<p>Am I the only one experiencing these kind of delays?</p>
<p>I booked D on a JetBlue flight (which is usually our preferred airline) from Dulles to JFK. She got to the airport 1.5 hours early, had checked in online, did all the right things, and there is no “weather” at either her departure or arrival airport.</p>
<p>Delay delay delay. Still hasn’t left yet. It’s now a 2 hour delay.</p>
<p>The reason? The “equipment” (plane) hadn’t left another city yet. Why not? I called JetBlue – “we don’t want anyone to fly on an airplane that’s unsafe, so we make sure that the airplane is safe.” That’s the reason? Shouldn’t you check this stuff out before you try to offer flights to millions of people?</p>
<p>Or are the delays related to lack of profitability on the part of the airlines? So throw in a little weather and it will be a truly random horrific experience to fly anywhere?</p>
<p>I don’t fly much, and now I’m glad I don’t have to fly on a regular basis.</p>
<p>D has experienced these unexplained delays on Delta, American, and now JetBlue. I am now in the process of narrowing my son’s list for colleges, and I have decided: if flying is the only way to get home, he’s not applying to that school. This is not a peak day for air travel. If I can’t reliably get my kid home on a sunny Friday in June, forget counting on an airline – any airline – to perform for Thanksgiving or Christmas.</p>
<p>My kid went to college 3000 miles from home and had to fly when she came home and returned to school. Yes, she had her share of delays and cancellations, but she would not have traded her college experience for one that didn’t involve flying.</p>
<p>Yes, there can be inconveniences with flying. My husband is a business traveler who has been stranded in airports and bumped off flights. It’s a nuisance but not a crisis.</p>
<p>I was stranded in another city for three days during the February blizzard. It is still my preference to fly…even when the weather is bad.</p>
<p>I guess what I’m saying is…this is the way air travel is these days. I would not eliminate a college choice based on the possibility of airline delays. You can get similarly delayed when driving (accidents, road construction, etc), or taking a train.</p>
One airplane flies several segments in a day, and it’s not necessarily just back and forth between city pairs. And passengers have to connect to other flights. </p>
<p>So when one plane in the entire airline gets delayed or canceled, then the delay cascades down into its entire flight schedule. Weather throws a wrench in the works even if it is sunny and blue skies at the origin and destination airport, because the plane can be coming from a third airport.</p>
<p>
You’ve got it backwards. The lack of profitability does not cause the delays. The delays cause the lack of profitability. </p>
<p>
If you want to limit your life’s opportunities and experiences because you are steamed over one 2-hour flight delay, then it’s your prerogative. I would like the world to be my oyster and my children’s oyster. If you want to experience life outside a 4-hour driving radius, you just learn to deal with it (and it does help to hole yourself up in the airline lounge and drink more gin-n-tonics).</p>
<p>My S is an int’l student. He loves his school and wouldn’t trade it for the world, so he just deals with the travel hassles.</p>
<p>One tip that frequent fliers share is to fly in the morning, as there is less chance of things backing up. If you can be on the first flight of the day for the plane, that is the ideal situation.</p>
<p>Yes, as nj2011mom says, the first flight of the day is the best choice if you want timeliness. The plane is already there on the ground waiting for you.</p>
<p>So my experience (which involves very little flying) has involved many delays. I would think that delays should be a percentage of the flying experience, but not the majority.
</p>
<p>I disagree. I think the first thing airlines do to cut costs is defer maintenance on their equipment. Take weather out of the equation and if the planes are not well maintained, you will have delays. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t exclude a top school that is my child’s first choice just because the only way to get to and fro is by plane. But if my child is indifferent between a bunch of schools and some require flying and some don’t, then I will present the information: if your only option is flying, it may not be as reliable as other forms of transportation.</p>
<p>I think the real reason for the delay was unknown to the people who answer the customer service line I called. They may have just repeated one of many possible scenarios for the delay without knowing fully what caused it.</p>
<p>Lots of delays on Delta. D visited from PA last week and had trouble coming and going. 5 hour delay for ‘mechanical issues’ heading home and couldn’t get her to her home town that night. She settled on an airport 2.5 hours away and her husband drove the 5 hour round trip to pick her up. </p>
<p>The problem doesn’t seem to be a new one though. Last summer H and I were to meeting D and her H in NYC. Our flight was cancelled TWICE (once for mechanical issues, once for weather), and we got there more than a day late. We missed an anniversary dinner, a Broadway show, and time with our D.</p>
<p>I hate thinking about trips involving air travel!</p>
<p>^thanks for posting, MidwestParent. D also got bumped from Delta several times flying from NYC to Atlanta. The last time she missed XC training and got kicked off the team. The coach just didn’t understand why she couldn’t arrive on time, midweek, in the middle of the day, with no weather or other issues that would cause a delay. I think Delta should change its logo to a pentagram.</p>
<p>As a business owner, I truly believe that if a company is doing well and managing its systems efficiently, they can make certain issues (not all) invisible to the customer and still maintain a level of customer service or on time performance. Issues arise in any business. The customer doesn’t need to be aware of all of them. </p>
<p>I also believe that the airline industry is (and always has been) under a great deal of pressure to deliver low cost flights when a great number of items are beyond their control (union negotiations, regulation, and most importantly, the cost of fuel). My point of starting this thread was simply to ask other people who probably travel by air more often than I do if they saw delays as a growing trend. </p>
<p>Appreciate the tips, NJ2011mom and GMTPlus7, about flying earlier in the day. As they say, that alone is worth the price of admission.</p>
This may be the case for airlines in developing countries, but not in developed countries. Airplanes have strict maintenance schedules mandated by the FAA. I can think of few industries that take safety as seriously as the airline industry-- especially for major airlines. </p>
<p>The cost cuts have come in the form of employee salary cuts, outsourcing telephone customer service to India, cutting gate agents, and service cutbacks like:
no more free checked baggage
no more free meals on domestic flights
no more pillows and blankets on domestic flights
reducing commissions to travel agents
pouring softdrinks in a cup instead of giving you an entire can
slicing a lime into 12 slices instead of 8 wedges for a gin-n-tonic (I’m not making this up) </p>
<p>
I would not expect an airline customer service agent to know the details of why one particular flight is delayed, so they likely do have a script of generic answers. Airline customer service handles reservations. Airline delays are handled by flight operations. You should talk to the agent at the boarding gate, not some reservations call center agent sitting in India.</p>
<p>To minimize the potential for travel delays:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Select non-stop flights. Fewer flight connection minimizes the potential for miscued connections.</p></li>
<li><p>Pick flights that depart early in the day. Less potential for cumulative delays from earlier flights.</p></li>
<li><p>Pick airlines that have high frequency on the route. If one flight has a problem, then there is a subsequent flight they can put you on.</p></li>
<li><p>avoid the last flight of the day.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Totally agree with everything GMTplus7 said. I fly constantly, often as a passenger, and I always cover my butt because I really need to get to where I’m going, or it could potentially cost my company millions of dollars. I fly on the same airlines as much as possible to get higher level frequent flyer status, and believe me, that helps. I fly direct as much as possible, I don’t fly on anyone but the majors (unless it’s a regional connection flight), as few legs as possible, early in the day, don’t book too little turn time, make sure there are plenty of backup flights later on, never check my luggage, always get a seat ahead of time (check in early enough that I don’t have to do airport check in). And have a plan for alternate flights if mine is delayed.</p>
<p>One thing the major carriers might do that a carrier such as Jet Blue might not, is rebook you on another airline, if it looks like you’ll miss your connection. I actually am rarely delayed, due to how I book my flights (and probably luck), but we had a flight out of Pittsburgh recently that was delayed enough that we would miss our connection. I called Delta immediately, as soon as I realized a problem, and without missing a beat they booked us an American Airlines flight that connected to Alaska, getting us there even earlier than planned (but in a center seat, dang it). You can’t just wait to let things happen to you. But if you’re only delayed a few hours and there’s no connection involved, well, as GMT says, a couple of drinks may help!</p>
<p>Maintenance issues happen all the time, sometimes they can be fixed or deferred, sometimes they can’t. Often the crew won’t know until they start their preflight, and find something wrong. Sometimes you’re just unlucky, but you can try to give yourself the best odds.</p>
<p>My S is doing a study-abroad program this summer. Lol, the chartered bus broke down on the way to the airport, and DS sent me an instagram of the teachers and them waiting along the side of the highway w their bags all around them :eek: :eek: :eek:</p>
<p>Thankfully, a replacement bus was dispatched to rescue them, and they got to the airport on time. Their int’l flight was uneventful.</p>
<p>I take a few trips per year, and have not been delayed, in quite a few years. Delta has always gotten me there on time, and efficiently. Sometimes United via Chicago as well, and unlike what I see in threads here, never a problem. </p>
<p>In terms of safety, one of my girls went to school an hour drive away. The other, a direct flight across the country, Seattle/Chicago. As we live in snow and ice territory, the one flying was using the safer form of transportation for any wintertime trips home. </p>
<p>I would not have wanted my kid numerous plane changes away from home, for expense reasons as well as time and hassle. But one direct flight and a bus ride, no problem. </p>
<p>The early flight suggestion is a good one. However D was usually happier with the latest flight possible, if not a red eye, as it worked better with the circadian rhythms of the late adolescent.</p>
<p>“The early flight suggestion is a good one. However D was usually happier with the latest flight possible, if not a red eye, as it worked better with the circadian rhythms of the late adolescent.”</p>
<p>Agree. With the kids, we just take the risk and book them for later flights (as long as if they’re delayed a day, the world doesn’t fall apart). The one early flight I tried to book S2 on (noon), he overslept and missed his shuttle, and the flight. Thankfully the airline kindly rebooked him for a later flight. Not going to try that one again!</p>
<p>We also use the earliest-flight strategy, and it’s worked well for us. Not only do you avoid the cumulative delays of the day, but the airports are less crowded, it’s quieter, and everyone seems just a bit less grumpy and stressed. Plus, if something goes wrong, there’s a better chance that it can get fixed within the same day, and you won’t end up spending the night at Gate A24, as D once had to do.</p>
<p>busdriver – On D’s flight days, we have to get up at 3:45 a.m. Before that unplanned sleepover at DFW, she used to complain about that. But ever since, no problem. :)</p>
<p>@Thumper one… Delayed 3 days? Are you kidding. You are overstating the college experience of your child. I’m sure the “college experience” was outstanding and unparalleled but there a multiple colleges that provide similar “experiences” without the airports being involved. I mean come on…we make too much of this college thing and we are brainwashing ourselves into overpaying and being unconvinced for the college experience. It’s exactly leaving the “old country” for the new world to make a better life and escape tyranny. One unbelievable bad trip can wash that experience ( which can occur at multiple colleges) down the drain.</p>
<p>D was going back home yesterday (she has been in london since oct - home for her is nyc) her connection in madrid was delayed…10 hours! Said jfk was flooded. I was at jfk (from so cal to surprise her) there was not a drop of water on the ground. I call bs. </p>
<p>She was due in at 7:30 pm, and landed at 5 am. The surprise was on me. Thankfully we’d been chatting online, so i went off and grabbed myself a hotel room and at 5 am she called my cell “are you in ny?” SURPRISE!</p>
<p>She went to bed and we’ll have our reunion later this afternoon. (cannot wait!)</p>
<p>Where we live…no. There is no college/university within 8 hr driving distance that would have provided DS with anything close to the experience he has had thousands of miles away. When he is flying home late in the day with a tight connection, I watch his flights to see if he makes it. Sometimes it’s been very close but so far, Delta has not let us down.</p>
<p>Liberty…there was a blizzard in early February on the east coast. Yes…the airports we’re actually closed for three days…I’m not kidding. I was traveling and my trip home was delayed for three days (mine and thousands of other travelers). Oh well…these things happen!</p>
<p>And yes, my kid could have gone to a college where she could have driven from our house. We all happened to think the place from which she graduated was a better option for her…even with air travel required.</p>
<p>She and we had no problems with the infrequent delays our kid encountered when traveling during college. </p>
<p>My point is…I personally would NOT eliminate a college from consideration just because it involves a plane trip. If that is an important criteria for your family…fine. It was not in ours.</p>
<p>Airline travel was completely off the table when my kids looked at colleges. Of course we are fortunate to live on the east coast, where this kind of decision still leaves a wide variety of excellent college choices. (I can imagine that in some areas of the country utilizing air travel would be almost a necessity.) The entire world didn’t need to be their oyster–they’re not royalty, just kids. Both ended up attending schools in the mid-Atlantic region about 4 hours from home and traveling by car or train–never had a serious delay. I can’t imagine they would have even considered coming home for Thanksgiving if they had to battle the airports for a significant chunk of that brief stay, and they were able to come home easily and relatively cheaply (at least compared to air travel) to attend family events (even Grandpa’s funeral) or a couple of times for no special reason at all. Neither felt in any way deprived by this limitation (and would have deserved a good swift kick had they complained).</p>