Making nice with mechanics

Call me paranoid, but when I wrote about the real reasons behind mechanical delays a few weeks ago-and my mailbox was subsequently charred with the flames of irate aircraft mechanics-I thought it might be in the interest of my flying future to revisit the subject.

The offending column suggested that airlines routinely claim “mechanical problems” when they want to cancel flights that aren’t full.

It also accused carriers of lying to passengers about the technical trouble. For example, telling passengers on a half-full flight that it’s canceled due to mechanical problems when in fact their plane is working fine but is being yanked to replace a broken plane on heavily-booked flight.

And I hinted that the definition of mechanical problems is as flexible as a wingtip. A flight might get grounded for a clogged toilet or a broken coffeemaker.

“I take offense in your article. You did us a great disservice,” complains mechanic Tony Jilek, who asks that I keep his carrier out of the story. “I have been a line mechanic for the last eight years and have yet to see a flight canceled due to a blocked lavatory or other non-airworthy item.”

When I phoned Jilek, I was surprised to find that we agree more than we disagree. Planes do get swapped when the aircraft destined for a full flight breaks down, although it’s usually before the crew and passengers board, he says. And sometimes planes get grounded for dubious reasons-the other night, for instance, he couldn’t get a jack out from under an aircraft. But he maintains that airlines don’t use bogus excuses to bag empty flights.

“If the Feds caught us doing what you say we’re doing,” he says, “they’d hang us.”

So most of the time when they empty a flight for mechanical reasons, it’s legitimate. I can buy that.

But another technician says so-called “mechanicals” aren’t always cut-and-dried. “I’ve had the aircraft at the gate and then they’ve said, ‘Take it off the gate. We’re switching planes’,” he says. “Then I’ll stop the pilot and ask why, and he’ll make some kind of excuse that won’t make any sense.”

He’s seen flights get canceled because they’re too empty, although he says it’s very uncommon. But he’s frustrated when it happens, partially because it gets written up as mechanical trouble-even though it isn’t. “I have to ask myself, ‘Why am I doing this?’” he says. OK, these faux cancellations, when they happen, aren’t as frequent as I implied. I can live with that.

Perhaps one of the angriest e-mails I got came from a captain for a major carrier. While he doesn’t offer to explain the chronic cancellations, he does ask a few interesting questions: “Is Mr. Elliott a licensed aircraft mechanic?” (No.) “How is this man qualified to speak with authority on airline dispatch reliability?” (I’m not; my sources are.)

He does allow that carriers sometimes stage “marketing cancellations,” i.e. scrapping flights for non-mechanical reasons, such as skimpy passenger loads. But he says it’s highly unusual at his carrier: it has happened to him three times in 13 years of flying.

Even American Airlines got into the act after my cancellation column, issuing a statement titled “Airline Folklore: American Responds to The 10 Biggest Myths in the Airline Business.”

“A customer who sees a flight canceled, looks around and sees a small number of people in the boarding area, and concludes that we have canceled the flight to avoid a loss is drawing the wrong conclusion,” American says. “The explanation is simple: An aircraft serves multiple destinations on any single day.” (In other words, the flight may look empty, but it may well be picking up more folks at the next stop).

In fairness, I should mention that American cancels only slightly more than one percent of its flights for any reason.

If you thought I was going to make nothing but concessions this time around, think again. You see, I got even more e-mails from upset passengers who basically said: “I knew it!”

Atlanta real estate developer J. Robert Ward says he flew the same route to Wilmingon, N.C., every week for two years on a shuttle flight.

“The first flights out of Atlanta in the mornings are guaranteed to start with the announcement that ‘maintenance with the aircraft is required and we should receive word shortly on our new departure time’. They will have you sit there while in fact they are waiting for passengers to show or crew to show. I soon learned to take the second flight out, as it would always depart on schedule with a full load,” he writes.

I can appreciate the perspective of the mechanics as much as readers like Ward. Their input suggests that while bogus delays are uncommon, they happen and when they do, the culprits aren’t the mechanics; they’re the flight directors or vice presidents who manipulate the aircraft schedules.

But don’t worry. I’ll get to them.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

Be the first to comment