The Cockpit Always Tells the Truth, Right?

When you are seated in that metal hull, wondering why the plane is not moving anywhere, most pilots will make some kind of announcement.

My favorite is:

"Ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated with your seat belts fastened. We're just a little bit short of the gate here, and we're letting our ground crew move some equipment".

Which is code for:

"We're sitting here but our ramp guys are inside on break/eating lunch/playing cards/watching TV/you name it, meaning they can't walk us in the final few feet. They will show up when they show up".

I'm amazed at how often this gets said. And when you sit up front, you can always tell; you simply see a gate with no one around. Of course, eventually they do show up. I've even blown a connection in ATL from this kind of stuff once.

I'll put up another post soon about something that the legacy carriers seem to have great problems with; finding someone who knows we have actually arrived and will therefore put the jetway on for us. This happens very frequently as well. Hard to believe you pay all this money for this experience. The details count (but not to legacy airlines).

Average Third Quarter Domestic Airfares

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics, part of DOT, released on Wednesday their report concerning air fares. This is an interesting document that certainly confirms the obvious; small markets and markets dominated by one airline really get blasted by high airfares. I have already alluded to my former home of Knoxville (TYS). Note they have zoomed to number 2 on the basis of their very high fares. Cincinnati (CVG) is at number one, and all Cincy and northern Kentucky fliers know why - your friends on Virginia Avenue in Atlanta at Delta have really put it to you. You can find the document on the Bureau of Transportation Statistics site.

Now they are putting it to you again by de hubbing CVG, but at least that will get your fares down. Then my former hometown of Knoxville will go to number one. I sent this report to the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority today. Of course, no reply.

If you are a casual traveler you may not care about this too much, but when you are running a business and customers are demanding responsible travel pricing, this report helps justify your pricing.

Knoxville, Tennessee

Despite all my lowered expectations, American Eagle got me here only 10 mins late out of ORD. This was probably due to the fact that the folks who were supposed to dump the lav took a while to show up, but that is minor. So far the year is lucky. Let's just see.

American Eagle - **sigh**

I have to fly these guys to TYS tomorrow afternoon. It's a non stop flight. No problems right? I remember a couple of years ago flying from Knoxville to ORD on these guys and we took the usual 30 min "flow control delay" in TYS for sequencing into ORD. No big deal. The weather in Chicago, and en route to Chicago was not bad, but it was not perfect as well, high overcast. What I am trying to say is that this is pretty normal, and a 30 minute delay into ORD is not that terrible. We never entered holding as we approached Chicago. To my knowledge, we never experienced an enroute speed restriction as well.

But while enroute, somewhere around Louisville, the pilot came on and said that we had not boarded enough fuel in TYS and we were going to divert to IND(y) for gas. Now keep in mind that things had been progessing nicely to that point. We were not running the engines in TYS waiting out the saturation delay. Instead we sat inside the gate.

If anybody is a pilot for a legacy carrier, I'm all ears if you can explain this to me. Of course, the "customers" on board can be told anything, because we just have to live with it.

Upon our arrival at IND for fuel, we took another flow delay, this time of 45 mins. Please explain how you can't fuel plan for a 1 hour 40 minute flight.

Today, more magic from your friends at Eagle. At Dallas (DFW) these guys asked the FAA to impose a ground stop into DFW just for their flights. The official FAA delay page noted that the delay was "at the request of EGF and not to be reported as an "official" ATC delay". Can somebody please explain this one as well? You can imagine the "innovative stories" (i.e. "lies") that were being passed out to Eagle customers flying inbound to DFW today.

Thank God I was not one of them. But tomorrow . . . fingers crossed

The Aviation Consumer Protection Division of DOT

One reason I wanted to start this blog was to be able to share with you what a high mileage air traveler often has to endure. So far 2009 has been kind to me, and I've had a few clients cancel their work with me, so I have been home a lot. But this will change. So you will be reading first hand some of the outrageous things that can happen when one is at the mercy of the legacy carriers in particular.

The US Department of Transportation operates many web sites which are designed to unveil the statistics associated with air travel. One of the more telling documents comes out every month, the Air Travel Consumer Report. Look at this if you fly frequently. You will have to admit that these guys are all over the statistics concerning flight delays.

For example, it becomes evident quickly that flying some third party outfit like Atlantic Southeast Airlines (part of the Delta Connection) will increase your chance of delay much greater than someone like Southwest who does not utilize a hub and spoke system. When this report appears you can bet the big six legacy carriers with their mouthpiece (the Air Transport Association) have the spin masters all lined up to blame it on weather, ATC, or both. But face it, the goal is to get where you are going and back with minimal hassle. So they can explain all they want, savvy travelers employ steps to minimize risks of delay.

Use this tool along with some of the others I have suggested and you will certainly increase the chance of getting home tonight on time.

Waiting for the Next Trip

Typically I don't get most of a week off, but due to a cancellation this week, I'm home until Thursday night. It's at that time I will fly to Knoxville, TN., a place I lived for many years until recently. One of the benefits of living in Chicago is that you have a tremendous number of flights, carriers, and fares to chose from. And all this competition can keep fares in check (somewhat)

When I ran my consulting practice out of Knoxville, I used to get occasional complaints about the cost of airfares. Customers were polite, but they let me know that fares from TYS could get excessive.

One of my biggest training clients used to go round and round with me about these fares. And then one day I came across a website that ranks cities according to fares. And Knoxville (TYS) where I spent all those years is consistently in the top 5. I even wrote an email to the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority telling them how fares were running off business in TYS - two years later, I've never received an answer.

In any event if you are concerned about your city, and how it ranks, visit the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. It's interesting reading.

Airline Passenger Bill of Rights Act - 2009

Usually I would not post anything between trips but this one caught my eye. For quite some time now, Kate Hanni has been pushing an Airline Passenger Bill of Rights. I don't have all the details of her past efforts, but of course we have no bill at this point. And I'm not sure we will ever get one. You can bet that those lawyers over at the Air Transport Association have every bullet in the gun loaded to make sure this never happens.

I'm sorry to say that I am not familiar with all of Ms. Hanni's efforts, but apparently her bill of rights is being proposed again this year. Before I moved to Chicago and flew more legacy carriers, I prayed for the day we would get a bill of rights. I'm just sorry to say that you can not legislate morality to the hub and spoke carriers. You have to hit them in the wallet. It is the only thing they will ever understand.