Comments on: And the airline with the most cancellations in June is … http://www.elliott.org/blog/and-the-airline-with-the-most-cancellations-in-june-is/ Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott's site. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:25:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: hoffnung http://www.elliott.org/blog/and-the-airline-with-the-most-cancellations-in-june-is/comment-page-1/#comment-2434 hoffnung Sat, 11 Aug 2007 22:05:01 +0000 http://beta.elliott.org/photos/and-the-airline-with-the-most-cancellations-in-june-is/#comment-2434 Several qualifications I would suggest: 1. I guessed A Eagle, as I've been folowing the stories and knew it wouldn't be NW, but as the commuters fly smaller planes, hence psgr numbers, the numbers on NW are likely to be more significant and more likely to raise the antennae of newsdoggies looking for a story 2. some of NW's reported weather-related canc are likely bogus, as no such signif weather events were reported for other carriers operating from same airports on same dates. 3. Steenland's apology was as much devoted to shifting blame as to anything that seemed a sincere act of contrition. I didn't see any tears. 4. Reports from DOT of flite canc numbers do not include those done over a wk in adv of flite, but NW was doing a lot of those in early month to pretty up the official stats for July. I think it strains belief to imagine they weren't doing it in 6-07 as well. Regards, W Hoffnung Several qualifications I would suggest:
1. I guessed A Eagle, as I’ve been folowing the stories and knew it wouldn’t be NW, but as the commuters fly smaller planes, hence psgr numbers, the numbers on NW are likely to be more significant and more likely to raise the antennae of newsdoggies looking for a story
2. some of NW’s reported weather-related canc are likely bogus, as no such signif weather events were reported for other carriers operating from same airports on same dates.
3. Steenland’s apology was as much devoted to shifting blame as to anything that seemed a sincere act of contrition. I didn’t see any tears.
4. Reports from DOT of flite canc numbers do not include those done over a wk in adv of flite, but NW was doing a lot of those in early month to pretty up the official stats for July. I think it strains belief to imagine they weren’t doing it in 6-07 as well.
Regards,
W Hoffnung

]]> By: Robbie http://www.elliott.org/blog/and-the-airline-with-the-most-cancellations-in-june-is/comment-page-1/#comment-2433 Robbie Tue, 07 Aug 2007 19:52:06 +0000 http://beta.elliott.org/photos/and-the-airline-with-the-most-cancellations-in-june-is/#comment-2433 I returned to the east coast from western Illinois yesterday via Northwest Air, connecting through Minneapolis. My flight was to be 1022, MSP to EWR, scheduled to depart at 12:55 p.m.. When I got to Minneapolis, 1022 was listed as a 2 p.m. departure due to traffic congestion. We boarded beginning at 1:30 and all was looking good. I checked my PDA/phone at 2 (when nothing much had happened) and the NW website now listed the departure as 3 p.m. Within minutes, the flight attendant announced that our departure had been pushed back another hour (I'm not sure if that was the 2 to 3 push back or yet another push to 4 p.m.) and that the flight, therefore, would be cancelled. The full plane of passengers was asked to gather all of their belongings and reture to the terminal to be rebooked. I phoned my husband while waiting to deboard and had him pull up my reservation which said I had been rebooked on NW1044, originally scheduled to leave at 3 p.m. and now showing a 4:30 departure. That flight did depart just after 4 p.m. for a wheels up of 4:15. As I exited the plane (knowing I had my rebooking and knowing that I could get a new boarding card at any kiosk or desk), I viewed 50-100 passengers lined up at the departure gate desk hoping to get on new flights. A real zoo! With NW cancelling so many flights, it really pays to be a frequent flyer and an electronic flyer too! I returned to the east coast from western Illinois yesterday via Northwest Air, connecting through Minneapolis. My flight was to be 1022, MSP to EWR, scheduled to depart at 12:55 p.m.. When I got to Minneapolis, 1022 was listed as a 2 p.m. departure due to traffic congestion. We boarded beginning at 1:30 and all was looking good. I checked my PDA/phone at 2 (when nothing much had happened) and the NW website now listed the departure as 3 p.m. Within minutes, the flight attendant announced that our departure had been pushed back another hour (I’m not sure if that was the 2 to 3 push back or yet another push to 4 p.m.) and that the flight, therefore, would be cancelled. The full plane of passengers was asked to gather all of their belongings and reture to the terminal to be rebooked.

I phoned my husband while waiting to deboard and had him pull up my reservation which said I had been rebooked on NW1044, originally scheduled to leave at 3 p.m. and now showing a 4:30 departure. That flight did depart just after 4 p.m. for a wheels up of 4:15.

As I exited the plane (knowing I had my rebooking and knowing that I could get a new boarding card at any kiosk or desk), I viewed 50-100 passengers lined up at the departure gate desk hoping to get on new flights. A real zoo!

With NW cancelling so many flights, it really pays to be a frequent flyer and an electronic flyer too!

]]> By: Christopher http://www.elliott.org/blog/and-the-airline-with-the-most-cancellations-in-june-is/comment-page-1/#comment-2432 Christopher Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:03:17 +0000 http://beta.elliott.org/photos/and-the-airline-with-the-most-cancellations-in-june-is/#comment-2432 Does whomever compiles these statistics take the airlines' word for it when they say a flight was cancelled due to weather, or do they actually investigate? Does whomever compiles these statistics take the airlines’ word for it when they say a flight was cancelled due to weather, or do they actually investigate?

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