Hello all,
Long venting post below, be warned in advance. Let me just begin by saying that all in all, I am a fan of VX. I really appreciate what they are doing in a number of ways-- but also think they need to learn a few of the basics.
I know that weather delays and SFO go hand in hand, but you would think that an airline HQ'd at the airport would have a better handle on the situation.
On my last several trips to SoCal and SEA, we have been beset by ground stops at SFO. Fair enough. My problem, and that of my fellow travelers and those picking us up, is that VX seemingly fails to, or refuses to recognize that these delays exist. They hold off on delaying flights until just before the flight is to board-- knowing full well that the plane has not even departed from its airport or origin. Then, to make matters worse, they announce ridiculously short delay times, seemingly oblivious to the "facts on the ground" (read: It takes an hour for the plane to get from LAX to SFO, it hasn't left LAX yet, and they announce 3 incremental delays of 1/2 hour each, when the plane turns out to really be 2.5 hours late).
Next, it is pretty obvious that VX HQ and the FAA don't communicate that well. Just two days ago, sitting at LAX we were pushing back for an on-time departure. After they closed the door at 8:15, they "found out" that there was a ground stop at SFO. (United had already delayed their 8pm and let the pax stay in the waiting area- my S.O. was on that flight). The captain told us they would update at 9pm. At nine, HQ told the crew the ground stop had been lifted, so everyone buckle up, close door, etc... just to find out 20 mins. later that LAX tower would not let us push... SFO was still on ground stop and HQ apparently made it up? Finally, at 9:45, we are able to go through it again and get on the way.
Just to top it all off, whomever is in charge of the Flight Information system at VX really needs to be replaced. On a recent sector, I was 4 hours delayed from SFO to LAX. The flight was supposed to arrive at 9:45p, actually landed at 2am-- but the boards in LAX, website and 800 number all showed "on time", even at 2am. If this was the exception to the rule that would be one thing, but it led me to start keeping track of how often the Flight Information is correct. So far, after 14 sectors, it has been right.... once. Just one time. If they can't get this absolute basic right, it makes me wonder about a whole bunch of others.
Okay, that's enough for one post. I guess I'm really just hoping that VX starts to sort this out. They do so much right, but somethings got to be done about planning and execution during irregular ops. One day, when there is a serious delay of some sort somewhere, I am afraid the whole system is prone to collapse.
