lougord99

Maybe.

Unless you work in Dallas, you have no basis in fact for this statement.

Kensterfly

MOST of these statements (guesses) about why flights were cancelled have no basis in fact. Being a passenger on a plane gives you no more expertise in flight dispatch than having your tonsils out makes you a surgeon.

We have NO real idea of what's going on in the background. People freak out when they hear about a weather delay at their airport which is under sunny skies. They don't have a clue if that plane was delayed upline by weather earlier in the day. Or maybe it was held for connecting pax from a flight that was delayed by weather 2000 miles away. All people know is what they see out of their own little window but they think that makes them omniscient.

Also curious how someone could know that a WN plane was only booked to 31 people. Is that information publicly available?

OPNLguy

Specific flight booking info (as far as seats booked/available) is visible for employees on an internal site when they go to "list" for a flight, but the same info isn't available elsewhere to the general public, AFAIK.

As far as your other comments, I agree, and it's interesting that so many people have their own definitive opinions despite only being supported by anecdotal observations and personal experiences. I've explained many times (in various threads) why flights actually get cancelled, including rationales, but it's clear people believe otherwise. That's fine, but I find some of these posts humorous...

rsteinmetz70112

I usually ask the GA how full the flight will be and the usually tell me the number of passengers booked. So passengers can find out.

I agree many of the posts claiming proof are not really proof.

The poster above who claimed a flight was canceled because the plane sat at the gate overnight is one.

How long were the passengers delayed?

Is it possible that flight was canceled and passengers accomidated on other flights because that made the plane availible to replace another plane that couldn't get into position because of mechanical or weather problems? Thereby preventing cancellation of a flight or flights affecting hundreds of passengers.

formeraa

Me too. In addition to working in the airline industry for a while, I also studied airline economics and management in school.

"My flight is ALWAYS canceled" usually means Flight 1234 was canceled a couple of times when I was scheduled to fly on it. If I really believed it was part of a pattern, I would call/write SW Customer Relations and point out how inconvenient the cancellation of Flight 1234 has been for me. They will forward it to the correct department for review and consideration.

Or we can speculate endlessly on this board, which can lead to fun discussions!

IWannaGoWhereItsWarm.

Sorry to veer, but-I love to hear that one can study airline management in Uni. Did this go toward your BA plan in B management, or was it a major? Sounds interesting! I'd like to know as someone I know would love to get into something aviation besides crew, ground, ops etc. Thanks.

Kensterfly

Virtually all management first rose through the ranks as gate/ramp/ops agents then supervisors then asst departmental managers (ramp/ops/customer service) then department managers, assistant station manager, station manager, etc.
Titles vary among airlines. You could have MBA in Airline Management and still have to start at the bottom. Which is as it should be. You don't really learn it until you do it. And having actually done it will give you much more credibility with those whom you manage.