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Link Pointing fingers for late takeoffs

Thursday, November 18, 1999

PA director urges FAA to combat flight delays

By DOUG MOST Staff Writer

The next time you're on a Continental Airlines jet and it's delayed because of air traffic control problems, an airline employee will hand you a card. It's message: Continental wants your complaint in writing and will forward it to Congress.

But if the delay is Continental's fault, and you miss a meeting or a connecting flight because of mechanical trouble or a flight crew problem, no need to get your pen ready. You won't get the card.

Dan D'Agostino, head of the Newark division of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, calls the practice a "slap in the face" and an attempt by Continental to blame everyone but itself for delays. "I'm not saying we have a perfect system, but that card seems like they want no blame at all," he said. "They're looking to point the finger at us."

The cards, first handed out last month, read in part: "We are working hard to minimize delays under Continental's control, but some delays are outside of our control. Today's delay is not in Continental's control. [The air traffic control system] tells us when to leave the gate, when to taxi the plane, when to take off, how fast to fly. . . . These delays cost you and us valuable time and millions of dollars."

Continental spokesman Dave Massing said the airline began handing out the cards following one of the worst summers ever for delays. On an average day, the nation's airlines had 1,400 flights delayed. In July, 45,000 flights were delayed, the highest monthly total in six years. Newark International Airport routinely leads the nation in delays, according to Federal Aviation Administration statistics.

The cards are "a tool to make it clear to passengers what the causes are," Massing said.

Asked why the cards will be distributed only when the delay is caused by an air traffic control problem, he referred to a prepared statement by Continental executives and added that passengers with complaints about the airline can always complete the suggestion card in the in-flight magazine.

"Continental has maintained all along that the nation's air traffic controllers are the glue that holds our aging and underfunded system together and has called on Congress and the Clinton administration to make fundamental changes to the system," the the airline said in the statement.

The statement praised controllers for "the job they do every day under enormous strain."

But D'Agostino said that strain is largely caused by the airlines, which schedule dozens of flights so close together that it's impossible to get them out on time.

"Between 8:50 a.m. and 9:10 a.m., Continental will have 15 flights scheduled," D'Agostino said. He said planes cannot land or depart simultaneously on the parallel runways at Newark airport because the runways are too close together. "Even if we had 15 runways, these guys cannot depart all at once. You can't fit 10 pounds of garbage in a 5-pound bag."

D'Agostino would like Continental to spread out its schedule, give passengers realistic departure times, and accept as much responsibility for delays as the controllers, the FAA, and the airports.

"We were pretty much furious" to hear about the Continental cards, he said. "We didn't launch this battle. They did."

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), November 18, 1999

Answers

I tend to agree with him, but surely Mr. D'Agostino could have come up with a better description of airline passenger traffic than "10 pounds of garbage in a 5-pound bag."

-- I'm Here, I'm There (I'm Everywhere@so.beware), November 18, 1999.