5 ms·

Why Delta is still canceling flights as other airlines return to normal

64 points by SonOfKyuss 2y ago

jmugan 2y ago
I was stuck overnight in Atlanta last week (before all of this) because they couldn't find a pilot. They had everyone sitting at the gate until 2am, when they finally gave up and rescheduled the flight for the next day.
- christkv 2y ago
  Not even end on month where it happens more often as pilots run out of hours then can fly in a month.
  - Marsymars 2y ago
    It seems like it would make more sense to limit hours on a 30-day rolling basis rather than based on calendar months.
    - iamtheworstdev 2y ago
      there are rolling limits as well as calendar limits. depends on the airline and union cba.
- pwillia7 2y ago
  Hey this happened to me last week (before all of this) in JFK for the same reason. People even came to the gate while we were on the plane and said the pilot just landed 3 gates away, but he never came to our plane lol. They even ran out of hotel vouchers and were making people go 90 minutes away at 1 AM when the flight was scheduled (and took of at) 6.
  - hex4def6 2y ago
    That sounds infuriating. 3 hours of travel time, plus 20 minutes for hotel check-in, plus 15 minutes for checkout, plus 15 minutes for waiting for the shuttle x 2, plus 10 minutes of walking to the bus stop, and that's 4:15 before you even hit the pillow. That would put you at 5:15 AM, 45 minutes before the plane departs. Delta recommends you be at the airport at least 2 hours before the plane departs. So by their own recommendations, there is no way this could work, even assuming you didn't even head up to the room.
    - grepfru_it 2y ago
      They recommend 2 hours so you are not late due to unforeseen issues at security. But a 5:15 (which is the time most airports actually open) there are only a handful of flights and as such, TSA is lightening fast. So that 2 hour recommendation really drops to about 45 minutes Source: lots of 5:45 flights with the airport security opening at 5:15
3hoss 2y ago
To quote John Mulaney: "Because we're Delta Airlines, and life is a fucking nightmare."
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
paul7986 2y ago
Took about 15 to 20 flights in 2023 and the best experience was Spirit (majority were Spirit out of their hubs); pack things in bookbag, put bookbag under seat, get off plane quickly and saved 1,000s cumulatively. United was the worst due to someone smelling up the plane & they didnt clean the bathroom .. made everyone gag. Everyone hates on Spirit but if you're a frequent traveler who flies lite and likes to travel a lot/ not spend a lot they rock . If you are expecting same level of svc as more expensive airlines then you should spend that extra money.
- trte9343r4 2y ago
  I like Ryanair for similar reasons. "Premium" airlines give you a bit more leg room, but that extra space is filled up with pouch and useless magazines. Budget airlines are in some way better organized and streamlined. For example they do not allow dogs on board, like at all :-)
  - dawnerd 2y ago
    On Delta the pockets are falling apart because they don’t maintain their cabins very well
- elevatedastalt 2y ago
  Feels like a very specific anecdote. There is no reason Spirit planes won't smell or United planed always will.
  - NoPicklez 2y ago
    If you travel light, perhaps that includes the passengers bowels too xD
  - culopatin 2y ago
    Seriously, spirit is like taking a bus. Either you have no experience or a bad one. It’s just to get somewhere cheap. Seats are bad, nickel and dime for everything, customer service is as barebones as it gets. Spirit is a school Chromebook. It works, don’t ask much from it. I on the other hand had the best experiences flying 10-12h flights with both delta and United. United has served me the best foods out of us airlines (butter chicken, perfect food to let it sit in a warm tray, NOT PASTA everyone else. If someone from the food dept of flights reads this, stop it with the disgusting pasta on flights). And delta has always been very easy for me, flight attendants are pleasant and any time I’ve been delayed they have automatically found me a flight without me having to actually call them out. The app is nice, WiFi works, seats are good. The main con is that their hub is Atlanta and that airport is a rats nest.
zaxmyth 2y ago
I’m on a delta flight right now that was delayed because they couldn’t locate one of the flight attendants. Thankfully it was resolved but they are definitely still struggling to sort this all out.
- tomcar288 2y ago
  i was on a flight 2 days ago that was delayed for over 2 hours because they were waiting for one of the flight attendants to show up.
- pylua 2y ago
  Recently in Seattle one airline couldn’t locate the copilot! I couldn’t believe it.
a_bonobo 2y ago
Yet the CEO made 34 million dollars last year https://www.ajc.com/news/business/delta-ceo-ed-bastian-saw-his-compensation-rise-to-34-million-last-year/ZCNCROE645GJNAGEKV6CGSMMZU/ https://www.ajc.com/news/business/delta-ceo-ed-bastian-saw-h... That includes a 20 million dollar bonus ('one-time enhanced award'). One wonders for what?
- pylua 2y ago
  Stock price hasn’t done well. It feels like cronyismc and should be investigated. Meanwhile, while I fly into the Atl, their headquarters, the workers at the airport tell me how they are on food stamps! Come on, America. Wake up.
Havoc 2y ago
Airlines sure seem to like their fragile ancient shitty software. Other sectors roll like that too eg bank but they at least make it work somehow. Airlines seem to regularly deviate from the happy path. The entire sector needs a tech overhaul. And better integration too. Stuff like ATC asking how many people and fuel you’ve got in emergencies…why isn’t that info streamed live?
- bathtub365 2y ago
  If the software industry could reliably overhaul these things without being far over budget and making them demonstrably worse for all involved maybe there’d be more takers.
  - Havoc 2y ago
    Why would it be worse for all?
dfgdgf 2y ago
[flagged]
justinclift 2y ago
When it talks about staff being given "Premium Pay", is that something like double or triple time?
some_random 2y ago
tldr: their crew tracking system was disrupted which has caused cascading problems, similar to what happened to southwest last year
- jakub_g 2y ago
  Related: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34165791 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34165791 "How Southwest Airlines melted down" 283 points on Dec 28, 2022 | 318 comments

64 points by SonOfKyuss 2y ago

I was stuck overnight in Atlanta last week (before all of this) because they couldn't find a pilot. They had everyone sitting at the gate until 2am, when they finally gave up and rescheduled the flight for the next day.

christkv 2y ago
Not even end on month where it happens more often as pilots run out of hours then can fly in a month.
- Marsymars 2y ago
  It seems like it would make more sense to limit hours on a 30-day rolling basis rather than based on calendar months.
  - iamtheworstdev 2y ago
    there are rolling limits as well as calendar limits. depends on the airline and union cba.
pwillia7 2y ago
Hey this happened to me last week (before all of this) in JFK for the same reason. People even came to the gate while we were on the plane and said the pilot just landed 3 gates away, but he never came to our plane lol. They even ran out of hotel vouchers and were making people go 90 minutes away at 1 AM when the flight was scheduled (and took of at) 6.
- hex4def6 2y ago
  That sounds infuriating. 3 hours of travel time, plus 20 minutes for hotel check-in, plus 15 minutes for checkout, plus 15 minutes for waiting for the shuttle x 2, plus 10 minutes of walking to the bus stop, and that's 4:15 before you even hit the pillow. That would put you at 5:15 AM, 45 minutes before the plane departs. Delta recommends you be at the airport at least 2 hours before the plane departs. So by their own recommendations, there is no way this could work, even assuming you didn't even head up to the room.
  - grepfru_it 2y ago
    They recommend 2 hours so you are not late due to unforeseen issues at security. But a 5:15 (which is the time most airports actually open) there are only a handful of flights and as such, TSA is lightening fast. So that 2 hour recommendation really drops to about 45 minutes Source: lots of 5:45 flights with the airport security opening at 5:15

3hoss 2y ago

To quote John Mulaney: "Because we're Delta Airlines, and life is a fucking nightmare."

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

paul7986 2y ago

Took about 15 to 20 flights in 2023 and the best experience was Spirit (majority were Spirit out of their hubs); pack things in bookbag, put bookbag under seat, get off plane quickly and saved 1,000s cumulatively. United was the worst due to someone smelling up the plane & they didnt clean the bathroom .. made everyone gag. Everyone hates on Spirit but if you're a frequent traveler who flies lite and likes to travel a lot/ not spend a lot they rock . If you are expecting same level of svc as more expensive airlines then you should spend that extra money.

trte9343r4 2y ago
I like Ryanair for similar reasons. "Premium" airlines give you a bit more leg room, but that extra space is filled up with pouch and useless magazines. Budget airlines are in some way better organized and streamlined. For example they do not allow dogs on board, like at all :-)
- dawnerd 2y ago
  On Delta the pockets are falling apart because they don’t maintain their cabins very well
elevatedastalt 2y ago
Feels like a very specific anecdote. There is no reason Spirit planes won't smell or United planed always will.
- NoPicklez 2y ago
  If you travel light, perhaps that includes the passengers bowels too xD
- culopatin 2y ago
  Seriously, spirit is like taking a bus. Either you have no experience or a bad one. It’s just to get somewhere cheap. Seats are bad, nickel and dime for everything, customer service is as barebones as it gets. Spirit is a school Chromebook. It works, don’t ask much from it. I on the other hand had the best experiences flying 10-12h flights with both delta and United. United has served me the best foods out of us airlines (butter chicken, perfect food to let it sit in a warm tray, NOT PASTA everyone else. If someone from the food dept of flights reads this, stop it with the disgusting pasta on flights). And delta has always been very easy for me, flight attendants are pleasant and any time I’ve been delayed they have automatically found me a flight without me having to actually call them out. The app is nice, WiFi works, seats are good. The main con is that their hub is Atlanta and that airport is a rats nest.

zaxmyth 2y ago

I’m on a delta flight right now that was delayed because they couldn’t locate one of the flight attendants. Thankfully it was resolved but they are definitely still struggling to sort this all out.

tomcar288 2y ago
i was on a flight 2 days ago that was delayed for over 2 hours because they were waiting for one of the flight attendants to show up.
pylua 2y ago
Recently in Seattle one airline couldn’t locate the copilot! I couldn’t believe it.

a_bonobo 2y ago

Yet the CEO made 34 million dollars last year https://www.ajc.com/news/business/delta-ceo-ed-bastian-saw-his-compensation-rise-to-34-million-last-year/ZCNCROE645GJNAGEKV6CGSMMZU/ https://www.ajc.com/news/business/delta-ceo-ed-bastian-saw-h... That includes a 20 million dollar bonus ('one-time enhanced award'). One wonders for what?

pylua 2y ago
Stock price hasn’t done well. It feels like cronyismc and should be investigated. Meanwhile, while I fly into the Atl, their headquarters, the workers at the airport tell me how they are on food stamps! Come on, America. Wake up.

Havoc 2y ago

Airlines sure seem to like their fragile ancient shitty software. Other sectors roll like that too eg bank but they at least make it work somehow. Airlines seem to regularly deviate from the happy path. The entire sector needs a tech overhaul. And better integration too. Stuff like ATC asking how many people and fuel you’ve got in emergencies…why isn’t that info streamed live?

bathtub365 2y ago
If the software industry could reliably overhaul these things without being far over budget and making them demonstrably worse for all involved maybe there’d be more takers.
- Havoc 2y ago
  Why would it be worse for all?

dfgdgf 2y ago

[flagged]

justinclift 2y ago

When it talks about staff being given "Premium Pay", is that something like double or triple time?

some_random 2y ago

tldr: their crew tracking system was disrupted which has caused cascading problems, similar to what happened to southwest last year

jakub_g 2y ago
Related: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34165791 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34165791 "How Southwest Airlines melted down" 283 points on Dec 28, 2022 | 318 comments