"Delta just doesn't cancel flights"

[WorldTraveler]

Delta's outstanding operational reliability is receiving more and more press

Business Week

"Delta just doesnt cancel. For all practical purposes, the nations third-largest airline no longer cancels flights. Delta (DAL) scrubbed 19 flights in Junethats out of 69,621 flights in total. Delta executives have become fanatical about eradicating flight cancellations, having found that passengers prefer flight delays to outright cancellations. If thats what customers hate most, lets not cancel any more flights, a Delta vice president told the Wall Street Journal earlier this year."
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-08-08/delta-has-stopped-canceling-flights-southwest-still-runs-late?campaign_id=yhoo

"This year Delta ranked No. 1 in overall performance, thanks to more on-time arrivals, fewer canceled flights and mishandled bags and better customer service. It was followed by Virgin America, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue and Frontier, in that order.

"On the not-so-good side of this list are Southwest, Airtran (now part of Southwest), American, US Airways (now part of American Airlines) and United, which ranked dead last."

Markewatch
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-worst-airlines-in-america-2014-08-07?siteid=yhoof2

 

[Kev3188]

Does this count pre-emptive cancels?

How 'bout DCI flights?

 

[WorldTraveler]

Connection/regional carrier flights for all carriers are reported separately to the DOT. Some agencies sum operating flights for all carriers by marketing carrier.

If pre-emptive is inside the window of when stats are counted, then they count as well. At some point, a cancel goes against your record (and for DL the final schedule is set 45 days before departure but I'm not sure if that is when the DOT starts counting a flight as cancelled).

 

[Kev3188]

Is suspect that "19 flights in June" looks a whole lot different in, say, January- as it should.

I'd be interested in the DCI numbers- lots of "DL requested" cancels into places like LGA, but also lots of running a flight at all costs to maintain performance clauses...

 

[WorldTraveler]

you would be surprised how LGA looks in IROPs... usually shuttle and ORD go right away. rest start a cascade but it is clearly the same plan time after time

very predictable

the article jinxed DL in ATL with t-storms today.

 

[Kev3188]

you would be surprised how LGA looks in IROPs... usually shuttle and ORD go right away. rest start a cascade but it is clearly the same plan time after time.

I know. I get to watch it in real time quite often.

That data would've made for an interesting contrast to this article...

 

[signals]

Not to go off topic, but does it seem strange that the former #1 has dropped to the ranks of the undesirables. The poster child of airline union labor falls with other union shops?

 

[yoyodyne]

Not to go off topic, but does it seem strange that the former #1 has dropped to the ranks of the undesirables. The poster child of airline union labor falls with other union shops?

 
 
Ok, if you say so...

 

[WorldTraveler]

Not to go off topic, but does it seem strange that the former #1 has dropped to the ranks of the undesirables. The poster child of airline union labor falls with other union shops?

with all due respect, airline reliability is more about an airline mgmt.'s willingness to spend for and allocate the resources necessary to run a reliable airline.

labor certainly can make or break any mgmt. plan but history shows that over the long term, labor has little to gain by making a company run a sustained bad operation.

If there is an irony in DL's OT statistics and reliability, it is that DL operates one of the oldest fleets of any large airline and still has the reliability it does.

that said a whole lot about planning and execution in maintenance.