Originally Posted by
kaydee7
The news has stated that it was specifically arrivals, but I can't find a way to confirm.
Originally Posted by
jordyn
No one was claiming there was a stop. The reporting is that they're reducing volume, which seems consistent with both the arrival/departure data, the fly.faa.gov website, and your delayed flight.
The FAA only officially meters arrivals. The assumption is that given a sufficiently long delay situation, planes can only depart from an airport if they have arrived at that airport. So they set the arrival rate based on what the airport can handle and then they essentially do 1 in 1 out. In theory, a departure shouldn't be delayed for any reason other than late arriving aircraft as a result. In reality, you do have the conga line, especially early on in the delay, because you have aircraft that were on the ground before the delays started who are still getting out at a slower rate, but that operates on a first-come first-served basis, without the FAA giving out slots (because an aircraft on the ground that can't leave is better than an aircraft in the air that can't land). You shouldn't ever be held at the gate because the airport you are AT is having departure delays (although that has its own set of caveats).
Originally Posted by
UKCatsHoopsFan
I confirm that is NOT the case. Looking out the window from the AC and planes continue to take off and land. Of course, my flight has been delayed, so they may just be getting inbound aircraft in. AC manager said he just got off the phone with AA ops in the tower and there is no stop in place.
There was briefly a stop in place at LGA only at around 7:30 AM PST when I checked the first time. It's now just a GDP.