Free Republic

Was the Southwest debacle "the perfect storm"? No, it was not.While you're still stuck at some crowded airport -- perhaps one where the police are telling you that you're trespassing -- the apologies have begun. Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan finally, after more than two days of chaos, offered a heartfelt video of apology. I'm sorry. I meant an utterly robotic video of an apology written, it appeared, by a lawyer. On the heels of wide-scale disruptions, we're working diligently to Safely recover our operation & accommodate displaced Customers & Crews. We know this is unacceptable & sincerely apologize. If...

Airline executives, under a barrage of criticism from the public, lawmakers and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, have sought to shift blame for flight troubles this summer onto the nation’s air traffic control system. But federal data shows that airlines themselves are the biggest reason for delays in recent months and bear responsibility for an unusually high share of cancellations. The numbers, reported by airlines and released this past week by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, also confirm the experiences of many passengers: 2022 has been a rough year for air travel. Federal transportation officials say 88,161 flights were canceled through...

Planning to fly this summer? Good luck. Delays are up. Cancellations, too. Why? Because of the pilot shortage. A pilot shortage? How can this be? Flying is a popular job. Some people fly small planes just for fun. Why aren't there enough commercial pilots? Because the government passed another dumb law. In 2009, after a Colgan Air crash near Buffalo, New York, killed 50 people, Congress decided that airlines could only hire aspiring commercial pilots who already had lots of flight time. Instead of 250 hours, now they have to have 1,500 hours! "That never made any sense," says current...

FAA says problem that caused flight delays has been resolved WASHINGTON (AP) -- Air traffic was snarled and passengers' tempers frayed on Saturday as many flights to and from airports throughout a large swath of the Northeast stretching from New York down to the Carolinas were delayed or cancelled. The Federal Aviation Administration blamed the problem on "technical issues" at an air traffic control center in Leesburg, Va. Around 4 p.m., the agency said the problem had been resolved, and that officials were working to lift any remaining orders to hold planes on the ground. Delays began building about...

Government: The FAA has done an incompetent job of making tiny sequester budget cuts, leading to flight delays across the country. It's time for Congress to haul these people in and make them explain their real priorities. By the Federal Aviation Administration's logic, all it takes is a 5% cut in the FAA's $12.5 billion budget, as the 2011 Budget Control Act requires, to throw the whole air transportation system out of whack. The result? Three-hour delays for 1,200 flights at America's busiest hub airports — including all three in the New York area, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta —...

Yes, you also warned us that we wouldn’t have meat inspections and that children would be denied vaccinations, remember? During Tuesday’s briefing, after the news from the FAA that employee furloughs were starting to cause flight delays (watch the vid at RCP): I find it fascinating that Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Republican Party in the Senate, is decrying the sequester that he decried in the past and then supported. This is a result of the sequester being implemented. We made it clear that there would be these kinds of negative effects if Congress failed to take reasonable action...

Flight delays of up to 3-1/2 hours are expected at some busy U.S. airports this summer because of furloughs of air-traffic controllers, the top U.S. aviation regulator warned on Thursday. The estimate from the Federal Aviation Administration is the first to detail, in minutes and hours, the potential delays from the agency's decision to furlough 10 percent of its staff, starting Sunday, as it struggles to meet budget cuts required under so-called sequestration. Other groups, including the air-traffic controller's union, have warned of potentially long delays and reduced capacity to handle airplanes, which could force airlines to cut flights. But...

By ALAN ZIBEL AP Business Writer WASHINGTON — U.S. airline delays are at their highest level in at least 13 years, and analysts say fliers can expect more of the same for the rest of the summer. The Department of Transportation on Monday said the industry's on-time performance in the first six months of the year was its worst since the agency began gathering comparable data in 1995. In June, nearly a third of domestic flights on major U.S. airlines were late. Part of the explanation for the worsening delays is that demand for air travel is rising, both on...

It's just me, my son, and my Treo PDA at the Denver Intl airport this evening and I'm not sure when I'll get out of here. Supposedly a broken windshield has held up the plane making my April 1, 5:50p.m. Sun Country flight a 12:30a.m. April 2 flight. I got an 8 dollar meal voucher and we get a $100 credit towards a future flight. Does that sound like standard for such inconvenience?