djibouti

fwiw my AA flight took off on time although crew was out and back so no problem getting to airport. MARTA was fine but security is hours long, even for PreCheck from what I hear.

hazelrah

mega-hub=mega-problems, when the stuff hits the fan.

RealHJ

Went back to gate just before it hit 3 hours, still kept on aircraft though (over an hour at the gate), but option provided to get off (to the practically shut down airport, with no food inside/all closed, no hotels with any rooms outside - so that option was not very appealing to anyone, I think). Then after that back to back of the deicing line again.. and for many fights cancelled in the end as the crew timed out, so often 6+ hours sitting in a motionless tin can, only to be cancelled as crew can't work more than 14 hours.

us2

A look at FlightAware was pretty eye-popping a few minutes ago. DL is getting about 20 flights an hour in the air, almost all mainline with a comparable number of arrivals. I've got a feeling this is going to take a few days to clear out. I can only imagine how many thousands of people are stuck.

PRWeezer

It's been that way all day (20 flights/hour), mainly due to lack of staffing across the board to handle a heavier load.

djibouti

Coworker is stuck on DL 241. They boarded them an hour late and an hour since, they still have no pilots. He says "they don't know where they are". Good luck out there!

chrisj85

The latest FAA OIS advisory is now showing an average 720 minute (12 hour) delay for Delta flights:

CTL ELEMENT: ATL
ELEMENT TYPE: APT
ADL TIME: 2248Z
DELAY ASSIGNMENT MODE: UDP
ARRIVALS ESTIMATED FOR: 29/2228Z - 30/0559Z
CUMULATIVE PROGRAM PERIOD: 29/1501Z - 30/0559Z
PROGRAM RATE: 20
FLT INCL: CONTIGUOUS US DEP CARRIER DAL ONLY
DEP SCOPE: (MANUAL) ZSE ZAB ZLC ZAU ZLA ZDC ZFW ZKC ZME ZHU ZMP ZDV ZBW ZOB ZOA ZJX ZMA ZID ZTL ZNY
ADDITIONAL DEP FACILITIES INCLUDED:
CANADIAN DEP ARPTS INCLUDED: CYYZ CYTZ CYOW CYUL CYQB
DELAY ASSIGNMENT TABLE APPLIES TO: ZTL
MAXIMUM DELAY: 2054
AVERAGE DELAY: 720
IMPACTING CONDITION: OTHER / OTHER
COMMENTS: LANDING RWY 26R/27L. DEPARTING RWY 26L/27R.

Security wait on the ATL airport site is currently posted at 1.5 hours main checkpoint, 20-30 minutes international, with north and south checkpoints closed. Article in the AJC quotes TSA spokesman saying that they are down to minimal lanes open due to staff being unable to get to work.

Hopefully Delta and TSA will be able to get more staff into ATL tomorrow, as temps are supposed to get into the upper 30s with sunshine which should melt off a lot of the ice. I bet it will take through this weekend to clear out all of the stranded passengers though.

MSPeconomist

DL might be thinking that given their backlog of passengers, if someone is willing to postpone travel, this would be a good thing in that it frees a seat for a person who might need it more or have already suffered severe disruptions and delays.

StayingHomeIsBetter

I should thank my client, who previously made a Friday night return schedule infeasible. Saturday morning is looking better than I originally expected, for reasons that were unexpected.

steved5480

Can't recall ever seeing anything quite like this (except in LAS on Superbowl Sunday, and that's because they don't have much spare pavement there).

Perhaps the City/Airport's recovery isn't going so great after all...

FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center Advisory
ATCSCC ADVZY 001 ATL/ZTL 01/29/2014
NO GENERAL AVIATION PARKING AT ATL
MESSAGE:
DUE TO COMPLICATIONS WITH SNOW REMOVAL, THERE IS NO MORE GENERAL AVIATION PARKING AVAILABLE AT ATL AT THIS TIME. ZTL ADVISES THAT PDK IS OPEN WITH NO TOWER SERVICES AND SLUSHY RUNWAYS AND FTY IS OPEN WITHOUT RESTRICTION.

PRWeezer

I'm in Breckenridge this week, they're calling for up to 2 feet of snow in the next 24-ish hours, 29" in Vail. One in our group is supposed to fly DEN-ATL tomorrow (3-5" expected overnight), the rest of us are headed back to ATL Saturday. None of us would be sad to be stuck here, though, plenty enough fun to be had on the slopes & sitting by a toasty fire. Though as a Georgia driver, Breck's roads are tricky compared to Vail where it's just pavement not chunky/crusty stuff.

us2

Found some interesting stats on the number of cancellations by DL and at ATL overall over on FlightAware.

http://flightaware.com/live/cancelled/today#stats

Delta cancelled 32% of its flights today (Wed.) (762 flights); 30% were delayed (mainline only). 43% of flights originating ATL (549) were cancelled, 24% were delayed. Putting things back together is going to take some time. Air Tran was even worse hit -- 52% of their flights wound up being cancelled.

Medeski

Sounds almost like my experience in DTW two weeks ago. Keep safe and stay warm

Thomas Hudson

I'd avoid ATL for today if possible. I promise.

rylan

So are they even close to getting back to normal operations yet? News reports are that the Atlanta area is still an unmitigated disaster.