DCAproducer

Weather in NYC caused some issues Thursday at LGA and yesterday I was flying LGA-DCA and DL had a complete meltdown. It got so bad that after nine hours of delays and one cancelled flight I finally went over to B and took an on time, drama-free, flight back on AA. (DL pilot followed us over to hop on the same AA flight since he didn’t have faith in DL getting him home)

At first it appeared the issues were Republic, and that’s what agents kept saying, both at the gate and SC. They had planes, but no crews. But this didn’t make sense because every flight was delayed and they cancelled mainline flights to MCO and ATL. Some passengers had been stuck at the airport for two days. The lines for help wrapped through D past the food court. C was just as bad.

The main SkyClub in C put up a sign saying it was full and wouldn’t let anyone else in. Agents were literally in screaming matches with passengers. I saw a guy, claiming to be a 360 get yelled at by a SC agent.

Here’s the point of my rant:

• Delta didn’t initially delay my flight until 2hr before departure, I was already in a car leaving Manhattan. Weather Friday was fine. I should have looked at notice two earlier flights to DCA had already been cancelled.
• DL didn’t have enough agents to deal with the mess.
• They kept dragging out delays. My flight was delayed five times before it was cancelled. I was rescheduled on a later flight, but the times they were giving didn’t make sense because the aircraft were not in the right place. Agents would just shrug when I’d point out this discrepancy.
• 90 minute wait as a PM for the medallion line, SC was about a 15 min wait to get help.
  

Final note, AA’s terminal B is 100% better than Delta’s setup at LGA. I know they’re building a new entrance, but the gate areas at B, checkin and security are so much better.

SuperG1955

About a month ago I got so disgusted with DL's operation at LGA that I switched all of my NYC activity to JFK. I don't love he additional travel time or traffic on the VanWyck but as long as I stick with the same pattern of early departures and late arrivals, it isn't too bad. I don't intend to return to LGA until DL's terminal is completed and fully operational.

Unlike many, I also prefer Terminal 2 for it's compact layout and much less crowded Sky Club, at least the times that I'm usually there.

TerryK

I was flying into LGA on Thursday and got diverted to BWI. Laned at BWI and there were six DL planes bound for LGA at the gates. Not a good day for DL at LGA. Wish DL had cancelled those flights. I finally got into LGA at 2PM on 18th; a 24 hour journey from SRQ to LGA. I am sure many planes or crew members were out of position on 18th or even 19th.

kylep1256

Any idea what really caused yesterday’s meltdown? I was scheduled to fly from MCO to LGA and almost all afternoon / evening flights were canceled. I think one or two early mornings were too.

No significant weather in either location. I thought maybe it could be due to weather in south / ATL and crew positioning but wondering if it was some issue at the airport

DLASflyer

Delta seems to be having a mini meltdown today, 3/19. I'm at SLC and the board shows cancellations to ATL, PHX, BOS and MSP. Surely those aren't all experiencing bad weather. FlightAware shows 43 mainline cancels for the day so far. United is at 12 and American 4.

TerryK

Not sure how you got this information. LGA visibility was down to 1,000 ft for the bulk of afternoon and evening on 17th. That's even below instrument landing minimium.

kylep1256

That’s good to know. I was talking about the 18th yesterday— I thought weather from when I checked looked much better than the 17th

TerryK

Oh. LGA had nice sunny weather on 18th but I am sure many planes and crew members were out of position due to diversions from 17th. DL likely did not have sufficient planes and crew in place to operate flights as scheduled on 18th.

emma dog

There was a pretty strong weather front that passed through the East yesterday, hitting ATL around noon and cascading up to NYC. Right now ceilings are 200 feet in BOS with 1/4 mile visibility.

The ATL front resulted in the airport being shut down to arrivals and departures for at least 1 hour... I was listening in to ATC as the first round hit my house and it sounded awful. Winds from the west at 30 kts, yet the airport was aligned for arrivals and departures to the east (tailwind). They held the airport direction since a second round of cells were forming, resulting in the winds shifting direction and realigning with the airport's easterly configuration.

Repooc17

OP, you waited 9 hours? I would not have that kind of patience. I would have sought alternative transportation options by hour 2 or 3.

shoodawg

Our 7:30pm PBI flight inbound aircraft was known to be delayed as early as 2:20. DL first published the first delay around 4:30. Around 5:15 they extended the delay another :30. New arrival would be just after midnight. On the bus to the airport we noticed that inbound aircraft was more severely delayed, and in fact was no longer our inbound aircraft. From that point, the PBI flight never had an attached inbound aircraft. We proceeded to the SC. Somewhere near departure time DL canceled the flight. Could they have published the cancelation two hours earlier, when they detached the inbound aircraft? Of course.

shoodawg

LGA was impaired on Friday 3/18 due to severe morning fog.

steveholt

There was significant, uncommonly thick fog around the Northeast Friday morning.

DCAproducer

Original flight was 3pm. It got delayed around 1pm until 340. I was already heading to LGA. The flight got delayed four more times before they cancelled at 5pm. At that point getting to Amtrak was going to take more than an hour. Acela walk up fares we’re about $700 on 90% full trains and the earliest train we could have made didn’t get into DC until after midnight. NE regional trains were mostly sold out. DL was sold out on all DCA flights at JFK. I even looked at a one way car rental and Hertz, National, Enterprise were all sold out.

AA ended up being the best option, so we grabbed a reservation for their 10p. We were standby on the 640 delta, which actually left around 945. Gate agent told us we were too far down the standby list to make it. So we left C for B. While waiting to board AA the Delta gate agent called my cell and told me half the flight didn’t show up and he could get us on. We were already at B and just took the AA flight.

The weather didn’t seem to cause major issues at AA. We were monitoring their flights and they did not have the issues DL was having.

My biggest complaint, DL’s terrible communication and the inability to get agents to tell anyone the truth about how bad things were. DL was very slow to update delays.

DCAproducer

DL pilot who was on my AA flight said they were having wider crew issues. He was commuting home to DC.
It sounds like DL leaned on weather, but many of the afternoon issues yesterday were not caused by the am fog.