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Continental CEO will cancel flights before fines

Ns1

Ns1

No Lifer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100309/ap_on_bi_ge/us_continental_airlines_cancellations

DALLAS – Continental Airlines plans to cancel flights rather than risk stiff fines under new federal rules designed to punish carriers for delaying passengers.

CEO Jeff Smisek said Tuesday the result will be that passengers will have more trouble getting to their destinations.

A spokesman for the U.S. Transportation Department said airlines can avoid fines by doing a better job of scheduling flights and crews.

Under a Transportation Department rule taking effect next month, airlines can be fined up to $27,500 per passenger if planes are delayed three hours and passengers can't get off.

Smisek said at an investor conference in New York that long delays are rare, and mostly caused by an outdated air traffic control system that the government has failed to upgrade.

Airline industry officials say they should decide whether to wait out delays, even if the delays go past three hours.

Smisek said many passengers on delayed flights "really want to go to LA or Mumbai, but the government by God says, 'We're going to fine you $27,500.' Here's what we're going to do: We're going to cancel the flight."
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This is recockulous. You COULD let passengers off the plane, or improve your service, but instead THIS?

Flying into Newark is bad enough, this is recockulous
 
F-ing airlines, the crap we have to put up with.

Don't cancel the flight, let us get off the freaking plane if there is a lengthy delay or the AC isn't working or whatever. Doesn't seem that hard.
 
If you can't take off for 3 hours, why would you even WANT to keep the passengers on the plane? Go ahead and cancel the flight, if it's that late it probably should be cancelled.

Oh and blaming it on the ATC system? If it was ATC how come these bizarre "keep the pax on the plane for 3-4-5-10 hours while it sits on the tarmac" incidents only started in the last few years?

I got news for you: If the carriers start cancelling flights, at some point someone is going to jump in and start flying all of the people that you cancelled. As you said...these people really want to get to Mumbai and LA....if you won't take them, they will find someone who can.
 
most on-tarmac delays are weather related. doesn't make sense to impose punitive fines for weather related delays. iirc FAA regs required them to keep passengers bottled up during that time on tarmac.

Jzero said:
Oh and blaming it on the ATC system? If it was ATC how come these bizarre "keep the pax on the plane for 3-4-5-10 hours while it sits on the tarmac" incidents only started in the last few years?
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because airports are way more crowded than they used to be. there used to be enough free landing slots that airports could somewhat readily fit in planes when the weather cleared up. in new york there really aren't many slots left at all.



continental decided that it will start charging if you request an exit row seat, which is a pain in the ass. from houston it's either them or the company plane, and the company plane doesn't fly anywhere near as many places.
 
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Whenever I hear or read about a long tarmac delay, I always think of the L.A. Law episode where one of the lawyers was stuck in such a situation and borrowed another passenger's brick of a cellular phone (the only one on the plane - late 1980's) to call his office and get a court order to deplane the passengers.

There is never a good reason to keep the passengers on a plane on the ground for more than an hour, maybe two. After that, the law should require them to deplane the passengers.

MotionMan
 
AMDZen said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by MotionMan
There is never a good reason to keep the passengers on a plane on the ground for more than an hour, maybe two. After that, the law should require them to deplane the passengers.

MotionMan
Click to expand...

An hour or two? Why not 10-15 minutes?
Click to expand...

Because a 10-15 minute delay is not unreasonable. An hour may not be unreasonable either. Anything after that is clearly unreasonable.

MotionMan
 
AMDZen said:
Maybe but over an hour is unreasonable to me.
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Really? It takes like 15 minutes just for people to deplane and a half hour in the best cases for people to re-board. If they know the delay is only going to be around an hour, it's just a waste of time and energy shuffling passengers around.

While I think sitting on the tarmac for 2+ hours is unreasonable, not allowing passengers to use the bathroom after the first 15 minutes you know you're going to be delayed is fucking criminal.
 
Gooberlx2 said:
Really? It takes like 15 minutes just for people to deplane and a half hour in the best cases for people to re-board. If they know the delay is only going to be around an hour, it's just a waste of time and energy shuffling passengers around.
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If the estimate for the repair is an hour or less, I agree the airline should be given a chance to fix it.

Once you have actually sat there for an hour, I think they have been given enough time to fix whatever the problem is and it is time to accommodate your passengers.

MotionMan
 
Gooberlx2 said:
Really? It takes like 15 minutes just for people to deplane and a half hour in the best cases for people to re-board. If they know the delay is only going to be around an hour, it's just a waste of time and energy shuffling passengers around.

While I think sitting on the tarmac for 2+ hours is unreasonable, not allowing passengers to use the bathroom after the first 15 minutes you know you're going to be delayed is fucking criminal.
Click to expand...

I hate flying, makes me very impatient
 
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/12/21/airline.delay.tarmac.ruling/index.html
Mesaba, based in Eagan, Minnesota, and owned by Delta Air Lines, was the only carrier able to assist Continental Flight 2816 on its way from Houston, Texas, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, after it was diverted because of strong thunderstorms, LaHood said. But according to the DOT, Mesaba's representative refused to help passengers off the plane, saying incorrectly that the airport was closed to passengers for security reasons.
Mesaba, Continental and ExpressJet Airlines were fined $175,000 for their roles in the incident, the department said Monday. ExpressJet was operating the Continental flight.
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so, the flight was diverted due to weather, the delta-owned regional airline fucked up, and continental got fined? yeah, i'd be cancelling flights rather than risking stupidity like that.



MotionMan said:
If the estimate for the repair is an hour or less, I agree the airline should be given a chance to fix it.

Once you have actually sat there for an hour, I think they have been given enough time to fix whatever the problem is and it is time to accommodate your passengers.

MotionMan
Click to expand...
how many tarmac delays are due to the plane being worked on? 1%?
 
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DALLAS – Continental Airlines plans to cancel flights rather than risk stiff fines under new federal rules designed to punish carriers for delaying passengers.

CEO Jeff Smisek said Tuesday the result will be that passengers will have more trouble getting to their destinations.

A spokesman for the U.S. Transportation Department said airlines can avoid fines by doing a better job of scheduling flights and crews.

Under a Transportation Department rule taking effect next month, airlines can be fined up to $27,500 per passenger if planes are delayed three hours and passengers can't get off.

Smisek said at an investor conference in New York that long delays are rare, and mostly caused by an outdated air traffic control system that the government has failed to upgrade.

Airline industry officials say they should decide whether to wait out delays, even if the delays go past three hours.

Smisek said many passengers on delayed flights "really want to go to LA or Mumbai, but the government by God says, 'We're going to fine you $27,500.' Here's what we're going to do: We're going to cancel the flight."

Couldn't the stewardesses get the passengers off? I thought that's what they were for?
 
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