Comments on: Brave new world of proactive airline weather cancellations

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:07:14 +0000

@Frank Growing up in the midwest, I know what a storm is. O’Hare was the ‘local airport’ for a good portion of my life. Whoever decided to build a major airport in the midwest must have been insane. I know what the extreme ice and wind of that area feel like on the roads. I have no desire to feel them on an airplane. So, I’ve never complained about the decision to cancel a flight for weather.

My complaint has been, on occasion, the choice to delay it for so long. For instance, this holiday, I few from California to Denver to Chicago, and on to South Bend. There was a weather delay in Denver that caused me to miss my flight from Chicago to South Bend, so I was automatically rebooked on the 7pm flight, which was already delayed till 9pm. The weather was hideous. And we had a family gathering planned for the next afternoon. There is also a bus that costs $36 that takes two hours to go from Chicago to South Bend.

One doesn’t need to be a pilot to look out the window, see icecicles hanging off the planes and say, “Hmm, we’re not going anywhere anytime soon.” However, until the airline made the decision to cancel the flight, my checked luggage was trapped, and if I threw the ticket away, I had to eat the cost (they are trying to process a refund for the unused portion of the ticket, which they do sometimes when they have to bus people to the regional airports. This is nice of them).

Rather than giving up at 6pm, they waited until 11:40pm to cancel the flight. The phone agent was very confusing about what would happen to my checked luggage if I took the bus. So, I had to wait in the customer service line for the right answer.

The bus left at 7:15am. So, either take a shuttle ride to a hotel and back, and lose an hour’s sleep, or sleep at the airport hotel. :P $119 for 5 hours sleep and a shower, by the time it was all said and done. If the airline had cancelled the flight at 6pm, I have friends in the area, could have grabbed my bags, and visited friends I haven’t seen in years. :P

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:45:20 +0000

Yes, proactive weather cancellations that we have seen this past week are helpful but airlines, (or at least Delta), still have more work to do to get it right. here’s my point by example. My wife flew to Charlottesville, VA (CHO) on Monday for a meeting Tuesday. Tuesday night she was to fly to Baton Rouge (BTR) for a meeting Wednesday, and then on Boston for a meeting Thursday. Tuesday morning, Delta cancelled her flight Tuesday afternoon and advised her by text message. So far so good. They reaccommodated her to a flight to BTR Wednesday morning … also good. But they reticketed her to the Wednesday morning flight without her approval. It turns out that the Wednesday morningn flight would get her to BTR too late for her meeting. In addition, DL advised her Tuesday night that her connecting flight Atlanta to Boston was cancelled. She called her travel agent (me) and we reserved flights to get her home to San Jose Wednesday night but since Delta had reticketed her to Baton Rouge without her approval there was nothing more we could do. Delta had essentially taken control of her ticket and we could not issue a ticket for her to come home. We tried to call Delta reservations to take care of this last detail and their phone lines were busy for hours. We, and she, ended up spending several hours, involving more than one phone call getting through, to finalize the ticketing. There could be technological solution. maybe Delta could add a button or instruction to their text message to reply with authorization to re-ticket, or alternatively, to call Delta or their travel agent. Delta’s re-ticketing without authorization caused frustration and wasted time, unnecessarily turning what could have been an easy fix into a drawn out incident.
Should say great post! Looking forward to seeing your next one!

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:17:28 +0000

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:39:00 +0000

The results of these decisions (and, honestly, the limitations of technology, but more on that later) were that airports would find themselves filled with distressed passengers.
=================================================

Of course they would, years ago, they didnt have the “weather waiver” that allows passengers to REBOOK due to inclement weather. They now waive fees ahead of anticipated winter storms. Now, the passenger is NOT forced to fly on their original itinerary and/or pay a CHANGE FEE.
Proactive cancelling of flights still generate thousands of irritated passengers who still think the airlines should accomodate them with hotels and vouchers. I hear it all the time, YOU cancelled my flight, I’m due……..(fill in the blank) even due to a storm like today.

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:38:45 +0000

I’m sitting at home today, in the comfort of my home office catching up on some work. The reason? The airline called me last night to tell me they were canceling my flight to Newark today and re-scheduling me to tomorrow. Is it an inconvenience? Yes…costing me a day’s business. Is it better than sitting in an airport lounge or in a plane on a runway, wondering when we are going to leave? Absolutely!!!

The airlines have no control on weather, but they can control how they react to it. And I have to say that this time, they’re doing it right!

By: SirWired

SirWired — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:36:12 +0000

“All of these efforts to move passengers from Point A to Point B resulted in the airlines being eviscerated by passenger rights zealots when tarmac delays mounted into the hours.”

A “Zealot” is generally regarded as someone who holds passionate and extreme views that fly in the face of reason. I would hardly call somebody who disapproves of passengers being stuck in a plane for eight hours a “zealot.” In addition, during the entire remainder of the article, you seem to approve of the new trend towards proactive cancellations, as a win-win for everybody involved.

Perhaps a change of wording is in order… “advocate”, perhaps?