How is flying going near you?

[kelkel2]

Are the airlines still canceling crazy amounts of flights and are people still having issues with luggage arriving? I keep seeing stories on social media about flying disasters but is it still widespread? 
We fly Delta in January and we will have a connecting flight there and back. Leaving the day before our cruise. We did say if something crazy happened we would be willing to drive to get there, but really don’t want to with young kids. Should we have a major back up plan? Our flight leaves 6:05 am Friday for a Saturday cruise. Unfortunately we can’t move it earlier. Well, we maybe could but it would take a LOT of finagling. 

Edited August 16, 2022 by kelkel2

[Zach1213]

A few things to note:
 

• People rarely post on social media, and news rarely discusses, when flights go well. I think there was an Onion article recently talking about how "Man's flight to Pittsburgh lands ten minutes early" or some such thing. You'll only see the bad. 
• January is a lifetime away. It's not possible to give advice on January based on things happening today when it comes to flight delays. 
• I practically live on planes. Most of my flights have been just fine. I've run in to some issues, my colleagues have run in to some issues, and those issues have sometimes been bad this year. Really bad. Multi-day delays bad. BUT, the vast majority have been fine - we've arrive on time, or early, or late but within a fairly reasonable amount. When cancelled, we've usually received adequate notice. 

 

At this point, I just don't see a need to worry. If I had to guess, in January, your odds of weather delays running out of Illinois are bigger than airline issues...but again, look at my number two bullet point. 

 

It never hurts to have a backup. And driving may be that backup. But in my opinion, it would be unwise to make decisions or book backup (expensive) flights at this time. 

[Dancer Bob]

Zach makes good points. Illinois in January- I would worry more about winter storms.

[6rugrats]

A lot of problems I see in the airport are caused by passengers.  They don't arrive early enough for their flights, they don't have their travel documents ready (haven't completed required entry forms, have expired passports, didn't get a visa, etc., have overweight bags that have to be repacked, and on and on).  But, it's always the airline's fault.

The majority of flights are taking off just fine, and most bags are not delayed.  I would be most worried about weather in January.

 

[CruiserBruce]

I totally agree with @6rugrats and @Zach1213. That being said, AA announced today they were canceling 1000 flights a day for the month of November due to staffing issues.

[FlyerTalker]

8 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

I totally agree with @6rugrats and @Zach1213. That being said, AA announced today they were canceling 1000 flights a day for the month of November due to staffing issues.

 

Smart.  Better to re-do the schedule now than to be faced with day-of-flight issues.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, 6rugrats said:

A lot of problems I see in the airport are caused by passengers.  They don't arrive early enough for their flights, they don't have their travel documents ready (haven't completed required entry forms, have expired passports, didn't get a visa, etc., have overweight bags that have to be repacked, and on and on).  But, it's always the airline's fault.

 

How many times can I say.....YES, YES, YES.

 

Seems that basic research goes out the door when it comes to the public and airlines/airports.

 

 

[rkacruiser]

Friends flew from CVG to JFK to Helsinki connecting to Oslo on AA and Finnair.  Only issue was check in at CVG due to a misspelling of one of their last names, but, that was the fault of their tour company.  At DAY, nothing unusual has been reported as far as I know.  Some flights probably have been impacted by problems elsewhere in the airline's system.  

[Dancer Bob]

Stop blaming the passengers. In Canada anyway, government is the worst offender. For a while, YYZ was the worst airport on the PLANET for delays. Recently the CEO of the airport authority was boasting that less than half of flights were on time, because that was still a big improvement- now 4th-worst (not that the airport authority is responsible for much more than sweeping the floor and cleaning the washrooms).

I've flown a couple of times recently. To the US, NEXUS was worth every penny. Huge lineups for security and US Preclearance at 4.30 AM, long before the first flight leaves. To BCN, security only took 20 minutes, but I was 6 hours early.

Inbound flight crews timing out because of the horrendous delays with Canada Customs, causing scheduling chaos.

Passport and NEXUS issuance, which is totally government, has been a national disgrace.

At least the airlines are being proactive. The government has formed a committee of policticians to talk about it.

[Markanddonna]

I had two days of incredibly irritating travel. It was cancel, rebook, delay, but I made it. The next day was delay, delay, allow passengers getting off our delayed flight to delay us further by requesting that their luggage be taken out of our plane's cargo area.  Then, storms in Chicago, circle the airport, start to run out of fuel, routed to Cincinnati to refuel and then the flight back to Chicago was canceled. Fortunately, we live in Columbus, so my husband drove two hours to save me from sitting in the airport until a 5:30 AM flight the next day.  They allowed us off because we didn't have checked luggage.

 

 

 

That said, I think it will be improving after the summer season. I have never seen flying as bad as it has been.  Compliments to my fellow passengers and crew who were so patient throughout all of this.

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

Then, storms in Chicago, circle the airport, start to run out of fuel, routed to Cincinnati to refuel

 

What an experience!  Doesn't make much sense to me for the plane to have to go all the way to Cincinnati to refuel.  Indianapolis is between Chicago and Cincinnati.  Too bad they didn't come to Dayton.  Your husband would have had a shorter drive to get you.  

[FlyerTalker]

21 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

What an experience!  Doesn't make much sense to me for the plane to have to go all the way to Cincinnati to refuel.  Indianapolis is between Chicago and Cincinnati.  Too bad they didn't come to Dayton.  Your husband would have had a shorter drive to get you.  

 

The choice of an alternative airport is not just a matter of distance.  Milwaukee is even closer to Chicago, if you want examples.

 

Factors involve the weather at the various airports, availability of ground personnel to handle the diversion, availability of ground facilities for the aircraft,  fuel situation at the airports, and above all else, how the diversion fits into the overall air traffic control picture.

[Zach1213]

41 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

What an experience!  Doesn't make much sense to me for the plane to have to go all the way to Cincinnati to refuel.  Indianapolis is between Chicago and Cincinnati.  Too bad they didn't come to Dayton.  Your husband would have had a shorter drive to get you.  

 

Diversion airports are quite interesting. Most are decided on, and filed, as part of the flight plan before you even leave based on things like FlyerTalker mentioned. Sometimes they make sense - for example, Milwaukee often is a major diversion point for Chicago flights...but since it's so close, it often encounters the same weather. So you'll see planes divert to even more far flung destinations like St. Louis, Kansas City, Detroit...Cincinnati, in your case. Heck, last week, I think it was a Turkish Airlines flight out of Istanbul that diverted to Jackson, Mississippi due to storms at its Houston destination. 

 

 

[em-sk]

My last few flights have all been Air Canada or WestJet.   Through Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto and Ottawa.   So nearly all domestic.

 

Nearly every flight has been packed with at most a few empty seats.  

 

Toronto has been the messed up.   For example I was recently on an Air Canada flight from Winnipeg to Vancouver that was delayed by two hours.  The reason was the inbound aircraft from Toronto was late by two hours.  

 

Security fells like it is moving more slowly than pre-covid.  

 

 

[6rugrats]

13 hours ago, Dancer Bob said:

Stop blaming the passengers.

I don't blame passengers for weather delays, cancelations, crew time-outs or mechanicals.  I don't blame them when Immigration or Customs takes three hours.  I blame them when they show up at the airport not prepared to travel and blame the airline when they miss the flight.

Just a few examples today:

Mom & son purchased separate tickets for domestic flight through Expedia.  Mom booked hers to depart from another airport and showed up the wrong one.  She also tried to check in at the wrong airline.  Mom ran down the terminal to the other airline to see if ticket could be changed.  Son checked in with his Basic Economy ticket (no roller board allowed on board).  He had no credit card to pay his checked bag fee.  He had three minutes to check in or he would miss his flight. I checked him anyway so he could make his flight, and told him how to get a cash card to pay the bag fees at the gate (an add'l $25).

Mom came running back and had booked a new ticket online directly with the airline.  Got her checked in and assigned son's bag to her and they just made it.  100% their fault, and they held up the entire line.

Family showed up to go to CUN.  They did not check in online and they arrived at the airport 50 minutes before their flight.  Kiosk blocked them from checking in because it was under one hour before an international flight.  Mom started throwing her hands up and asking what happened.  Pointed to the screen that said, "The time for check in has passed.  Please see an agent for assistance."  Seemed astounded that I could not check her in.  They had to be rebooked, all because they couldn't show up on time.  

I could add more, but you get the idea.  So, yeah, I blame the passengers sometimes.  

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by 6rugrats

[Jack1]

Flew yesterday Air Canada Yeg to yyz to Athens.  Felt like normal times..flights full, luggage arrived.  1 hour delay leaving Yyz due to late incoming flight (due to thunderstorm yesterday).  Not going to complain..

[rkacruiser]

On 8/17/2022 at 4:25 PM, Zach1213 said:

, Milwaukee often is a major diversion point for Chicago flights...but since it's so close, it often encounters the same weather.

 

On 8/17/2022 at 3:57 PM, FlyerTalker said:

The choice of an alternative airport is not just a matter of distance.  Milwaukee is even closer to Chicago, if you want examples.

 

I considered Milwaukee when I wrote my post, but, I also remember that a flight of mine was badly delayed because the crew was stuck in Milwaukee due to the same kind of weather that ORD was experiencing.