SFO777

Had a friend in paid Business on yesterday's 1257 the 2:20pm 767-400 to ATL. They'd boarded the plane when it was discovered that "a part of the wing was missing".
Pax were asked to deplane and wait. Departure pushed from 2:20p to 2:50p, then to 5:00p, then to 6:30p, then to 7:55p, then to 5:30a. LOL.

Friend reported that the local fix didn't work and that DL was flying in a part. Unfortunately it was either the wrong part or was broken. So they had to fly in another part.
DL gave everyone hotel vouchers and told them to be back at 3:45p to re(check) bags.

Fast foward to this morning and at 3:45a, there were 100 pax in the Priority line and no DL agents. Agents didn't show up until 4:15a.
Then the best part... DL agent couldn't check her bag as he couldn't find her reservation in the system. Same thing for other pax.

Fortunately, I got her the last First Class seat on the 7am AA nonstop.

Oh yeah, DL 1257 is now showing a 7:30a departure.

rylan

I think its very shady when they keep delaying a flight instead of canceling so they can keep their stats of saying it wasn't canceled... especially when the 'delay' is overnight.
Its showing as a 752 now also.

bennos

Maybe, but if they cancel then everyone has to be reaccommodated on other flights, and it's a pretty busy time of year to delay some people for 3 days waiting for available space. Under those circumstances, if I couldn't be booked on an alternate flight I'd prefer a "delay" even if that delay took several hours and resulted in an equipment swap.

apodo77

On another note I flew the 767-400 LAX-ATL in paid F recently (took a great FCM offer and was originally SFO-ATL-PBI but IRROPS during the ATL snowpocalypse took me to LAX) and boy what a dump that plane is on the inside in J. Very tired and worn out. Took some pictures of the "best real estate on the planet" and if time will post later.

audidudi

That must have been this B764, as it's still at LAX.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N834MH

jdrtravel

It sounds to me like DL was doing everything they could to get those people to ATL and that a series of frustrating things kept happening that are, on a basic level, understandable. I don't think they were refusing to cancel because of their stats, I think they knew that all flights are full right now and that people need to get home for the holidays, so they just needed to fly it at some point.

What I don't understand is how there is any airplane part not in stock at an airport the size of LAX.

cerealmarketer

Agree 'no Delta cancellation' stats aren't what they seem. They make a habit of taking 12+ hour delays rather than a cancellation, even though the outcome is the same in terms of delay.

It's marginally better than a cancellation in the sense that the capacity stays in play for the route, but they do this often outside of peak times.

And novice travelers don't know better to go and try and get another flight, trusting the flight will still go in a reasonable amount of time.

Was on a CLT-LGA recently last flight of the night that started as a garden variety delay, and 30 minutes in agent at least said 'there's a large chance this cancels.'

I self-rebooked on AA (no DL reacomodation on AA - thanks to of DL's cost cutting and eliminating that agreement), and watched it go to a 2, then 3 hour delay. Turned into a 13 hour overnight delay. 2 other flights departed the next morning before this one did, and went out with open seats.

I get the sense they align their procedures and bonuses to maximize the 'no cancel' stat, even if it leads to stringing along something that would have been a clear cancellation otherwise. Think about it...

The DOT stats show a 'delay' if it's 16 minutes or 16 hours late - no distinction.

They won't show a 'cancellation' if it's 16 hours late.

So if bonuses are paid on a threshold of DOT cancellations and DOT delays, decisions on the margin start getting made in the trenches to take the long, long delay instead of the cancellation.

MSPeconomist

As a (DM) passenger, I prefer the current system of not cancelling the flight as it preserves a worst case scenario backup seat for me and gives me the chocie of whether to wait for the delayed flight, keeping my seat assignment and any upgrades, or to rebook myself on something else that might gpo sooner, albeit at the risk of getting a bad seat or having to make an additional connection.

It looks like DL has mostly been using this aircraft for relatively low yielding TATL routes, such as DUB, BCN, FCO, etc.

It's getting a very long and expensive rest at LAX. I'm glad I'm not paying that parking bill or associated costs. It it were parked at ATL or some other real hub, DL could be spiffing up the interior a bit or at least trying to give the bird a good cleaning as it waits, although again a hub would probably have had the parts needed to repair the "missing part of the wing." In fact, as I say this, I'm wondering whether a big piece of metal fell from the sky somewhere between JFK and LAX.

bennos

IIRC only two airlines even operate the 764 (DL and UA via CO), and for DL at least I don't think much maintenance is performed at LAX.

I had a 764 TATL ex-JFK take a 4 hour MX while we waited on a part to be flown up from ATL. I checked the inbound arrivals from ATL, and sure enough we started boarding about 30 minutes after the next ATL arrival.

btonkid12345

Why didn't your friend rebook on another LAX-ATL in F on DL? Or even LAX-JFK-ATL, LAX-SFO-ATL, etc. The last seat on AA in F had to be pricey.

SFO777

Probably because it's Christmas weekend and there were no other F seats?

minnyfly

Most travelers were reaccommodated on this flight anyway. And it was downgraded to a 752 to boot. By not cancelling, it likely delayed people further. If it's canceled right away, the airline is forced to rebook PAX immediately, not hours later. And there's nothing stopping an airline from cancelling a flight and then running an extra section later if needed. In the end few, if anyone, was advantaged by "delaying" the flight.

3Cforme

If if were as you argue, a simple preference for delay rather than cancellation, with equivalent performance Delta would show a higher completion rate but lower on-time rate. In fact, in spite of two dumpster-fire performances at ATL this year, for the year Delta may show both higher completion and on-time rates than AA or Southwest. Check the DOT stats in February.

minnyfly

That's not what would happen. Isolated long delays are a very small percentage of operations. Even if every long delay could be flipped to ontime, no one would notice a ontime % drop from, say, 88.5% to 88.4%. But a drop from 100% completion to 99.9% is noticeable, and it prevents the airline from advertising that they "don't cancel". That's the point of excessive "delays"--to help get away with false advertising. How long airlines can keep this charade up is at the feet of the DOT.

RobOnLI

While true, it does affect the average delay the flight will show. So instead of being an average of 30 minutes late (e.g.) then the average would go way up when you're factoring in a 16 hour delay. But overall, the percentage of "time this flight is delayed" won't change much whether it's delayed the 16 minutes or 16 hours. It's still a delay in the percentage calculations.

-RM