Continental CEO will cancel flights before fines

[HardcoreRobot]

awesome. guess what happens if the airlines are fined? who is that cost going to get pushed on to? what really will be accomplished? higher ticket prices?

just more govt. wasting time doing shit they should have no business in. if continental provides an inferior service and is run poorly, it can go hang out with the other mismanaged companies in business hell. of course, the govt would then rather subsidize them (after fining the shit out of them) then have them fail so thats just wishful thinking. real shame the govt is ruining so many industries in this country.

cliffs: govt continues to f things up.

 

[CycloWizard]

The reason airlines can't let people off is because if the doors of the plane are opened, that plane loses its place in the departure queue. When you have cascading delays at an airport due to weather or congestion, losing your spot in the queue can bump you back additional hours. The logical solution is to queue the planes based on something other than when the doors close, but this is the government, so they're not interested in a logical solution to a simple problem: they're interested in taking more money based on nothing but their own incompetence.

 

[marvdmartian]

This. Taking a boat across the Pacific is the ATOT way, for sure.

Been there, done that. Of course, it was a US Navy aircraft carrier........ 😉

Don't know why the don't do like American did......just pad the times on your flights, so you can claim that every flight made it in early!! 🙄

 

[Bignate603]

The reason airlines can't let people off is because if the doors of the plane are opened, that plane loses its place in the departure queue. When you have cascading delays at an airport due to weather or congestion, losing your spot in the queue can bump you back additional hours. The logical solution is to queue the planes based on something other than when the doors close, but this is the government, so they're not interested in a logical solution to a simple problem: they're interested in taking more money based on nothing but their own incompetence.

Yup, this is the problem.

Fining them won't do anything, they'll just pass it on to the passengers. It would do more good just to publish the minutes of delay per passenger. If it was public knowledge that one airline had 4x the delays than the other ones fewer people would fly, especially among business travelers who typically are willing to pay more to save time.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

The reason airlines can't let people off is because if the doors of the plane are opened, that plane loses its place in the departure queue. When you have cascading delays at an airport due to weather or congestion, losing your spot in the queue can bump you back additional hours. The logical solution is to queue the planes based on something other than when the doors close, but this is the government, so they're not interested in a logical solution to a simple problem: they're interested in taking more money based on nothing but their own incompetence.

I also heard that if the doors were closed and reopened (maybe after a certain time limit), it counted against pilots service time or flight time and they would be disqualified from flying again until they had a break? Sounds just dumb enough to be true. but I don't have any corroboration.

 

[alkemyst]

The reason airlines can't let people off is because if the doors of the plane are opened, that plane loses its place in the departure queue. When you have cascading delays at an airport due to weather or congestion, losing your spot in the queue can bump you back additional hours. The logical solution is to queue the planes based on something other than when the doors close, but this is the government, so they're not interested in a logical solution to a simple problem: they're interested in taking more money based on nothing but their own incompetence.

QFT...they can't just taxi back and pull the ramps back out again so easily.

 

[CycloWizard]

I also heard that if the doors were closed and reopened (maybe after a certain time limit), it counted against pilots service time or flight time and they would be disqualified from flying again until they had a break? Sounds just dumb enough to be true. but I don't have any corroboration.

I'm not sure about the latter bit, but the former I learned this week while sitting at the gate after the door was closed for an hour prior to an 8.5 hour flight. Nothing like being cooped up for an hour before even getting off the ground to fly over the Atlantic. 6'4" in a center seat in coach for 9.5 hours = fail.

 

[CycloWizard]

QFT...they can't just taxi back and pull the ramps back out again so easily.

Well, they can, but the government will penalize them for it. Now, the government will penalize them for it if they don't. See how fun it is to be the government?

 

[BUTCH1]

I got delayed a Philly one time, only for 45 min. but it was august and it was 96 air temp, probably well over 100 on the tarmac, the planes AC system was way overtaxed just sitting there with engines at idle, you could hear people sweating!..

 

[Red Squirrel]

I don't get why they can't just let the people off, just tell them to stay within the area because they may be called at any moment and the flight will leave within 15 minutes of said time, or w/e makes most sense. If the plane is in middle of the tarmac, then I don't see the big deal in letting them go outside the plane to stand around either if they want to stretch. Just leave the door open so they can go in/out at their own leisure. Kinda like a bus that is making a stop somewhere.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The worst thing is sitting on the tarmac without any information or, for that matter, anywhere in the flight sequence. The airlines could eliminate a whole bunch of unhappy customers just by telling them what's going on. Several times I've called the airlines in another city while waiting for a delayed flight that the plane was coming from. I got way more information about the plane that was coming to the city I was in than I could get from the desk in front of me. You'd think their terminals would provide more info than a 5 minute phone call to another city but, they don't care. Policy rules all and customers can take it or lump it.

 

[Ns1]

If the plane is in middle of the tarmac, then I don't see the big deal in letting them go outside the plane to stand around either if they want to stretch. Just leave the door open so they can go in/out at their own leisure.

Now, I'm all for letting them off the plane, but this is just LOL

 

[Gibsons]

Well, they can, but the government will penalize them for it. Now, the government will penalize them for it if they don't. See how fun it is to be the government?

So, let's see here... I can fine them for something completely out of their control and then really hammer them if they try a common sense approach to alleviating the problem? Yup, that sounds pretty good, where do I sign up?

 

[BUTCH1]

I don't get why they can't just let the people off, just tell them to stay within the area because they may be called at any moment and the flight will leave within 15 minutes of said time, or w/e makes most sense. If the plane is in middle of the tarmac, then I don't see the big deal in letting them go outside the plane to stand around either if they want to stretch. Just leave the door open so they can go in/out at their own leisure. Kinda like a bus that is making a stop somewhere.

Planes are not designed to be de-boarded on a tarmac, the only means of exit would be the emergency exit chutes, the ones that deploy when there is a fire or crash and the plane needs to be emptied on an emergency basis..

 

[ric1287]

I don't get why they can't just let the people off, just tell them to stay within the area because they may be called at any moment and the flight will leave within 15 minutes of said time, or w/e makes most sense. If the plane is in middle of the tarmac, then I don't see the big deal in letting them go outside the plane to stand around either if they want to stretch. Just leave the door open so they can go in/out at their own leisure. Kinda like a bus that is making a stop somewhere.

Yeah definitely. Planes, greyhound buses, same basic principle. Just have people hop 15 feet to the ground and form a human pyramid when they want to get back on. No biggie

stupid

 

[alkemyst]

Well, they can, but the government will penalize them for it. Now, the government will penalize them for it if they don't. See how fun it is to be the government?

They can't during the 2 hours or so other planes have taxied out and others have landed.

In my airports (PBIA, MIA, FLL) it's like an assembly line of planes coming and going. One off flight screws up the next several usually.

 

[novasatori]

I also heard that if the doors were closed and reopened (maybe after a certain time limit), it counted against pilots service time or flight time and they would be disqualified from flying again until they had a break? Sounds just dumb enough to be true. but I don't have any corroboration.

Airline Pilots have strict hourly limitations that they need to keep within, if they go over, they can no longer fly and the airline must bring in another pilot.

I'm not sure if what you've heard is true, but it would make sense if the pilots deplane after 3 hours of being in command of the plane on the tarmac, that is 3 hours of [not] flying time.

If that puts them over the limit, now the Airline has to delay to bring in an alternate pilot.

 

[dbk]

Delta, baby

 

[Hacp]

Too much government regulation. Why is the Federal government handling air control? Just drop air control and let the air lines figure it out themsleves. Right now, the airlines are trying to game the system and compete against other airlines for precious takeoff slots. If the federal government steps out of the situation, then the airlines will need to WORK TOGETHER to fix things instead of relying on daddy Government to smother them in regulation.

 

[alkemyst]

they have already partially deregulated the airlines. There is a reason safety is still handled by the FAA...good luck having a carrier pull their willing pilots and good luck with a small carrier getting any slots.

 

[StageLeft]

Why I hate flying. It's just so fvcking terrible. It was better two decades ago and that isn't just my opinion, but demonstrable fact. Pathetic. Imagine if the internet got slower over time. IMAGINE.

 

[K1052]

Too much government regulation. Why is the Federal government handling air control? Just drop air control and let the air lines figure it out themsleves. Right now, the airlines are trying to game the system and compete against other airlines for precious takeoff slots. If the federal government steps out of the situation, then the airlines will need to WORK TOGETHER to fix things instead of relying on daddy Government to smother them in regulation.

All that would do is let the big airlines muscle out the smaller ones. Not to mention probably cost a pile of American lives while they "figure it out themsleves". No thanks.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah definitely. Planes, greyhound buses, same basic principle. Just have people hop 15 feet to the ground and form a human pyramid when they want to get back on. No biggie

stupid

Step ladder? Heck most planes, the door itself just turns into steps when it goes down.

When I went on a plane we basically walked on the tarmac, got in the plane. Was pretty much like getting on a bus, except it's bigger. Guess that would not work so much for the big ass planes though, I was thinking more about Dash 8's and what not. The huge jumbo planes have plenty of space to walk around, drinks, AC, etc so less of an issue to be stuck on, especially when some of these trips can be like 12 hours anyway, so what's an extra hour?

Though bottom line is, if they're not ready to leave, they should not even get all the passengers inside in first place. That seems like the most logical solution.

 

[alphatarget1]

Good. Continental for the most part runs a reliable operation and they are pleasant to fly with.

Continental probably don't need your cheap-asses' dollars anyway. Legacy airlines for business travellers FTW. Fvck low cost carriers like Southwest.

 

[alphatarget1]

Why I hate flying. It's just so fvcking terrible. It was better two decades ago and that isn't just my opinion, but demonstrable fact. Pathetic. Imagine if the internet got slower over time. IMAGINE.

Thank the big government TSA retards 🙂