If not by changing schedules, how DO airlines make flights more on-time?
I wanted to write a quick post to react to the ongoing debate being waged regarding the DOT rules announced last December and to be enforced at the end of April.
These are the rules that include things like:
-No tarmac delays over 3 hours
-No chronically late flights (>30 min late >50% of the time)
-Airlines must post on-time stats of flights on their web-sites
The rules were announced by the DOT in ruling OST-2007-0022, and all the fun details can be found on regulations.gov
I've also talked about it in prior posts:
and
Over the past few months since the ruling was announced, the public has had the opportunity to provide input and feedback for the DOT to consider. As part of this process, the Air Transport Association has asked for enforcement to be pushed back several months from the original April date so that airlines can have adequate time for technological implementation of providing the right data on their web-sites (sketchy rationale at best).
Similarly, I heard today that Jetbblue has specifically asked for a delayed implementation until after the JFK runway construction. I haven't seen this official release yet so I'm withholding comment, but you can expect some strong words on that over the next few days.
This post, however, is about what FlyersRights.org Executive Director Kate Hanni submitted during the public comment phase.
She specifically addresses some of the critique of the rules that airlines can simply adjust the times of their flights in order to have a better on-time performance.
In her words -- "FlyersRights.org, however, is concerned that airlines can nullify the intended purposes of the DOT regulation -- and any Congressional tightening of its requirements -- by "padding their schedules" to mask poor operating performance."
She goes on later: "increasing block time to nullify the new DOT regulation's publication of chronically delayed flights should be considered a violation of 49 U.S.C. 41712, as an unfair and deceptive practice"
Read the whole document here: FlyersRights.org input
Hold up for a second. Let's review the causes of the vast majority of flight delays: air traffic control, weather, congestion, inbound aircraft, airport issues, etc. How many of these are controlled by the airline? Essentially none of it except (theoretically) inbound aircraft. And how would one adjust for a late inbound aircraft? By adding more buffer time, or padding, into the inbound flight.
How many times do you have a plane, the weather is good, the taxiways and runways clear, and you are late just because the airline failed to dispatch the flight on-time? Sure it happens, but relatively rarely. Airlines already do all they can to prevent mechanical malfunctions since those are very costly, and any more pressure on them to dispatch planes in the face of mechanical issues would surely be a safety threat.
So what are airlines to do? The ONLY thing they CAN do is add more buffer time to flights. And whether they put that in your flight time or in the ground time before the next flight is immaterial. In fact, it's disingenuous for them to put it into the ground buffer time instead of your flight time -- it's them admitting they know your plane is going to be late often but not telling you about it. THAT would be a deceptive practice!
The root causes of delays are based on airport capacity and scheduling -- both those things fall under the domain of the FAA and airport authorities. Sure, the airlines play their part in that dysfunctional game, but to suggest they have major recourse to make their systems more on-time without adjusting flight times seems far fetched to me. I would contend that is the only way they individually can improve performance -- by setting customer expectations even lower. It's not a fix, it's just a patch, but any real fix is well beyond their control. The FAA should be the one to face the heat for chronic delays. After all, it's the government that controls the root causes of delays.
More on this in the coming days and weeks --
Posted by Evan
