Airlines losing money, How could they not???

[AMF]

One thing I've noticed more and more on flights is that we generally leave late

But then, the pilot always comes on and says something like "sorry about the delays folks....blah blah blah...but it looks as though we can make up some time and that'll put us in "destination x" on time"

Then, as sure as were were going to leave late, we land and arrive at the terminal only to wait for 20 minutes to get an avaiable gate.

I don't know whether or not it costs more fuel to make up time (I'm assuming the flights are designed to run at optimal cruising speeds for fuel economy) but it makes no sense to burn up extra fuel, just to arrive early and sit and wait for a gate. That happens on AT LEAST 2 out of every 3 flights I take.

[767Jockey]

Ha! Happens al the time. Here's the deal:

Lets say you're traveling from New York LaGuardia (Good luck by the way - talk about delays!) to Orlando. Say from wheels up to wheels down the flight time is 2:45. Now, here's the trick - remember when I told you above that the Federal Gov't delays us then fines us for being late? The way we avoid that now is to say that the flight leaving at 1:00 PM, with a flight time of only 2:45, has an arrival time in Orlando of 5:00 PM. That gives us 1:15 extra time to "make up the time" and still be on time. It's all a game.

Essentially you start to build in the delays, attempting in advance to compensate for them knowing full well that you're not causing them, have no control over them, and those very people causing them will hold you responsible for them.

[AMF]

Originally Posted by 767Jockey

Ha! Happens al the time. Here's the deal:

Lets say you're traveling from New York LaGuardia (Good luck by the way - talk about delays!) to Orlando. Say from wheels up to wheels down the flight time is 2:45. Now, here's the trick - remember when I told you above that the Federal Gov't delays us then fines us for being late? The way we avoid that now is to say that the flight leaving at 1:00 PM, with a flight time of only 2:45, has an arrival time in Orlando of 5:00 PM. That gives us 1:15 extra time to "make up the time" and still be on time. It's all a game.

Essentially you start to build in the delays, attempting in advance to compensate for them knowing full well that you're not causing them, have no control over them, and those very people causing them will hold you responsible for them.

Interesting.

I never complain about delays due to aircraft maintenance. I'm a senior rated jumpmaster, so I know that there's no such thing as "a perfectly good aircraft." They're all in some semblence of repair and maintenance.

But it's hard to believe anything the airline tells you as far as delays go. I don't know when they passed the law, but lately, if it even HINTS of raining, the airlines all claim "weather delays." That way, if you get stuck during a layover, they don't have to put you up for the night in a hotel. There's this notion now that "just blame everything on the weather."

I always laugh at people who ***** about delays due to aircraft maintenance. You gotta be in a big hurry to want to fly in a broken aircraft. But again, there's no way from the passenger's standpoint to know whether or not it's truly maintenance or just amin....or another flight, or the crew, or whatever.

I think consumers understand (at least in part) the challenges with running an airline and schedules and what not. What adds insult to injury are things like lost baggage....etc. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the reason why every retard with a suitcase the size of a motorcyle tries to bring it on the aircraft and stuff it in the overhead bin (or carry on 6 bags) is because they don't want their crap to get lost. They also don't want to go through the hassle of baggage claim.

I LOVE plane side baggage check/claim. Like the old days. Give em your bag before you walk up the steps and onto the aircraft. When the plane lands....everyone gets off the plan IMMEDIATELY and you take your bag and go. Perfect. You save 30 minutes for each flight by doing that. It takes 45 minutes to load the aircraft and another 45 minutes to unload the passengers because we still allow people to bring their bags into the cabin.

I think there's a lot of "little" things that have contributed to the overall consumer perception of airline service and the low ratings.

[Joe Wicked]

767 I have noticed that before. I tend to listen to the pitch of the engines just out of habit of listing to my ride. I have noticed times that the pitch seems really low, like we are just cruising along, and at other times it is much higher and the flight time is shorter than before. I always assumed that the flight was scheduled to be longer to save fuel costs, but to try and maintain schedule, they were throttling up. I also assumed that delays were scheduled in, but I assumed it would be like 30 min or less/flight to try and maximize the schedule.

[Ron61]

I just saw in the news that American air lines is grounding a lot of planes to inspect some wiring. I would rather be delayed than have the plane explode or lose control 5 miles up in the air. And as for the being late, even back when I was working and flying a lot, I thought that was just a natural part of flying. We hardly ever left on time and once set in the docking area for a good amount of time while they replaced a flat on one of the landing gear wheels. This was at San Francisco and no one on the plane was doing any complaining. Once I left San Francisco for Chicago 2 hours late, and thought sure there was no way I would make my connecting flight to Columbus as I only had a 30 minute layover. But I made it. When we landed at Chicago, they had some how gotten the bed of the truck they lift the luggage up to the storage compartment wedged into the doorway and had spent 3 hours trying to figure a way to get it out without tearing up the edges so the hatch wouldn't seal. Every flight was so late that my luggage made it through with me.

Ron