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Airlines to shut down Northeast flying as storm moves in; aiming for Saturday restart. Obama FEMA already issuing excuses for inaction.
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Nick Ryan
Feb 14, 2013, 3:55:36 AM2/14/13
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/airlines-scrub-flights-as-storm-
moves-along-lots-of-cancelations-in-chicago-boston-new-
york/2013/02/07/5a7310ac-719d-11e2-b3f3-b263d708ca37_story.html
Most airlines were giving up on flying in and out of New York, Boston and
other cities in the Northeast Friday as a massive storm threatened to dump
snow by the foot on the region.
Airlines were generally shutting down operations in the afternoon at the
three big New York-area airports as well as Boston, Providence, Portland,
Maine, and other Northeastern airports. They�re hoping to resume flights
on Saturday.
Flight-tracking website FlightAware said airlines have canceled more than
4,000 flights on Friday and Saturday in advance of the storm.
Many travelers were steering clear of that part of the country altogether.
Airlines waived the usual fees to change tickets for flights in the
affected areas.
Airlines try to get ahead of big storms by canceling flights in advance
rather than crossing their fingers that they can operate in bad weather.
They want to avoid having crews and planes stuck in one area of the
country. They also face fines for leaving passengers stuck on a plane for
more than three hours under a rule that went into effect back in 2010.
Airlines began canceling Saturday flights on Friday, hours before the
storm was due to hit, said Daniel Baker, CEO of FlightAware. �That�s when
the meteorologists start to have reliable predictions and the FAA holds
conference calls to discuss which airports are shutting down,� he said.
Airlines are also at the mercy of mass transit in each city they fly to.
They�ll often wrap up flying around the same time that commuter trains and
subways begin shutting down, he said.
Storms like this one jam up airline call centers, so airlines are
increasingly automating the process of re-booking passengers.
Delta is rolling out software it calls �VIPER� � Virtual Inconvenienced
Passenger Expedited Reprotection � to find a replacement flight for
passengers whose flights have been canceled.
As any frequent traveler knows, during a bad storm, the fastest route
from, say, New York to Minneapolis may be through Atlanta, or Salt Lake
City. Airline workers are adept at finding such routes manually. The new
Delta system looks for such �creative routings� automatically and sends a
message to the traveler telling them about their new flight, Delta Air
Lines Inc. CEO Richard Anderson said on an employee hot line message last
week.
�We need the ability to use automation to figure out for our passengers
the quickest and fastest way to (reaccommodate) them on Delta or other
carriers,� he said. �Our goal is to get them to their destination as
promptly as possible.�
The snow was snarling air travel in Canada, too, with 240 flights canceled
on Friday at Pearson International Airport in Toronto. Environment Canada
senior climatologist David Phillips said Toronto hasn�t seen a snowfall
exceeding 5 inches since Dec. 19, 2008. The current storm was expected to
dump up to 11 inches of snow as it moves along.
moves-along-lots-of-cancelations-in-chicago-boston-new-
york/2013/02/07/5a7310ac-719d-11e2-b3f3-b263d708ca37_story.html
Most airlines were giving up on flying in and out of New York, Boston and
other cities in the Northeast Friday as a massive storm threatened to dump
snow by the foot on the region.
Airlines were generally shutting down operations in the afternoon at the
three big New York-area airports as well as Boston, Providence, Portland,
Maine, and other Northeastern airports. They�re hoping to resume flights
on Saturday.
Flight-tracking website FlightAware said airlines have canceled more than
4,000 flights on Friday and Saturday in advance of the storm.
Many travelers were steering clear of that part of the country altogether.
Airlines waived the usual fees to change tickets for flights in the
affected areas.
Airlines try to get ahead of big storms by canceling flights in advance
rather than crossing their fingers that they can operate in bad weather.
They want to avoid having crews and planes stuck in one area of the
country. They also face fines for leaving passengers stuck on a plane for
more than three hours under a rule that went into effect back in 2010.
Airlines began canceling Saturday flights on Friday, hours before the
storm was due to hit, said Daniel Baker, CEO of FlightAware. �That�s when
the meteorologists start to have reliable predictions and the FAA holds
conference calls to discuss which airports are shutting down,� he said.
Airlines are also at the mercy of mass transit in each city they fly to.
They�ll often wrap up flying around the same time that commuter trains and
subways begin shutting down, he said.
Storms like this one jam up airline call centers, so airlines are
increasingly automating the process of re-booking passengers.
Delta is rolling out software it calls �VIPER� � Virtual Inconvenienced
Passenger Expedited Reprotection � to find a replacement flight for
passengers whose flights have been canceled.
As any frequent traveler knows, during a bad storm, the fastest route
from, say, New York to Minneapolis may be through Atlanta, or Salt Lake
City. Airline workers are adept at finding such routes manually. The new
Delta system looks for such �creative routings� automatically and sends a
message to the traveler telling them about their new flight, Delta Air
Lines Inc. CEO Richard Anderson said on an employee hot line message last
week.
�We need the ability to use automation to figure out for our passengers
the quickest and fastest way to (reaccommodate) them on Delta or other
carriers,� he said. �Our goal is to get them to their destination as
promptly as possible.�
The snow was snarling air travel in Canada, too, with 240 flights canceled
on Friday at Pearson International Airport in Toronto. Environment Canada
senior climatologist David Phillips said Toronto hasn�t seen a snowfall
exceeding 5 inches since Dec. 19, 2008. The current storm was expected to
dump up to 11 inches of snow as it moves along.
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