just waiting for late plane
May 21, 2019, 3:22 pm
#16
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Either at the shooting range or anywhere good beer can be found...
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I had noted that a delay was "understandable, and no big deal" - so I don't see how that makes me a millennial or snowflake (really, isn't that a good thing if you live in a ski town?). I can function on 5 hours of sleep, but not on 4 (probably could if I was a millennial and substantially younger). There aren't reliable LYFT or UBER services at this airport, and even if there were, an hour + long ride home would be impossible. Parking is under construction, severely limited, and I didn't want to drive over an hour in the middle of the night by myself (lots of wildlife on the road), after traveling all day. Cell phones don't work either between my home and JAC, so my ride had to just wait it out (smart enough, but not pleased, obviously). All those things are really secondary to my actual question of what is an appropriate time to wait for delayed flights? 20 minutes? An hour? Two? Four? All night? Wouldn't the appropriate time to notify pax about the delay be when they decided to wait for the plane(s) causing the delay, rather then after boarding everyone?
May 21, 2019, 4:31 pm
#19
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Join Date: Jul 2017
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Jackson is so expensive that most of the work force lives in Teton Valley, ID, or to the south of Snake River Canyon. Commuter busses take the workforce to Jackson and back, but only at limited times a day, so I couldn't ride a 'later' bus.
May 21, 2019, 5:25 pm
#20
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 90
I used to be an Airport Manager at a small hub for another airline. There are so many considerations when deciding if to hold a plane.
- Aircraft scheduling. What is that aircraft doing next? Will it cause further delays downline.
- Crew scheduling. Will it affect the crews next flight or rest period. Will it push crew out of hours?
- ATC slots. Will the aircraft miss a slot if delayed? How ling until the next slot?
- Inbound Connecting Customers. Are there sufficient seats to rebook the affected customers on other flights? What is the wait for those new flights?
- Outbound Connecting Customers. Will holding this aircraft for the inbound customers subsequently cause other customers to miss an onward connection?
- Cost. What is the cost associated with departing without those customers? Is there sufficient hotel availability?
- Customer Experience. Is the delay likely to result in a negative customer experience for remaining customers? Can this be mitigated?
May 21, 2019, 5:57 pm
#23
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I’m sure OP is thrilled you felt the need to provide unsolicited advice. You chose to have a baby, OP didn’t chose to be in a delay.
May 21, 2019, 6:00 pm
#24
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Days to clear up? Save the melodrama. SLC is a big hub for DL with lots of aircraft options. If DL was really hard pressed to rebook 25 people on SLC-JAC they could easily upgauge a flight. DL swaps aircraft on routes all the time.
May 21, 2019, 6:10 pm
#25
Join Date: Dec 2011
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It's also a case of some pigs being more equal than others.
I remember waiting on the tarmac in Houston forever ... bound for Midland, TX. The oil industry in Odessa has deep pockets so we sat and sat and sat waiting for those pax, surely in an important meeting rather than delayed in transit.
I remember waiting on the tarmac in Houston forever ... bound for Midland, TX. The oil industry in Odessa has deep pockets so we sat and sat and sat waiting for those pax, surely in an important meeting rather than delayed in transit.
May 21, 2019, 6:18 pm
#26
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Doubtful this has to do with hotel costs as DL would only pay for those if the inbound misconnects were all due to mechanicals or other issues within DL's control.
Simply boils down to the fact that holding this flight likely doesn't affect anything else in the system, including the departure of that aircraft in the AM. Add a couple of 360's on a route like that and this is an easy call.
OP was presumably delayed by an hour. Simply isn't a big deal.
Simply boils down to the fact that holding this flight likely doesn't affect anything else in the system, including the departure of that aircraft in the AM. Add a couple of 360's on a route like that and this is an easy call.
OP was presumably delayed by an hour. Simply isn't a big deal.
May 21, 2019, 6:37 pm
#27
Join Date: Feb 2017
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Delta doesn't hold flights unless they really, really have to.
If I had to guess, there is probably usually at a minimum four conditions:
Delta doesn't fly daily service to JAC in June except from SLC. While there is limited service from MSP, LAX, and SEA, they are once-a-week service. Only SLC has a daily flight (and more than one frequency).
With load factors as they are, 25 passengers could completely gum up excess inventory for two days. And indeed, that appears to have happened (whether because of OP's flight or some other event). SLC-JAC is sold out through Thursday. Delta would not have had any way to get these passengers to Jackson Hole on a Delta flight until Thursday/Friday. Their best option would have been to fly them back to LAX and put them on an American flight - not exactly a great option.
This is why they held the plane.
If I had to guess, there is probably usually at a minimum four conditions:
- It is a flight from a hub to an outstation - never the reverse (for obvious reasons)
- It is the last flight of the day for that plane or at the very least has a long wait rest period between flights (no cascading impact of delays)
- There is no risk of crew timeout
- There are not good alternatives for passengers that are about to miss the flight
Delta doesn't fly daily service to JAC in June except from SLC. While there is limited service from MSP, LAX, and SEA, they are once-a-week service. Only SLC has a daily flight (and more than one frequency).
With load factors as they are, 25 passengers could completely gum up excess inventory for two days. And indeed, that appears to have happened (whether because of OP's flight or some other event). SLC-JAC is sold out through Thursday. Delta would not have had any way to get these passengers to Jackson Hole on a Delta flight until Thursday/Friday. Their best option would have been to fly them back to LAX and put them on an American flight - not exactly a great option.
This is why they held the plane.
May 21, 2019, 6:43 pm
#28
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Upgauge it with what? With JAC's runway length, altitude, and the fact it is summer (warmer temps), the only thing they could reliably upgauge to is a 757. They don't have a lot of extra ones of those lying around SLC. Maybe given the short flight distance they could manage a 738 or A320 as it should have a low take-off weight.
May 21, 2019, 7:57 pm
#30
formerly jackvogt
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I'm not really understanding how a 1 HOUR DELAY could cause such a mess up for the OP. How would Delta have known to start a "delay" before the he left for the airport? Delta did a great thing for those passengers and as someone who has had delays almost cause me to miss connections, I must say I really appreciate when they hold the plane. There are so many factors that go in to this kind of decision. So if anyone has a delayed inbound flight that causes my flight to be held, I would like you to know, I am happy you are able to make this flight and I will not complain in the slightest for such a minor inconvenience.