Critical Lines of Flight

[tadjr]

A year or so ago we had a program in place at East where flights that were "critical" meaning they were running late more than ontime, were highlighted and every effort was to be made to get them on time so they wouldnt appear on the "Bad list" at the BTS stats page. Just curious if West has a program like this in place and if the East program is still running. I havent seen any printouts about critical flights in a while.

Reason being two fold- we currently have a flight that was late last week 6 out of 7 days (anywhere from 1 hr 20 mins to 3 hr 45 mins). Of course some of the days were weather problems that couldnt have been avoided, but overall, the line of SCHEDULED flight is just pushing it too much. The flight runs DFW 620am 1038am PHL 1130am 1253pm BOS 130pm 252pm PHL 340pm 622pm TPA 715pm 945pm PHL. This means a 37 min turn in BOS and 48 in PHL then we're expected to make the last bank of conx in PHL from this.... doesnt happen too often. Is there anyone in Tempe that tracks this type of thing and pushes for fixes until the ENTIRE lof can be reworked? ie- staffing issues (dont laugh) in PHL or BOS to make sure it doesnt take them over an hour to turn....

2nd flight is a West flight that leaves from PHX in the am and has a 47 min turn time back out to a short conx at night. If the plane doesnt get off the gate in PHX on time, it seems like it ends up at the end of the queue taking 30-45 mins to get airborne which puts it so far behind for us to make up turn time (lots of mail and cargo on this one as well so it doesnt usually make up any time and 47 min turn on a cross country is ridiculous IMO).

Just curious what the West procedure is/was for flights that are notorious for their tardiness and how long it takes for a schedule change to be addressed to get these flights corrected (short term solution and for good in a permanent lof change).

 

[UPNAWAY]

On the West we used to have "Focus" flights and then when DP took over they came up with "STAR" flight which is Start The Airline Right and are target flights that have the biggest downline effect each morning. They try real hard to get them out on time.

 

[FCYTravis]

On the West we used to have "Focus" flights and then when DP took over they came up with "STAR" flight which is Start The Airline Right and are target flights that have the biggest downline effect each morning. They try real hard to get them out on time.

I always wondered what "STAR" stood for... I see it often on the electronic messageboards pulling into the PHX gates.

 

[MarkMyWords]

On the East, they do still track critical flights, but the data is sent out via e-mail and not via teletype as it did before. Now, less people get the information and it is harder to coordinate critical flights then it was before.

As for fixing critical flight issues....it can take up to 3 months to correct a bad line of flying......after it is identified as a problem. There are some short term fixes that can take place to keep flights off the critical flight list that is reported. Things like pushing through a miod month schedule change, adjusting the time or flight number.

 

[hp_fa]

I always wondered what "STAR" stood for... I see it often on the electronic messageboards pulling into the PHX gates.

Start The Airline Right.

 

[tadjr]

it can take up to 3 months to correct a bad line of flying......after it is identified as a problem.

And who in scheduling in their right mind would think that the above line of flight with 37/48 min afternoon turn times in BOS and PHL would be a workable line of flight (with a couple of days of exceptions)? Unfortunately, its called pushing the limit, and the customers and front line having to reroute almost EVERY DAY are the ones getting pushed.
At least THIS plane doesnt go back to CLT at night like it used to.... that only meant we busted BOTH of our late night hub bound flights..... :down: :down: :down:

 

[barbeetantrums]

On the West we used to have "Focus" flights and then when DP took over they came up with "STAR" flight which is Start The Airline Right and are target flights that have the biggest downline effect each morning. They try real hard to get them out on time.

Actually, they were STAR flights, now referred to as Focus flights.