Filed under: North America, United States, Airlines
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Darren Murph Oct 13th 2010 2:23PM
This is also an absolute lie.
Airlines just use clever ways to get around this. I sat on a tarmac for 2 hours and 15 minutes in Detroit waiting for our plane to Tokyo to get repaired. At that point, the captain said we were free to walk back onto the boarding gate and stretch, but that we'd be leaving in around 15 minutes. I stayed put.
Another 2 hours passed, and they finally confessed that the plane was broken and had to re-book everyone for the next day.
This didn't "count" as one of those long delays, but it definitely was one. I'm sure I'm not the only one that had this experience. 400+ others on that plane alone would agree.
gadling Oct 13th 2010 2:42PM
If a flight, after leaving the gate, is delayed close to 3 hours, all the airline needs to do is return to the gate. At that point the flight may or may not be cancelled, but there are no fines for leaving 5 hours late, just for 5 hours waiting on the tarmac. Of course the delay does affect the airline's on-time record, but that is a different story.
Chuck Oct 13th 2010 11:15PM
I'm old enough to remember when airlines treated you nice not like a piece of useless garbage. I really hate to say this but this ill treatment started right after the 9/11 attacks. It seems the industry used that as a catalyst to stoop to the bare minimum of niceness. So much for the good of the country in the USA.