Originally Posted by deelmakur

The airline was never envisioned to be this size. It was supposed to be a niche carrier, offering better service at lower fares, somewhere between DL, AA, UA, and WN. They launched with slots at JFK, obtained with the help of NY Senator Chuck Schumer, in return for a promise to offer low fares to upstate cities who were getting gouged by US Air ($500 RT BUF-NYC). Their inaugural flight, I seem to recall, was JFK-BUF, for $29 each way. Industry consolidation has effectively made them a network carrier, but their systems do not reflect this. Hence, these constant computer issues. The generally pleasant customer service is running out of the ability to mitigate dissatisfaction with a very low on time performance, last minute cancellations (fed by a lack of spare equipment), and fares which are often higher than the major carriers, even in FC. The disproportionate number of flights routed through JFK also hurts OTP (although there appears to be an effort to keep the 190's out of the JFK hub, in their own loop). Management seems out of its depth. The other morning, at PBI, around 7 AM, my flight to HPN was delayed one hour, because the light had gone out on the emergency exit. It took one hour to locate a battery for it. That aircraft was probably late all day. My last 3 flights have had a combined total of 6 hours in delays, none weather related. While we were sitting there, at an adjacent gate they were advising passengers going to EWR, that they were delayed because they couldn't board until they found a missing crew member. The website is simply the tip of the iceberg.