WyomingBound

Probably had some space....my wife flew JAC-ATL a few days ago and flying a 757 out of there with about 70 empty seats gave them an option to move people from West to East.

Mountain Explorer

No. You can certainly request return to origin using a "trip in vain" argument. But if you want the miles, you gotta fly the flights

DLASflyer

It's the last week of ski season so flights in and out of JAC are fairly empty. Delta is still running JAC-SLC/ATL/MSP/LAX though so nice to see the creative problem solving.

MSPeconomist

.....and pay for the flights rather than getting a refund for the trip-in-vain ticket.

rylan

So after reading through this yeah there was weather but with it concentrated in Florida, why the meltdown for many other routes? That makes me think they have other problems.

Detroiter

I waited out a most-of-the-day snow delay at PHL at age 14, and did a solo connection through ORD when I was 15, and lived to tell the tale, so I would be pretty chill about letting a high-school senior go on her own, assuming she's of even average maturity and independence.

atldiamond

My guess would be pilots + flight attendants based in Florida who couldn't commute to their duty starts

beachmouse

My first true solo plane trip was in high school going out to Colorado for a science summer camp- a few days before, American called my folks and said they were really overbooked and if they changed my ticket to First Class getting me into DFW, would I be willing to take different flight instead? It sounded fun so I said s yes and it was, though I said end up having to figure out how to do some sort of terminal switch in DFW because my flight into Denver (or maybe it was Colorado Springs) was on a different airline but that ended up being no big deal.

Dawgfan6291

Not going to say Delta isn't running redline on staffing, particularly pilots, because they are. On that note, Delta is hiring about as fast as they possibly can and simplifying the fleet to help fix this issue. Unfortunately this is something that takes time and can't be fixed over night. I think all of the airlines would walk back the big early out packages they did if they could right now. Early COVID they wen't into post 9/11 staffing school of thought (for good reason) and obviously the industry is rebounding WAYYYYYY fast then may expected at that point.

but, its not just based. Delta has a ton of employees that live in Florida and commute to work. So if a ATL 73N pilot's MIA-ATL flight gets canceled, it can cause issues just as much as a crew member on the same flight working out of the MCO base (FAs only).

(not this isn't a Delta only issue. The big 4 all have a pretty big part of their employee population that live in Florida. Ability to commute to work is a positive most of the time but can quickly turn into a negative.)

spudley007

One other thing to add to this is that FAs (and I believe Pilots) have gotten positive space on flights since COVID started. As a result, commuters may choose not to fly to their base a day early or perhaps much earlier in the day as they are guaranteed space on the flight. Unfortunately if the flight cancels, the employee won't be at their base and has a call out. I don't know how many this impacted, but likely some.

MSPeconomist

Sorry but IMO it's still the responsibility of the employee (pilot, FA, or whatever) to get themself to the duty station on time and in good shape for their duties. If not, disciplinary action is appropriate according to the union contract or stated company policies.

Ryno1234

Good call on the medical POA. Just made a note of that. This is our first "rodeo" on this

sdix

Transited thru ATL last Thursday PM from SJC to PBI. Flight delays into PBI and many other places. ATL was a Zoo. Sky Club in B was a nightmare. Lines to get in and lines for the bar and food. They have self service lounge entry machines which seemed to be confusing most PAX. Our connecting flight was changed to F concourse where the lounge was busy but not nearly as crazy.

Flights back on Sunday were also delayed and the lounge in PBI was at more than capacity although we managed to get a window table. As we left the lounge there were probably 25 people in line to get in.

This trip made my wife and I really question the value of a club membership.

Oh, and yes, the central Florida weather was pretty brutal over the weekend.

WillBarrett_68

I don't think anyone disagrees with this in theory.

you do realize that sometimes, even if it is the employees responsibility to be at work on time, they won't actually be there, right?

MSPeconomist

Yes, and most employers have some sort of defined disciplinary policy if it happens too often without an acceptable reason/emergency.