Hi gang,

As an ex-AA agent (and now a loyal CO Plat), may I explain a few things from an operational perspective ? Let me start by saying that I'm not denying that there's a valid complaint here. I'd just like to give some possiblr explanations about why the airlines do what they do (someone else mentioned that this is an industry wide problem, not just CO).

An "unscheduled change of aircraft" on a direct flight isn't a marketing scam, it's a necessity. As an example (and probably a poor one given the likelyhood of a thunderstorm in Tuscon), let's say that the aircraft assigned to this direct flight had a weather radar failure while flying the Houston to New Orleans leg. A Mechanic takes a look at it on arrival in New Orleans and decides the whole radome (nose cone) needs replacing; it's (hypothetically) an 8 hour job. The FAA Regulations (and common sense) allow an airline to fly with a busted weather radar as long as the aircraft isn't dispatched into an area with a forecast of storms. The skies between New Orleans and Houston are clear so the Mechanic notes the restriction in the aircraft's logbook and the flight departs an hour late. But there's a line of thunderstorms stretching across Texas, so the plane isn't legal for the Houston to Tuscon leg. Co operations has a decision to make:
1) cancel the IAH to TUS leg
2) delay IAH/TUS an additional 8 hours (it's already an hour late) for repairs.
3) have an "unscheduled change of aircraft" at IAH and depart on time.

You decide. I'd like to know which option you chose.

Co chooses #3 for various reason. There aren't any spare aircraft in Houston around this time. The weather's good back east so CO swaps the TUS plane with one headed for Nashville. Nashville was chosen not only because the weather is clear to that destination but also because it's only booked 50 passengers. A flight is going to be late tonight since this New Orleans inbound is behind schedule. A planload of passengers are going to be upset but unfortunately, that's the name of the game in the airline business. Co can upset the 150 folks on the TUS trip, or the 50 folks on Nashville plus the 3 sheduled/booked/confirmed as direct MSY/TUS. A delay just can't be avoided; so what's your decision ???

Meanwhile, a FlyerTalker is on the Nashville trip and afterwards submits this post:
"I was scheduled on a Houston to Nashville flight. I was early getting to the gate so settled into a seat with a good magazine. I saw my airplane arrive 20 minutes early and thought ..great...I'll be getting home on time! Later, the agent makes an announcement that due to "mechanical reasons" we will be switching out to a different aircraft which unfortunatly, is late arriving from New Orleans. Mechanical reasons my #*& !!! With nothing better to do while waiting for my delayed departure, I stayed at the gate. I watched my original airplane depart on-time (and within 3 minutes of my flight's scheduled departure time) on a trip to Tuscon. THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT AIRPLANE !!! I think CO intentionally lied to me and I demand compensation !!!". (Or another variation of the same situation: I'm flying Houston to Nashville, my plane is coming in from New Orleans, this agent looks me straight in the eye and says my flight's delayed due to weather in west Texas!!!).

Ok. That decision's been made. Now onto other problems. There's a line of thunderstorms from southern Texas stretching all the way into Kansas. The flight inbound from Los Angeles had to land in El Paso and will be about 2 hours late getting in. The crew on this flight is your Tuscon crew. We could swap them out to that delayed Nashville trip but by the time they get here, they will have exceeded their FAA mandated "duty time" for the day; in fact a lot of crews are approching this restriction. The only thing crew schedule can give you is the piots and flight attendants off the Chicago inbound. They are Houston based and were to finish their 3 day "run" upon arrival from the Windy City; but they've agreed to take the TUS trip. However, adding this flight to their regular schedule for the day puts them right up at the limit. The TUS trip is scheduled to depart at 8:00pm. It MUST depart by 8:07 or the crew goes "illegal". If the plane is still on the gate at 8:08 then the flight will be cancelled due to no crew. No "if's and's or but's"; this is a safety related FAA regulation (and yes, it's literally calculated down to the minute). You'd like to hold TUS for the 3 "direct" folks from MSY but risk cancelling the trip for the other 150 passengers. And the hotels around the airport are already full due to the weather (yea, you could get rooms closer into town, but the only flight open tomorrow is a 6:10am departure...kinda of strain). Another factor is even this late in the night, there's still another option to TUS. It's via Phoenix connecting to America West. There's enough room to put 3 passengers on that flight, but if I decided to hold, and it didn't work, there's not enough room for 150. Therefore: We won't hold, no matter how logical and simple it may seem.

These are just a couple a scenarios which could've affected CO's decisions that night. Airline operations are a delicate thing which can get thrown off balance very easily. Some passeners are going to hit snaggles. It's unfortunate that YOU were one of the 53 troubled that night but it was the best option available. Overall, as an ex airline employee and an "airline buff", I think CO does a better job than most at getting a disrupted operation back in order while affecting the fewest passengers. While it can be hard, I try to keep that opinion even when it comes around to me being the affected passenger.

Steve