Dec 17, 2017, 10:45 pm
Last edit by: RatherBeOnATrain
Waiver posted: https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...er-outage.html
as of ~1am EST on 12/18:
AFFECTED CITIES (TO / FROM / THROUGH)
Atlanta, GA (ATL)
IMPACTED TRAVEL DATE(S)
December 17-19, 2017
TICKET MUST BE REISSUED ON OR BEFORE
December 22, 2017
REBOOKED TRAVEL MUST BEGIN NO LATER THAN
December 22, 2017
An Atlanta newspaper article that describes the aiport's lack of preparation and poor communications during the outage: MyAJC - Zero communication, Airport had no plan for total power outage (Posted: 8:28 p.m. Monday, December 18, 2017)
as of ~1am EST on 12/18:
AFFECTED CITIES (TO / FROM / THROUGH)
Atlanta, GA (ATL)
IMPACTED TRAVEL DATE(S)
December 17-19, 2017
TICKET MUST BE REISSUED ON OR BEFORE
December 22, 2017
REBOOKED TRAVEL MUST BEGIN NO LATER THAN
December 22, 2017
An Atlanta newspaper article that describes the aiport's lack of preparation and poor communications during the outage: MyAJC - Zero communication, Airport had no plan for total power outage (Posted: 8:28 p.m. Monday, December 18, 2017)
Power outage in ATL
Dec 17, 2017, 6:37 pm
#196
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They really dropped the ball by holding planes on the tarmac until it started to get dark. They should have begun evacuating them with stairs to buses, cleared the terminal immediately and allowed cars to enter to pick up but not allowed any drop offs, and cancelled all flights for the remainder of the day within an hour of the power going out when they still hadn't figured out the cause.
It will be interesting to see A) What caused this, B) What (if anything) DL learns from this. (i.e. should we have an evac plan after 5/15/30/60 etc. minutes?)
The whole thing is a mess and jobs should be lost top down for not having adequate plans and procedures. They violated the Federal DOT rule about three hour tarmac delays, and by the time they actually started to unload people it was way too little, too late. I'm guessing the power will be back on by the time they finish getting people off planes, and can't even imagine how long it will take to process the heavies that landed from other countries through CBP with no power, computers, or by the looks of it, lights.
"The new rule prohibits U.S. airlines operating domestic flights from permitting an aircraft to remain on the tarmac for more than three hours without deplaning passengers, with exceptions allowed only for safety or security or if air traffic control advises the pilot in command that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations. U.S. carriers operating international flights departing from or arriving in the United States must specify, in advance, their own time limits for deplaning passengers, with the same exceptions applicable."
I think one could very easy say it's a safety and security issue to deplane a mile from the terminal with active runways. I also imagine ATC couldn't get them to gates to deplane because other planes couldn't leave said gates.
Not even having adequate emergency lighting is something that the ATL officials need to address--and if the leadership is too stupid to have them, along with staff trained in emergency operations--they need to be replaced with trained chimpanzees who would likely be better at doing their job.
Yes, I suppose it's better to leave them on dark airplanes with no working lavs or ventilation, for hours? days? Seriously?? Thinking FAIL.
Dec 17, 2017, 6:37 pm
#197
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Atlanta Metro
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11Alive.com is showing gigantic lines for taxis. Why don't these people get on MARTA and go somewhere else, and THEN get a taxi? There are no hotel rooms left by the airport.
Dec 17, 2017, 6:38 pm
#198
Join Date: Nov 2009
Programs: DL PM 1MM
Posts: 3,439
It takes time to reset an operation as large as DL in ATL. Don't expect normal operations Monday AM - it'll probably be a day or two (at the earliest) before ops are "normal" again.
Dec 17, 2017, 6:38 pm
#199
Join Date: Feb 2013
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Posts: 341
Call Diamond Line before anything else is said it tells you "if your travel is not today use Delta.com or try again tomorrow".......once you get through that you get the fast busy signal and it hangs up on you.
Dec 17, 2017, 6:43 pm
#201
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: ATL
Programs: A few
Posts: 133
Only powered versions; the vast majority of "ramp stairs" are non-powered and towed into/out of position.
Dec 17, 2017, 6:44 pm
#202
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
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ATL is just like Dullta, in that it doesn't believe in having any redundancy, QA testing (which in case of airport would be redundancy and redundant power, failover, etc. testing, that any responsible building and infrastructure does regularly). Same how ATL only has two deicing vehicles/machines and shuts down almost entirely even in case of slight wintry weather, due to being non-prepared.
Dullta, of course, pushes as many flights as it can through ATL, as it is cheap. It is cheap because it has no redundancies and is ill-prepared for anything but sunny days with light winds.
All in all ATL operates just like DL: bare minimal investment to just keep running and continuous cost-cutting.
Dullta, of course, pushes as many flights as it can through ATL, as it is cheap. It is cheap because it has no redundancies and is ill-prepared for anything but sunny days with light winds.
All in all ATL operates just like DL: bare minimal investment to just keep running and continuous cost-cutting.
Dec 17, 2017, 6:53 pm
#203
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Join Date: Jun 2008
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Posts: 12,646
Karma has a way of taking down hubris.
My thoughts are with the folks stranded at ATL.
There are ways of making events such as this all but impossible.
Considering the profound importance of the air transportation system to the American economy, catastrophic disruptions have been far too frequent over the last few years.
If airlines and airport authorities don't get their act in gear, they'll be on the receiving end of "help" that no one will find productive.
I wonder how many members of Congress are stranded in ATL right now?
My thoughts are with the folks stranded at ATL.
There are ways of making events such as this all but impossible.
Considering the profound importance of the air transportation system to the American economy, catastrophic disruptions have been far too frequent over the last few years.
If airlines and airport authorities don't get their act in gear, they'll be on the receiving end of "help" that no one will find productive.
I wonder how many members of Congress are stranded in ATL right now?
Dec 17, 2017, 6:54 pm
#204
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: DL DM+(segs)/MM, UA Ag, Hilton DM, Marriott Ti (life Pt), TSA Opt-out Platinum
Posts: 3,223
Airstairs are a great idea, but how many sets do they have. Lets say they have 20 (~3 per concourse), which would be about what I'd expect. With driving time between planes, coordination with ground services (what are you going to do with the hundreds of people you just dumped on the ramp? Wheelchairs, UMs, etc.), and other logistical issues (how many buses do they have?) it's going to take a long time. I'd say one set of airstairs can probably only do 1 aircraft per hour (from my experience). I'm assuming DL prob has 150-200 planes there at the moment. You're looking at many hours (150 planes would take 7.5hrs at 20 simultaneous operations). I think 1 per hour might even be too low of an estimate unless there are 30-40 buses available to move pax and where exactly are they going to take them? Also many of the aircraft are probably in areas where they can't deplane (like an active TWY or near an active RWY), so they're going to have to wait to taxi to somewhere (have to wait til after other planes have deplaned and then been moved).
I'm sure it's a real cluster at ATL right now. There will be a lot of after action review I hope, but I can't figure why the airport wouldn't trigger an evacuation in an extended power outage.
Dec 17, 2017, 6:57 pm
#205
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Dec 17, 2017, 6:57 pm
#206
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: RDU
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Posts: 3,223
ATL is just like Dullta, in that it doesn't believe in having any redundancy, QA testing (which in case of airport would be redundancy and redundant power, failover, etc. testing, that any responsible building and infrastructure does regularly). Same how ATL only has two deicing vehicles/machines and shuts down almost entirely even in case of slight wintry weather, due to being non-prepared.
Dullta, of course, pushes as many flights as it can through ATL, as it is cheap. It is cheap because it has no redundancies and is ill-prepared for anything but sunny days with light winds.
All in all ATL operates just like DL: bare minimal investment to just keep running and continuous cost-cutting.
Dullta, of course, pushes as many flights as it can through ATL, as it is cheap. It is cheap because it has no redundancies and is ill-prepared for anything but sunny days with light winds.
All in all ATL operates just like DL: bare minimal investment to just keep running and continuous cost-cutting.
Dec 17, 2017, 6:58 pm
#207
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: DL Diamond 1.7MM, Starlux Insighter, Bonvoy Titanium, Hilton Gold, Hertz PC
Posts: 3,947
I have said this, and I will say this again........Delta closing all your smaller Southern hubs (MEM, CVG (downsizing), MCO) is causing a good bit of this........when you put all your eggs in one basket you don't have any way to reroute people through other airports!
Dec 17, 2017, 7:00 pm
#208
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: ATL
Programs: A few
Posts: 133
I'm a bit surprised that so many people are blaming airline(s) for this incident; I'm surprised even further by the many self-proclaimed electrical experts that can surmise, with the little detail provided thus far, that the airline(s) and airport are incompetent and are to blame.
While I certainly understand that emotions may be high during a situation of this nature, I also wonder if those that are are arm-chair quarerbacking have even the slightest clue as to how the airport is equipped, its back up contingencies, infrastructure layout, etc
While I certainly understand that emotions may be high during a situation of this nature, I also wonder if those that are are arm-chair quarerbacking have even the slightest clue as to how the airport is equipped, its back up contingencies, infrastructure layout, etc
Dec 17, 2017, 7:01 pm
#209
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Dec 17, 2017, 7:06 pm
#210
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: RDU
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Posts: 3,223
It's nice to think that an airline should have a hub at every airport, but it's been proven time and time again that it's not financially viable.