Singing the tarmac blues

As ones you have just recently returned from a vacation that involved 4 separate flights we feel the pain of those who have been stuck on the tarmac for hours at a time because of flight delays.

And just as we can sympathize with those stuck in a crowded, stuffy cabin, we can also see how the inevitable government intervention into this inconvenience can and will actually make the problem worse.

The nation's recent onslaught of flight cancellations is a harbinger of what passengers can expect from airlines looking to avoid new multimillion-dollar fines for leaving people stranded on grounded planes in bad weather, according to federal data and aviation experts.

The government announced in December it would fine airlines $27,500 per passenger for long tarmac delays — or $2.75 million for a 100-passenger flight.

Cancellations cost far less than a huge fine, especially since seats are routinely prepaid and airlines save fuel cost.

These fines were a result of something called the Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights enacted by the FAA designed to protect passengers, however when one starts extending bills of rights beyond what is in the constitution, the law of unintended consequences kicks and and you have airlines cancelling flights and leaving passengers in the lurch which is cheaper than having passengers stranded on the tarmac for more than 3 hrs.

This rule does not go into effect until April 29th but airlines such as JetBlue have already begun cancelling flights just to get into the swing of things (those learning curves can be a real bitch, sometimes).

All this is a shame and could've been avoided if the airlines had just followed BwD's advice and rolled out the cart in order to serve up some of these to tired and cranky passengers

Plenty of Blame to Go Around in Airline Mess

B-Daddy here. If you're stranded in an airport today and stumbled on our humble little blog by accident, my condolences and best wishes in finding a flight. Godspeed, to coin a phrase. However, don't get angry at the poor woman behind the ticket counter. I have a list of candidates on whom to vent your ire, provided for your consideration.

Some background. In 2006, yeah that long ago, the FAA told the airlines to check wire bundles in the wheel wells of MD-80, MD-88, and MD-90 aircraft. The goal was to ensure that the wires were secured so as to prevent them from becoming chaffed. Purportedly, checks were performed and no chaffing was found. The wiring bundles were also to have been secured to prevent future chaffing. Important point to note, at that time, the airlines were given 18 months to comply.


So why the hubbub? In a second round of spot checks, the FAA found "slack wires, clamps in the wrong position, insulation that was too thick...." blah, blah. OK, there were problems, but why did they then deny American Airlines' request to space out inspections and repairs over several days? After all, they had waited 18 months already.

The answer starts with our Congress. Sen. John Rockefeller, also famous for accusing McCain for knowing nothing of real war, and chair of the Senate aviation sub-committee has been lambasting the FAA repeatedly. Along with other lawmakers, he has asserted a cozy relationship between the agency and the airlines.

So what's a bureaucrat to do? The FAA spinelessly creates a phony crisis that will cost an airline hundreds of millions of dollars and create havoc for the flying public. That'll learn them West Virginian politicians.

Meanwhile, what about the management at American Airlines. Couldn't we fix the wheel well wiring correctly in the first place? Just because you get 18 months to get the job done, does that mean you do it half-a***d?

Finally, what about the highly credentialed union mechanics working for American? I have more than once heard the argument on behalf of unions, that they ensure a trained and qualified work force is on the job in industries important to the welfare and safety of the nation. Not in this case, most of the defects had to do with properly measuring the placement of banding around cable bundles to prevent chaffing and these guys couldn't get it right. The real concern is how they're doing with safety retrofits that are really important.

H/T: San Diego Union-Tribune