Forum - Airline delays expected to get worse

Flight delays at worst level in 13 years by Alan Zibel, AP Writer

U.S. flight 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 1995, the earliest periord for wich the agency has comparable data. 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 major airlines and on smaller regional carriers. In addition, the government said weather-related delays in Jume were up 7 percent from a year ago.

Reports of mishandled baggage and complaints filed with the government also rose.

Airline consultant Robert Mann said U.S. carriers improved their financial health in recent years by relying more on small 40-80 seat jets which are easier to fill up, and can be more profitable because there are fewer empty seats. However, this strategy also leads to more crowded skies and runways in a system "that was already saturated," Mann said.

For June, U.S. airlines' on-time arrival rate was just above 68 percent , compared with roughly 73 percent a year earlier, according to Department of Transportation data. So far in 2007, nearly 25 percent of flights on the 20 largest carriers have arrived late, the agency said.

Travelers on Skywest Inc.'s Alantic Sowteast Airlines, a regional carrrier for Delta Air Lines Inc., had it worst in June, as about 56 percent of flights arrived on time. AMR Corp.'s American Airlines was barely better, with an on-time arrival rate of about 58 percent. US Airways Group Inc., had an on-time rate of about 62 percent.

The airline industry blames the increased delays on a lack of a modern satallite-based air traffic control system, combined with increasin demand.

"We're not surprised by the numbers," said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, the airlines' trade grouup have been saying for some time: "It's going to get worse before it get better."

The industry, along with the Federal Aviation Administration, has been pushing for a sweeping upgrade to the existing radar-based system, but has been caught up in an intense political battle who will foot the bill - big airlines or users of smaller aircraft like corprotate jets. Lawmakers face a Sept. 30 deadline before the current funding system expires.

Reports of lost, damaged, delayed or stolen baggage rose to 7.9 percent per 1,000 passengers in June, up from 6.3 per 1,000 last years complaints about airline service filed with the government rose 43 percent from last June.

My own opinon is that this is a bunch of BS. The airlines have abopted the smaller planes and shorter routes in order to avoid feeding passengers. If a fllight is less than 4 hours the airlines are not required to provide meals. Also, with the TSA's BS about bringing in bottled water, the airports are making money off passengers forced to buy their water inside the airports. $3.99 for a $.99 bottle of water. Not only this but the fees they charge for food.

I know that there are a lot more problems with flights and baggage than are reported. When I have traveled and my check on luggage has been checked by TSA I always end up with things missing. To file a report you are given a different phone number to call then you are directed to a web site. This is all planned to cut down on the number of complaints.

I, now, always buy travelers insurance when I fly. I have had batteries, battery chargers and remote control cammera equiptment stolen. Any one can get a job with TSA or working baggage in an airport. They are right about one thing: It is going to get worse.

I wonder if seeing as travel demands are up if they are also slacking on repairs to airplanes and pushing them to thier limits. Have you ever watched shows on airline crashes and seen the cause of some of these downed planes? Sometimes they will do temporary fixes to get planes back out there and then it is forgotten about and then the bolts etc... could come lose in the future.

That's very true. I just read the story of the SnowBird pilot who's crash was caused because his seat belt malfunctioned. Come on. It's a military aircraft and they let it go for 5 yrs because it's an air show air craft and not a combat one that is rediculous.

Interesting. And what type of plane was this Snow Bird?

I really don't remember the model but it is one of the airplane in the Canadian Air Force, along the same modle that the Blue Angles use for air shows. I've seen them both at the Reno Air Races. Quite a great show.

The article was in a Vancouver, B.C. news paper a couple of days before I posted this topic. If you're from BC you would have a better chance of searching the web for it than I.

If any one is from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, would you, please, send me the names of the new papers there? They had an article about the honey bee population dying off and I'd like to use that article for some research I'm doing for a BioTech class I've been asked to speak to.

Thanks

Paul, a good starting point for you is the www.canada.com website. Beside the canada.com logo at the top of the page is a drop-down link where you can select from a number of newspapers across Canada. The Vancouver newspapers are the Vancouver Sun and The Province.

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dominixe,

Thank you, very much, for the links. I actually spoke with the instructor of the class the other night and he told me he had watched a PBS Nova program and it had a lot of information on the honey bee problem.

He mentioned he was, specifically, watching for the info I had given him from the Newspaper I read. I believe it was The Province.

Thanks, again. You've been a great help to me!

More travel delays expected.

Chertoff: Tougher ID rules for borders By EILEEN SULLIVAN and DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writers
51 minutes ago



New border-crossing rules that take effect in two weeks will mean longer lines and stiffer demands for ID, including for returning Americans, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday.

A driver's license won't be good enough to get Americans past a checkpoint at the Canadian or Mexican border, Chertoff said. That will be a surprise to many people who routinely cross the border with Canada, but Chertoff bristled at criticism that such extra security would be inconvenient. More than 800,000 people enter the U.S. through land and sea ports each day.

"It's time to grow up and recognize that if we're serious about this threat, we've got to take reasonable, measured but nevertheless determined steps to getting better security," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Thousands of people enter the U.S. through land crossings every day. The biggest effect of the change will be at the Canadian border since it applies to both Canadians and Americans. Non-Americans coming in through Mexico already need extra documentation.

Congressional critics representing Northern border states were anything but impressed with Chertoff's rhetoric.

His department has proved incapable of implementing a 2004 law on border security, and Chertoff "frankly has as much credibility on telling people to 'grow up' as Geoffrey the Giraffe," said Rep. Tom Reynolds, a Buffalo-area Republican.

Added Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, "Secretary Chertoff's comments that those objecting to the plan need to 'grow up' indicates that the department still doesn't understand the practical effects of DHS policies on the everyday lives of border community residents."

Sen. Patrick Leahy, Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the move does nothing to enhance security and will only hurt the economy. "When it comes to the Northern Border, the muddled thinking and poor planning at DHS seems to have no bounds, and the agency that botched Katrina seems to have no shame and no memory to boot," Leahy said.

Under the new system, which takes effect Jan. 31, Americans and Canadians who are 19 or older will have to present proof of citizenship when they seek to enter the United States through a land or sea port of entry. A passport will be fine. Or a birth certificate coupled with some other ID such as a driver's license.

Chertoff said he had been surprised to learn that simply stating "I am an American" and showing an ID card has been sufficient to get back into the country. "I don't think in this day and age we can afford the honor system for entering the United States," he said. "Regrettably, we live in a world in which people lie sometimes about their identity."

For people other than Americans or Canadians, the rules at the northern border will be unchanged — passports and visas will still be required. The same goes for non-Americans at the Mexican border.

Chertoff said longer lines at the border in the early days of the new policy are inevitable. "Until people get the message, there will be some delays," he said.

He predicted that would change once people got used to the new system, and he said border agents would be flexible in applying the new rules at the beginning.

Not moving to the new restrictions would be a tragic mistake, Chertoff said. "I can guarantee if we don't make this change, eventually there will come a time when someone will come across the border exploiting the vulnerabilities in the system and some bad stuff will happen. And then there'll be another 9/11 commission and we'll have people come saying 'Why didn't we do this?'"

More than 8,000 different documents have been used to enter the United States, in some cases even library cards. The proof-of-citizenship requirement will greatly reduce the ability to sneak by border agents with fake papers, Chertoff said. Border agents will now accept about two dozen types of ID.

Chertoff complained as recently as a year ago that checking birth certificates placed an "enormous burden" on agents because such documents come from thousands of jurisdictions and are hard to verify.

The Bush administration envisions an eventual passport requirement for everyone crossing the border into the United States. Congress passed a travel requirements law in 2004 but is having second thoughts, particularly as Northern-state lawmakers argue the passport requirement will hurt tourism and trade.

The law's requirements for air travelers in 2007 were followed by a massive backlog in passport applications, and some fear that will happen again this year as Homeland Security tries to go forward with the changes for land and sea crossings.

Also beginning in February, people can apply for a passport card that will be smaller than a regular passport but will include security features.

The 2004 law, passed in reaction to the Sept. 11 attacks, is called the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, designed to "get control" of the borders by verifying the citizenship and identity of everyone entering the U.S. by land, sea or air from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

In June, Chertoff delayed the law's passport requirement for land and sea crossings until next summer. Congress has since pushed it back even further to June 2009, and Chertoff has been forced to settle for birth certificates combined with other forms of ID as proof of citizenship.

___

On the Net:

Department of Homeland Security: http://www.dhs.gov

Thanks Paul for putting all this information up. It's very informative as well. I also have heard about the newer tough rules on ID's coming soon. I sure hope that they get things together soon because it could really cause a lot of problems for anyone and everyone who travels a lot. I sure hope that it all gets a lot better before I start traveling more too. I hope you have a great weekend as well!
Kisses,
12pleaseu

Don't they use F-18 the Hornets???

Only the U.S. Navy and Air Force use the F 18. The Canadian Air Force uses one of their planes.

I also heard that they are starting to open a new area to airport somewhere in New York to relieve some of the overflow of passengers. That may just help. Hopefully, other states will try to do the same sometime later too.
Kisses,
12pleaseu

Another way of saving fuel for the Airlines so expect longer delays and flights.


Airlines slow down flights to save on fuel
By JOHN WILEN, AP Business Writer Posted Thu May 1, 2008 12:24pm PDT

In this April 3, 2008 file photo, a jet plane prepares to land at San Francisco International Airport, taken from San Francisco Bay. Airlines have found something in common with consumers struggling with fuel costs: Like drivers on a highway, they can get more miles per gallon, and save money, by simply slowing down. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, file)
NEW YORK - Drivers have long known that slowing down on the highway means getting more miles to the gallon. Now airlines are trying it, too — adding a few minutes to flights to save millions on fuel.

Southwest Airlines started flying slower about two months ago, and projects it will save $42 million in fuel this year by extending each flight by one to three minutes.

On one Northwest Airlines flight from Paris to Minneapolis earlier this week alone, flying slower saved 162 gallons of fuel, saving the airline $535. It added eight minutes to the flight, extending it to eight hours, 58 minutes.

That meant flying at an average speed of 532 mph, down from the usual 542 mph.

"It's not a dramatic change," said Dave Fuller, director of flight operations at JetBlue, which began flying slower two years ago.

But the savings add up. JetBlue adds an average of just under two minutes to each flight, and saves about $13.6 million a year in jet fuel. Adding just four minutes to its flights to and from Hawaii saves Northwest Airlines $600,000 a year on those flights alone.

United Airlines has invested in flight planning software that helps pilots choose the best routes and speeds. In some cases, that means planes fly at lower speeds. United estimates the software will save it $20 million a year.

"What we're doing is flying at a more consistent speed to save fuel," said Megan McCarthy, a United spokeswoman.

United expects to pay $3.31 a gallon for fuel this year — not much less than what the average American driver pays for a gallon of unleaded at the pump. Southwest, which has an aggressive fuel hedging program, expects to pay about $2.35.

Fliers, already beleaguered by higher fares, more delays and long security lines, may not even notice the extra minutes. The extra flight time is added to published flight schedules or absorbed into the extra time already built into schedules for taxiing and traffic delays.

"If saving fuel costs me a few extra minutes out of my day, then ... my inconvenience is nothing," said Leah Nichols, a television producer who lives in San Francisco and was fresh off a flight at Newark Liberty International Airport, waiting for a train to New York. "I'm cool with that."

David Gannalo, a Phoenix financial software company executive, is more than willing to give up four minutes to help airlines cut costs.

"Anything that helps the airlines, you know, because they're going bankrupt left and right," Gannalo said. "Anything that helps them out will probably be good for the industry in the long term."

Across the board, airlines are feeling the pain of higher energy prices. For jet fuel delivered at New York Harbor, the spot price — airlines pay it when they need more fuel than they've already locked down in a contract — has jumped 73 percent in the past year, to $3.54 a gallon, according to government data.

Airlines are trying other measures as well to deal with higher fuel costs, including raising fares, adding fuel surcharges to tickets and charging extra for a second checked bag rather than a third.

It's a tough time for the airline industry. Several smaller airlines have filed for bankruptcy protection in recent weeks, many citing high fuel costs. Fuel costs have also resulted in sharp first-quarter losses by some airlines.

Not every airline is taking the slowdown approach.

"We have the flying schedule to protect," said John Hotard, a spokesman for American Airlines. He said the carrier does other things to save fuel — for instance, installing small vertical stabilizers called winglets to the ends of some aircraft wings, which boosts fuel efficiency by improving aerodynamics.

American also tries to keep its planes plugged in to ground-based power and air conditioning for as long as possible to conserve fuel, and pushes air traffic controllers to assign its flights to altitudes where they will have less headwind or greater tailwind. Many other airlines have adopted similar measures.

Slowing flights down isn't a magic bullet. It can help airlines conserve fuel, but it can also lead to greater labor and maintenance costs if airline employees work longer hours and planes spend more time in service, said Bob Mann, an independent airline consultant based in Port Washington, N.Y.

And slowing down to conserve fuel can only be pushed so far: Below a certain speed — which varies depending on the plane — an aircraft's fuel usage can actually rise.

Airlines must strike a delicate balance, seeking an aircraft's "sweet spot" on fuel use without slowing down so much that other costs, and flight delays, rise, Mann said: "Everything's a tradeoff."

Consumer advocates say the extra minutes shouldn't matter.

"If it means that airlines can keep their costs down, keep their ticket prices down, and save a little fuel, that's fine," said Travis Plunkett, legislative director at the Consumer Federation of America.

But others doubt the change will result in lower fares any more than previous cost cutting, such as eliminating meals or taking away blankets.

"I don't think so," Mann said. "When they took off the mystery meat, did they lower fares?"

___

AP Business Writer Joshua Freed in Minneapolis contributed to this report.