Smelly radar facility causes delays at New York City airports

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The New York City-area airport radar facility stinks. No, it really does (at least, it did last night). Stop thinking about delays on the tarmac and circling each of the three airports near or in the city. Instead, focus on your nose. The radar facility was evacuated briefly when the smell of gas was reported. Unsurprisingly, this caused flights to be delayed. According to the FAA, the evacuation occurred at 6:45 PM last night. To keep things moving in the skies, 25 air traffic controllers stayed at their posts.

The staff was able to get back into the facility an hour later, and the cause of the smell as never determined.

[photo by Joi via Flickr]

One three-hour airline delay this summer … and the industry survived

by Tom Johansmeyer on

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

In fairness, May, June and July had cancellation rates higher this year than last, but August held steady, suggesting that it is possible to comply with the three-hour delay rule without sending cancellation rates sky-high.

According to MSNBC:

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.”

So, what were the dire consequences forecasted by the airline sector?

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]

Calling about your plane tickets? Clear your afternoon

by Grant Martin on

Three hours into my phone call with the Delta Airlines Platinum desk yesterday evening, I started to suspect that something was awry. Wait times on this normally outstanding phone line are usually in the seconds, not hours, and for a delay of this magnitude, something must not be right.

Indeed, while Saturday’s weather at my Hong Kong flat was cloudy and balmy, the snow in the United States was continuing to fall, resulting in countless canceled flights, missed connections, buried airports and subsequent calls to customer service. Investigating the matter deeper, I found similar frustrations at other carriers, with some travelers reporting jaw dropping on-hold times and others saying that they had simply been hung up on.

In short, the airlines’ IT infrastructure can’t seem to handle the number of service calls this weekend. So if you’ve got immediate business, make some time. First, ensure that your issue can’t be resolved over the web or via your travel agent. If they can’t do it and if the need is immediate, call your airline, open a bottle of scotch and turn on the Olympics — it’s going to be a long, arduous journey — and you haven’t even left home yet.

But to the airlines: Has Valentine’s Day 2007 taught you nothing? The snowy debacle that stranded hundreds of passengers in airplanes and airports across the east has been heralded as the perfect model of airline incompetence. By now you should have a disaster-proof mechanism to communicate with passengers in the case of inclement weather — even if it’s outsourced overseas, it’s better than hanging up them. Get it together!

March a good month for on-time arrivals

by Tom Johansmeyer on

We all love to hate the airlines, and on-time arrivals are among our largest gripes. There’s nothing worse (well, within reason) than seeing the toe-tapping that comes with the disgruntled looks of people waiting to pick you up … it’s not like they had to spend endless hours on the runway or circling LaGuardia. Well, in March, they weren’t as bad.

The 19 largest airlines in the country reported an improved rate of on-time flights compared to March 2008, according to some data from the Feds. Well, the bar wasn’t set very high. On-time results for March 2008 were 71.6 percent, according to the Department of Transportation‘s Bureau of Transportation Statistics and reached 78.4 percent this year. Before you get too excited, it’s down from 82.6 percent in February.

So, what does all this mean? Airlines were late almost a quarter of the time, and that includes the padding applied to routes. Aviation analyst Michael Boyd says that a flight from Binghamton, NY to New York City is scheduled for an hour and 15 minutes – not the 45 minutes it takes.

Aviation system delays were responsible for 7.3 percent of delays, with late arrivals from other planes kicking in another 6.5 percent. Factors within airlines’ control were responsible for almost 5 percent delays.

Extreme weather? A mere 0.62 percent.

What to do When Your Flight is Delayed

by Catherine Bodry on

Flight delays are making headlines these days. If you’re traveling, chances are you’ll arrive at the airport 2 hours ahead of your flight like you’ve been told to do, only to find out you’ve got to wait even longer.

So, what to do if you’re delayed? Me, I head to the bar with People magazine and maybe an Oprah’s Book Club book. Traveling, and that includes flying, is my relaxing time, so I indulge with celebrity magazines and an easy read. Sometimes I walk the airport, trying to fit in some exercise before a long flight, or stretch out somewhere and take a snooze.

But according to a report from msnbc.com, there’s now more to airports than Hudson News, sports bars, and duty-free shops. Listening to live music tops the list of activities, with several airports offering up to four (four!) stages. Other airports are opening galleries (called “artports”) where travelers can peruse fine art away from the crowds. Finally, several airports are touting their proximity to outdoor amenities including hiking and biking trails, while El Paso International Airport recently opened its own golf course.

If air travel continues in this manner, I just might be tempted to throw down my celebrity gossip and arrive 4 hours before my flight to enjoy the finer sides of culture.