CRJ-900 Reliability / Cancelation Process
 

I was booked on flight 3409 (crj-900) next tuesday(10/9) MSN-MSP. In the last week, I have been watching this flight and I would miss my connection to SEA 3 out of the 6 days. I think at least 2 days were mechanical.

Tonight (Sunday) I was checking and noticed the 10/9 flight was already canceled and I was rescheduled on a later flight. After a phone call I got changed to an earlier flight. About 2 hours later, I was looking on the site and NWA has a CRJ-200 leaving at the same time (12:10pm) with a different flight number 3303(almost no seats occupied)!!

Why do they make everyone reschedule their flight/time due to aircraft substitution? Yes I know that the 200 has about 26 less seats but the majority of people would not have to make changes. The new flight has almost no seats occupied because they rebooked everyone on different flights. It appears that Tuesday is the only day they have substituted the 200 for the 900.

Could be because Mesaba operates the 900 while Pinnacle operates the 200. You are not just flying a substitured aircraft, the airline has also changed.

33XX CRh200 flights are operated by Mesaba. I know that there is a training backup with the 900 pilots and that is affecting some flights. It's not that we don't have the pilots, they're just waiting to finish training. There are only a handful of simulators worldwide that they can use for training. The other issue with the 900 is that it has been less that reliable maintenance wise and Mesaba is working through the teething process of having a new a/c type.

When things go wrong with the 900, this is what typically I've noticed happening. They'll sacrifice a shorter 900 sector and downgage the equipment. If a -200 is available they'll use that. They'll cancel the 900 flight and create a -200 flight number and rebook on that one. Then if the 200 needs downgaging, it becomes a saab. I have flown both 200 and 900 downgaged flights, with some very surprised people.

In any case, with a canceled flight, NWA will accomodate you on an available flight.


AZJ

Both operated by Mesaba
 

Good thought but both appear to be operated by Mesaba. It may have to do with what AZJ mentioned in this thread. I think they just screwed up by not setting up the new flight before cancelling the old one. The mainline flight numbers don't relate to a plane type.

Thanks AZJ, very informative as always. I guess I was quoting you the same time you were replying.

The rebooking process ahead of time is done by NWA and the cancelations and reinstatments/fleet swapping is done by Mesaba. Though closely aligned, they are two different airlines.

I suspect the flight numbers corresponding to fleet type at Mesaba could have something to do with the way Mesaba is paid by NWA. Or, it could be just for organization sake, for crew planning sake or some other random reason.

Maybe NWA can put you back on the originally scheduled flight time if you explain.

AZJ