Northworst Verdict
By Mitch Berg
Ed notes that he and the First Mate spent three and a half hours on the tarmac before their flight got cancelled.
They got to Cali eventually, anyway.
Not a great reference for Northwest Airlines.
3 Responses to “Northworst Verdict”
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June 8th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Sorry to hear about Mr. Ed’s travel plans. But I get the feeling you are part of the group who feels they have a constitutional right NEVER to be inconvenienced. Working in the bowels of an airline’s operation center I understand the complexities of trying to keep planes on time during a good day. Yesterday was not a good day. While the time on the taxiway was beyond stated policies for pax convenience, me and my fellow co-workers are happy Capt. Ed got to where he wanted to go safely. Yesterday, we had a plane trying to get out of Milwaukee but after sitting on the ground out of the gate waiting for 45 minutes for some person to count the bags and people to enter into the computer system so the crew could legally depart and insure the aircraft was in properly balance and within AFM limits it was caught on the ground with Thunderstorms and soon the airport became part of Lake MI. I heard Air Tran cancelled may flights to MKE and stranded many people as the company chose to reposition aircraft in order to continue their schedule and get those people in other airports that were not flooded.
So if you think you are going to fly to Chicago today you might think again as this advisory from the FAA states
ATCSCC ADVZY 043 ORD/ZAU 06/08/2008 CDM GROUND STOP
CTL ELEMENT: ORD
ELEMENT TYPE: APT
ADL TIME: 1632Z
GROUND STOP PERIOD: 08/1607Z – 08/1729Z
CUMULATIVE PROGRAM PERIOD: 08/1700Z – 09/0359Z
DEP FACILITIES INCLUDED: (ALL+CZY_AP) ZSE ZAB ZLC ZFW ZLA ZAU ZMP
ZDV
ZKC ZME ZID ZMA ZHU ZJX ZOB ZBW ZTL ZNY ZDC ZOA CYHZ CYOW CYUL
CYYZ
PREVIOUS TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 104/39/20.8
NEW TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 300/91/60.0
PROBABILITY OF EXTENSION: HIGH
IMPACTING CONDITION: WEATHER / THUNDERSTORMS
COMMENTS:
081635-081829
08/06/08 16:36 FSB.lxstn03c
This delay is not that of the airlines call it government meddling, global warming or Bush’s fault.
Capt. Ed’s delay could have been due but not limited to Mechanical, Weather, Airway constrictions do to ATC reroutes, Crew’s schedule (most likely the original crew ran into duty time issues of exceeding 15hours) Airport constraints like a newly closed runway or limited gate space because some planes were still on the arriving gate because they could not get out to their destination or any combination there of.
June 8th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
We recently flew United, Minneapolis to Louisville connecting each way at Chicago O’Hare.
No problems until the return flight from O’Hare to MSP. Flight was cancelled, they wouldn’t put us on another until the next day and we had to go via Cleveland. We rented a car instead.
Side note: Ted Nugent was on our plane (Louisville to O’Hare)and just ahead of me there was a young Marine. Ted thanked him for his service and shook his hand as natural as could be. I’m not sure if the kid knew who he was. Just thought it was nice of him.
June 8th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
But I get the feeling you are part of the group who feels they have a constitutional right NEVER to be inconvenienced.
That’d be utterly incorrect. I’m personally extremely philosophical about life’s petty inconveniences.
Working in the bowels of an airline’s operation center I understand the complexities of trying to keep planes on time during a good day. Yesterday was not a good day. While the time on the taxiway was beyond stated policies for pax convenience, me and my fellow co-workers are happy Capt. Ed got to where he wanted to go safely.
No insult is intended to those who actually get the job done.
But those of us who live in the Twin Cities do note that Northwest’s service across the board (not just take-off and land times) is, by industry standards, notso hotso.