Arieh Raichman, a good friend of mine, got engaged today (Mazal Tov!!!) and had his L’Chaim (engagement party) in New York.
So, I did what any 18-22 year old from Cleveland that wants to travel at the last-minute to NYC would do, I checked availability with Airtran U.
The Airtran U program (formerly known as X-fares) allows any 18-22 year old to fly standby without a ticket for just $69 each way as long as there is a seat on the plane.
So, I confirmed that there were plenty of seats to La Guardia(LGA) tonight and back tomorrow morning, checked that the flight was on-time, and took off on the 50 mile drive to Akron-Canton Airport. (Being a LCC (low-cost carrier) Airtran keeps costs down by flying from secondary airports, like Akron-Canton(CAK) instead of Cleveland(CLE). Mind you, being able to park 10 feet from the terminal and the free wi-fi make up for part of the hassle)
Unfortunately, when I arrived at the airport the check-in agent informed me that the flight was delayed.
“How delayed are we talking about-When will I actually arrive at LGA?”
“Well, the arriving flight hasn’t yet left Atlanta due to thunderstorms, so it’ll be however long it takes for them to get cleared for takeoff, and then a couple hours for that flight to get here, plus about half an hour to turn the flight around, and then another hour and a half to get to LGA, barring any holding patterns from air traffic control there…”
Great, so by the time I actually do make it to LGA, it will be about time to fly back to CAK.
Taking the cue from above that it just wasn’t meant to be, I decided to cut my losses and drive home.
My question here is twofold, and it does not only apply to Airtran, it applies to all carriers. (Just read this USAToday article on the state of USeless Airways’ performance)
1. Why couldn’t Airtran have updated the flight status for CAK-LGA as soon as they knew about the storms in ATL?
2. Considering that many delays are due to late-arriving aircraft, why can’t every airline’s website tell you the flight number for the arriving aircraft, so that you can have a better idea of what the real situation is? I do not know of a single airline website that has that capability.
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7 Comments On "Why Aren’t Airline Delays More Transparent?"
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Some points to ponder
Occasionally, the flight carries the same number outbound as it did in-bound so you can tell the arrival information of the plane your waiting to depart on. Midwest Airlines (‘The Best Care In The Air) does this for many flights.
Your point however is a valid one. Also, in some cases of extreme delay,the airline will find another aircraft.
Identical flight numbers mean very little on most airlines, they are simply a marketing gimmick and in fact are just a tool to cheat you out of miles!
Additionally, and this is a common misconception, no airline has extra aircraft just idling to take over for a delayed flight.
Replacing an aircraft on one route, means pulling it off of another route, which causes a huge ripple effect throughout an airline’s entire system.
While at an airline’s hub it may not be too difficult to swap an aircraft off of another route, if you are not at a hub it becomes nearly impossible.
I saw a neat video on this topic, I’ll post a link to it if I can find it.
Occassionally a little detective work will pay off. You can sometimes get information on the arriving aircraft by looking at the gate number that it is scheduled to arrive at, and compare it to the gate your flight will depart from. Some airlines websites have this, and also some airport websites will track this as well. Combining this information with the type of aircraft on the arriving and departing flights can further confirm that the arriving flight is the same aircraft as your departing one (for airlines that fly several different types of aircraft). However, we all know that departure gate assignments are not set in stone, so be careful
You are 100% right. Just about every time I fly either United or American through Ohare it is delayed. Sometimes a “lucky” 1 hour and it can go on and on….
I am sure someone there knows that the flight wont be leaving for 5 hours, why must we STAY in the terminal, just in case, by some insane chance the plane gets transported by time machine into the airport and lands at the gate.
It is really the hardest part of travel nowadays. I can deal with frisking at security and even the longer than hell customs lines… but the uncertainty of the delay is the worst.
go to flightstats.com within 24 hrs. of flight.
Hi dan, love the site, I check it out 4-5 times a day!!
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If yes, what card would you recommend from chase bank? I do not like them at all, but I think maybe their amazon card might be the best bet.
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seems simple to me, airlines dont give a crap about the human cargo crammed into their flying coffins.
this wont change until theres a law about it