aamilesslave

I've had no problem getting through to AA three times since Thursday for my cancelled flights. Hold time was 0-10 minutes each time.

amolkold

I wanted to SDC a flight today, couldn't get through as an EXP. No online option. Ended up just taking my original flight in coach for 6 hours.

Upgraded!

I'm wondering how far into the future AA would have to adjust its aircraft utilization plans in order to take some out of their current rotations to reassign them to work around this.

Might be hard to create a new flight ORD-SNA simply because there were enough people on the ORD-DFW flight connecting to SNA to justify it, though, since you have to involve outside entities (airport authorities, FAA, etc.). However canceling ORD-SNA because the plane that was supposed to fly the route is stuck at DFW when you have a perfectly good ORD-DFW plane stuck at ORD to sub in is downright silly!

Bolding mine. While they certainly don't shoulder all of the blame, I'm sure that the unions have a lot to do with this. Maintaining some semblance of a schedule be damned if crews don't get to bid for their flights based on seniority and just fly based on needs!

Add to that the "fewer" list some of labor negotiators on both sides...

Would rather be stuck in a terminal, any terminal, than on Spirit!

Well, other than JFK, LGA and DCA according to the link below...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_slot

ElmhurstNick

First off, I'm very fortunate not to be flying this weekend. And I'm fortunate to be in a city only marginally affected by the weather.

That being said, I'm a little surprised that AA isn't running some extra sections in ORD from other major cities to try and get people around DFW. Maybe too many planes are in Dallas to do it, but with all the cancellations at ORD to the east and south, there certainly are enough gates open and crews which haven't timed out to run an impromptu bank of an extra 10 flights, five 737/MD80 from each coast.

Upgraded!

I think we can all agree, though, that this would be equally crippling to AA's system if the ice storm hit MIA. And Al Gore could tell everyone "told you so"...

By the looks of things, the only flights I would expect to run their normal schedules on time, with no delays (as a result of the DFW ice) are the JFK-LAX/SFO transcons on 762s. AFAIK, those are the only planes in the AA system which never rotate in and out of DFW...

coachrowsey

Actually AA is preparing all the food for the US merger tomorrow that the IAM members are going to refuse LMAO.

ElmhurstNick

That is one side benefit of the WN system - since many flight numbers run 6-7 cities long, they will sometimes just skip a city or two and keep going. So if a hypothetical WN flight was MSP-MDW-STL-DAL-HOU-PHX-OAK, they'd just run it MSP-MDW-STL-PHX-OAK and keep the plane in circulation, even though nobody would be originally ticketed as a through STL-PHX.

Upgraded!

So would they simply cancel some segments and rebook those pax on alternate flights? Or would they fly the aircraft (virtually) empty in order to have the plane arrive in PHX on time for the flight to OAK (and then wherever the plane is going next)?

The other advantage that WN has is that it operates a single type, the 737. By definition, every WN crew is certified on every WN plane so you don't need to worry about having an available 757 but only a crew certified on the 737.

mile ho

Anyone here in DFW knows this to be true:

If it's a winter storm you better be on WN and not AA. Case in point? I was booked Sat morning on AA to FWA. They canceled that flight. So I booked WN to MDW. Almost all of the WN flights were getting out and we made it on time. Returned this afternoon. Guess what? AA canceled FWA again today.

wahooflyer

I was scheduled to fly RIC-DFW-LAX on Tuesday morning the 10th. Flight from RIC-DFW has already been cancelled as of tonight, Sunday evening. I tried calling AA reservations twice, and both times was just hung up on by the automated system when asking for an agent. (I have no status on AA this year, which could have something to do with it).

Fortunately, since I use Google Voice with cheap international calls, I dialed up AA's UK line (011-44-844-499-7300) and, with no hold time, was able to snag a seat from RIC-LAX through ORD for Tuesday morning, getting in around the same time as the original DFW connection. I wasn't sure if the UK line could help with domestic US itineraries, but they rebooked me with no hassles! If you are willing to pay for an international call, this might be a good "hack" to get through to AA during busy times. 18 cents per minute with Google Voice.

GUWonder

When during complicated circumstances, having the choice between using a more complicated operation or a less complicated operation for meeting the same objective, choosing the less complicated operator for the exceptional circumstances is probably a good bet. That may be the case for WN over AA at this time even out of the Dallas metropolitan area.

This sort of gets back to another aspect for not allowing "too big to fail" players to become even bigger in a less competitive market with increased consolidation and related market concentration.

Upgraded!

Isn't it possible that DAL is also more manageable during the storm than DFW (less area for plows to cover, more times when there is a very light schedule due to time of day, etc)?

wrp96

Friends living near DAL are reporting much better conditions (less ice received) than friends living near DFW. Probably had something to do with the difference in abilities to keep operating.

dayone

DAL, on average, is 2 degrees warmer than DFW. That can be critical when the temps hover around freezing.

Upgraded!

That's why I always make sure to check flight statuses at alternate airports when there are disruptions. SFO/SJC, LGA/JFK/EWR, IAD/DCA/BWI, MIA/FLL/PBI for example. Differences due to distance and operations can mean lengthy delays or things running on schedule even within a metro area.

Interesting, didn't know that.