nutwpinut

I believe AA should fly the plane when it realizes a delay is no longer needed. Part of the question is how to handle delay situations.

* I would prefer for AA to use rolling delays when the plane could leave as soon as a takeoff window opens (Post a 20 minute delay asap and leave it there until T-20 and delay if necessary, rinse, repeat)
* I prefer AA to use longer delays when they are 99% sure it will take most of that delayed time
* I prefer AA to use a better algorithm for delays when in a hub city so rather than post a 4 hour delay that becomes 2 hours because they find a plane in a hanger, they only post the 2 hour delay
* I would prefer AA to let people know through the app, online, and monitors, the moment they believe they can leave earlier rather than have the announcement when Group 6 is already boarding
* (Not Part of this thread, but I think it goes along with the delays) I would prefer AA to show a delay when in a non-hub city and it is obvious the delayed incoming flight will delay the upcoming flight

While I'm at it, I prefer AA to serve lobster and steak in First Class, Business Class, and EXP in Economy

autdi

I get this a lot in TOL, the plane to TOL hasn't even landed at ORD, to reload and go to TOL, so I know it's not going to leave TOL in an hour. Since there is now a second route through CLT, and the flights are close in time, switching to the other mid point to get to the destination would be a lot better than spending another night in Chicago, as the delayed TOL-ORD almost always results in the missed connection even at 60 minutes planned transfer, and no valet bag to wait for.

cur

then why would you delay the flight if a replacement aircraft and crew on standby were there in the first place?

again i am just baffled people here think the op is in the wrong to not want to show up to the airport based on ETD and not STD. or that people shouldn't complain that the ETD was moved ahead an hour. i know some people take joy in showing up to the airport 3 hours ahead of time, some prefer 90 to avoid stress, but wow.

flyingeph12

I'm sorry, I was feeling sympathetic, but this response has made me much less sympathetic to your case.

You clearly have "flown this route many times" and so clearly know how everything works, right? If you think you are right, feel free to keep doing what you're doing. Having flown with AA a lot, my experience—as well as that of others on this thread—suggests this type of situation, and the resulting consequence, will occur again. Personally, I don't think either side is clearly in the right, but in this particular case, I think you got what you deserved. AA is not likely going to pay your Delta bill, especially if you interact with them with the tone displayed in this post.

joe_miami

LOL. A person "deserves" to miss a flight after following the notices received directly from the airline? You can't be serious.

flyingeph12

AA, to my knowledge, did not issue any notice telling OP to arrive at LGA on 1/3/18 at 5:55pm. It merely issued notices that the estimated departure time of Flight 3574, instead of 5:55pm, was 6:20pm—and then 6:55pm. AA also later issued a notice that the anticipated departure was 5:55pm.

If OP, based on his clear experience flying on this route, chooses to interpret those notices to mean he can show up at LGA on 1/3/18 at 5:55pm, that is OP's prerogative. My suspicion is that the vast majority of people on Flight 3574 on 1/3/18 (i.e., the "common", or at least "majority," sense) did not choose to arrive at LGA at 5:55pm. Given that OP knew he and his wife needed to be at CMH the next morning, and given that he at least should have been aware that a major storm was on the way, and given the DYWIA tone displayed in his previous response, I am dead serious in saying that having to pay $800+ to buy Delta tickets is exactly what he deserved.

cedric

The airline also told you to arrive in accordance with your scheduled flight time.
You could have done several things with the information that your flight was delayed. Check for other flight options that might have been more suitable. Advised your ride on the other end that a delay was likely. Changed dinner plans. But in the end, the airline still told you to arrive in accordance with the scheduled departure time. And you decided not to do that.

cedric

You've mentioned this a few times in this thread, but haven't provided examples of those airlines. The minority of posters that have been responding to this thread that believe the flight should have been operated with the initial delay would probably benefit from hearing which airlines operate in this manner. The rest of us would also appreciate knowing which airlines to avoid.

However, it doesn't appear to be DL or UA. A search for "missed flight delay rescinded" brings up multiple threads re: UA about this exact situation, and another poster already shared a similar occurrence on DL right in this thread.

beachmouse

As someone who has dealt with the Southeastern summer thunderstorm ground stop goat rodeo one too many times, I probably would show up at scheduled departure time in hopes of getting a better rebooking option once aircraft movement resumes. Generally I have better luck standing in line for a GA than being put on infinite hold trying to call in a problem during those times.

coloneltigh

Think what this thread illustrates is the range of risk tolerance among travelers. OP with a person in tow, must-attend plans in CMH, last flight of day, next day WX that was forecast to shutdown LGA (which it did) decided upon seeing a delay to show up an hour before the revised delay time. And by this behavior would have shown up an hour before the original un-delayed time. For me, my risk tolerance, an hour before to LGA Central Terminal given all the construction and traffic problems at LGA not to mention the city traffic at that time to get to the airport, I wouldn't have rolled that way.

My way - low probability of having to missing flight and having to pay DL $800 for last minute one-way flights. OP's way - higher probability of having to pay DL 8 hundo.

GoPhils

Dave Noble

I listed 3 airlines, all of which whose information I have been able to trust

arlflyer

Interesting discussion. I've always wondered about the actual purpose of delay notifications myself, given that the airlines still take steps to make it very explicit that these are in no way binding, and you should be sitting at the airport anyhow. Especially since those delay notifications, at least in my experience, are usually badly outdated by the time they arrive (in almost every case I've experienced, some combination of google, flightaware, or the airline website has more up-to-date information).

deac83

First if you completely trust AA's systems that's a bit foolish. It was only a few year's ago that that they started showing the incoming flight information on the website and the app, even though that information had to be known by AA.

I'd speculate that inexperienced travelers are more likely to be sitting at the airport 2 hours ahead, so near in delays don't affect them, and anything from 15 min to 60 min they would be still be there in time.

I fall into the 'risk taker' category and with non-rush hour traffic can get to DFW in 20-25 minutes. With TSA Pre I can get from my living room to my seat on the plane in 40 minutes. I'll adjust accordingly as I try and spend the minimal time in the actual airport (and I'm and AA club member) so I'll cut it close. But if it's the last flight of the day or the flights are full I'll go earlier. It strikes me that there are not a lot of flights to CMH (as opposed to a DFW-LAX, DFW-ORD etc) so that changes how I react to a delay (my recovery options are limited)

Until you see this happen in person, it's reasonable that one assumes the delay is accurate, but nearly miss a flight once because of this and you never assume it again. I knew what this thread was about before I opened it.

flyingeph12