Newark, Atlanta, Chicago air travelers hurry up to wait

[question everything]

Article Last Updated: 8/08/2005 10:37 AM

Newark, Atlanta, Chicago air travelers hurry up to wait

The New York Times
LA Daily News

Pity the passengers on AirTran Flight 576, which is supposed to leave Atlanta every afternoon at 4:54 p.m. and arrive at Newark Airport in New Jersey at 7:07 p.m. When it actually gets there, however, is almost anyone's guess.

That is because Flight 576 has the dubious distinction of being late more often 72 percent of the time than any other flight in the United States during the past 12 months, according to government data.

As dismal as that might sound, some travelers have had it even worse this year. Six different flights from airlines including United, Delta, Independence Air and AirTran were delayed 100 percent of the time for a full month this year. The Transportation Department defines a delayed flight as one that departed or arrived at least 15 minutes late.

This is not a good period for time-conscious air travelers. Data from the Transportation Department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics last week showed that this was shaping up to be the worst year for departure delays since 2000. Through June, nearly one in five flights, or 17 percent, left airports late.

More..
http://www2.dailynews.com/news/ci_2922250

[PennyK]

1. Read this article today...

...my husband just called to say that his flight from Detroit will be several hours late...they noticed a HOLE in the body of the plane, and are soldering! The flight there was delayed, too. What else is new?

[eternalburn]

2. My son's flight this morning was delayed........

He was flying out of O'Hare to Charlotte NC. The weird thing was the reason for the delay on the United website was "because of customer service". That was then changed to "because of air traffic control". I say weird because I have never seen either of those reasons listed as cause of delay.

My son just landed so I will be interested in finding out what happened on his end.

[warrens]

3. They;re adding on a half hour to the actual flight time

I've been taking off late most of the time recently, but five out of six flights I took actually landed early. That's because they listed a 1:05 flight from Buffalo to Chicago as taking two hours, for instance.

[Karenina]

4. When is "Discovery" spose ta land?

I console myself with the idea that if any ONE of the crew is destined to speak the truth to power, that tin-can will land safely.