Most frequent travelers are used to delays. Realistically, we know they happen. But the single thing that makes most people crazy is being lied to. Or, given a partial explanation that makes no sense.
Over and over, airlines seem to have the policy of parceling out information like they do award seats — as scantily as possible.
Last Friday was a beautiful day in San Francisco. It was a sunny warm day in New York. United’s 10:40 a.m. flight to JFK was delayed. Ostensibly, according to the gate agent for air traffic delays, due to weather.
Suffice it to stay, my client with dinner plans in New York was not amused. Especially as American’s 11:45 a.m. flight was on time, along with Virgin America’s flight at 9:35 a.m. and JetBlue’s 10:32 a.m. flight. All flying the same route. But the gate agent apparently continued to answer frustrated passengers, “It’s weather.”
(Now, in the days before ubiquitious cell-phones, that kind of excuse might have worked. But while all passengers may not have been calling their travel agents, many of them no doubt were talking to people in New York who were giving them the same report my client’s daughter provided.)
Because there WERE scattered thunderstorms at United’s Chicago hub, maybe somehow that did affect the nonstop San Francisco to JFK flight. Indeed, finally on the plane, the pilot did say vaguely to passengers once they had taken off, about 2 1/2 hours later, that there had been “flow-control” issues in the midwest.
Which doesn’t explain why three other airlines were able to fly without delays. Maybe each airline had a limited number of flights they could land and United had too many, maybe they flew slightly different routes, who knows. As my client said, I know they’re not TRYING to be late, had they just explained it in a way that made sense, I wouldn’t have been so frustrated.
United is far from the only culprit, however, on the misleading or insufficient delay information, and no doubt Consumer Traveler readers could compile a book of stories. “Weather” seems to be the most common excuse, even when it’s a pilot who overslept, a late-arriving plane that had an mechanical delay, or a catering problem.
(How did I learn of the three above examples? Two were from grouchy flight attendants on board who were only too happy to spill the beans on their employer to a sympathetic ear, the late-arriving aircraft was easy to trace in our travel agent computer. Often, delay reasons will be listed in those computers, and they may or may not match what passengers are told at the airport.)
Now, knowing the reason for the delay doesn’t get passengers to their destinations any faster, but personally, it’s easier to take when I’m not being told something I know is absurd.
While we’re at it, what about a limit on time without information at the airport or while sitting on a plane? Again, it may not fix the problem any faster, but it’s at least less maddening to be told ‘I know we said we’d be boarding/pushing back in a few minutes, but ‘fill in information here’ is delaying things a little further, we’ll keep updating you.”
Every once in a while, a pilot or gate agent will give that sort of an update. But more often it’s an announcement of a few minute delay, and then absolute silence for 15-20 minutes, which not only leads to more passenger worrying, but also makes it difficult to use the delay time for anything constructive.
Plus, it’s not like most travelers can’t handle the truth. Or at least more of it then they commonly get. I will admit there are limits. Once on a short flight from Cincinnati to Chicago, the pilot, who was doing a good job of communication, announced to the passengers that we would be delayed another 10 minutes because we had been “over-fueled” for a more than half-empty and he wanted them to remove the excess.
Which was true, although the plane was so empty I was the only passenger who had been upgraded, and had been chatting with the flight attendant during the delay. He knew I was in the industry, and confided to me while the truck removed fuel, that basically the pilot informed the airline that he wasn’t flying at our light weight with full fuel tanks, because he didn’t want to take the chance of catching fire upon landing.
Probably a good thing not to have made THAT announcement.
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
