So I'm sitting in the PC at LGA waiting on 1832 to land so it can become 1433 to take me home (3 hour delay and counting). There are storms in the general DC area, so ATC in New York is in shambles, again, despite a relatively good day here in the City proper. What's interesting about this is that the agent here indicated that "the airlines" are starting to put less fuel onboard to save weight, and that she was seeing more diversions, rather than planes circling.

I am sure that someone has done the necessary fuel burn calculations of what a plane would burn circling vs. a landing/takeoff cycle (plus the probabilities thereof), so the concept here does not shock me. I am more curious whether other FTers have actually experienced this, or is this something that may be limited to the horrendously congested NE corridor (esp. NYC)?

Happened to me on a LAS-DFW flight on AA the other day for the very same reason - less fuel loaded to save weight, according to the crew. Took a detour to OKC when an unpredected storm at DFW popped up.

Actually this has been discussed in length already (you can probably do a search and find it).

Interestingly, every article I've read mentions CO specifically as practicing the "bring as little fuel as possible" mantra. I haven't been on one of the diverted CO flights (cause most of my flying is on NW) but I have coworkers who have been on several of them. As soon as a plane can't land at it's destination (e.g. EWR or IAH), it will circle for up to 10 minutes and then divert. SEA-IAH was diverted to AUS. SEA-EWR was diverted to SWF or PHL.

As mentioned, most of my flying is on NW and I've had to circle a few times near MSP (in and of itself a rarity). We circled for up to 25 minutes with no problem and still made it to MSP. While I'm pretty sure almost all carriers are flying with less fuel to save weight and ultimately save fuel, it hasn't affected me directly yet.

I definitely expect more diversions, especially for planes going to EWR - still the most delayed airport in the country. With many airlines cutting service it remains to be seen how this will affect ORD, LGA, EWR, JFK and the other delay prone airports. Will they actually get back to a normal level of service? That alone will save a ton of fuel for the airlines, especially CO, UA, AA and DL.

-RM

Any insight into what typically happens from a pax perspective on these diversions? How long does it take to get back in the air and to your final destination? Is it typically possible to just get out at the diversion point and find your own way home?

A lot will depend on why you had to circle in the first place. Odds are, now that you are landed you are going to be held by ATC from taking off until things have cleared up a bit. We all know that can be a while... Just the land, taxi to get fuel, and take off again (no going to a gate) isn't a huge thing - if staff is available, and depending if de-icing is needed.

Regarding getting out at the diversion point. I've been on a Europe to EWR that diverted to Montreal, and it was made pretty clear that no one was getting off (despite the 6 hour wait).

I've been diverted on an RJ from CLE to Cincinnati and they did actually let someone off, but it definitely took some persuading by the Pilot, and could only be done because they had enough time and available ground crew to come over and get them. I don't remember if they got their luggage or not, though (if they had any). They would not want to risk losing a takeoff slot if they thought there was even a slight chance of getting it anytime soon, though.

I got diverted from IAH to HOU (Houston Hobby) last week due to thunderstorms at IAH -- we didn't circle long before the decision was made. They did let people off at HOU. Diversions generally take a long time (this was 4 hours) because there is a long queue of planes that need to be refueled at the same time and then, of course, waiting to get back in the queue for landing back at IAH. Once we were airborne it was just a few minutes to IAH -- reminding me of my EFD days!

I miss EFD!!
One time the flight to IAH was cancelled and they put us in a van. I thought I was in a Tijuana taxi. The guy got us to the front door of Terminal C in 40 minutes!