jetcareers - View Single Post - Airline

SteveC · August 31st, 2004, 13:10

Sounds to me like NWA did a pretty good job overall, but unfortunately came up just a little short.

1. Turning the plane in JAX in less than 20 minutes takes some good work and coordination by quite a few people.

2. Quick flight from JAX to DTW (10 minutes faster than posted) - we'll give credit for that one to the weather gods (with a little assist from pilots and ATC maybe).

3. FA's asking pax to allow connectors to deplane first is a good attempt to help.

4. Someone made the (unpopular) decision to keep the departing flights on time, hopefully keeping literally hundreds of subsequent passengers happy, rather than hold it for a couple of people.

A couple of additional thoughts / questions:

- Since adreamer was departing DTW from Terminal B he was on either Pinnacle or Mesaba to AZO. I'm curious on how much *pull* NWA gate agents have with the regional carriers in this kind of situation? Would a phone call from his incoming gate agent to the Pinnacle / Mesaba gate agent be enough for them to hold the plane (assuming the flight delay would be, say, less than 5 minutes)? Or are the regional's on-time performace numbers (remembering that holding this flight could easily snowball down the plane's schedule) more important to them than keeping the mainline gate agent happy?

- Was this the last flight of the day to AZO? Was the plane RON in AZO or was it returning to DTW? Makes a difference on the decision whether to hold the plane or not. If it has to come back to DTW and those subsequent passengers have connections to meet it is much more difficult to hold the flight for those two people. If the plane stays overnight in AZO then it should be a no-brainer to hold the flight.

- What was the scheduled arrival time in DTW versus the actual arrival time? I know he said they got in 10 minutes early, but early compared to the *new* scheduled arrival (after late departure from JAX), or 10 minutes earlier than the original schedule? I have a very hard time believing that they could be on the ground early compared to the original schedule, and still miss the connecting flight. I fly through DTW regularly, and other than the first month or so of operation of the new terminal, I have never seen a plane wait for a gate more than 5 or 10 minutes. I'm presuming that the original mechanical problem causing the flight to be late into JAX caused them to arrive DTW too close to the connecting flight departure time.

August 31st, 2004, 13:10	#16
SteveC Moderator Join Date: May 2003 Location: GRR Posts: 8,455	Re: Airline - Quality service and ticket prices Sounds to me like NWA did a pretty good job overall, but unfortunately came up just a little short. 1. Turning the plane in JAX in less than 20 minutes takes some good work and coordination by quite a few people. 2. Quick flight from JAX to DTW (10 minutes faster than posted) - we'll give credit for that one to the weather gods (with a little assist from pilots and ATC maybe). 3. FA's asking pax to allow connectors to deplane first is a good attempt to help. 4. Someone made the (unpopular) decision to keep the departing flights on time, hopefully keeping literally hundreds of subsequent passengers happy, rather than hold it for a couple of people. A couple of additional thoughts / questions: - Since adreamer was departing DTW from Terminal B he was on either Pinnacle or Mesaba to AZO. I'm curious on how much pull NWA gate agents have with the regional carriers in this kind of situation? Would a phone call from his incoming gate agent to the Pinnacle / Mesaba gate agent be enough for them to hold the plane (assuming the flight delay would be, say, less than 5 minutes)? Or are the regional's on-time performace numbers (remembering that holding this flight could easily snowball down the plane's schedule) more important to them than keeping the mainline gate agent happy? - Was this the last flight of the day to AZO? Was the plane RON in AZO or was it returning to DTW? Makes a difference on the decision whether to hold the plane or not. If it has to come back to DTW and those subsequent passengers have connections to meet it is much more difficult to hold the flight for those two people. If the plane stays overnight in AZO then it should be a no-brainer to hold the flight. - What was the scheduled arrival time in DTW versus the actual arrival time? I know he said they got in 10 minutes early, but early compared to the new scheduled arrival (after late departure from JAX), or 10 minutes earlier than the original schedule? I have a very hard time believing that they could be on the ground early compared to the original schedule, and still miss the connecting flight. I fly through DTW regularly, and other than the first month or so of operation of the new terminal, I have never seen a plane wait for a gate more than 5 or 10 minutes. I'm presuming that the original mechanical problem causing the flight to be late into JAX caused them to arrive DTW too close to the connecting flight departure time.