USAirways Storm Advisory

[scot]

Snow Storm Advisory
Due to severe weather conditions affecting the airports listed below, US Airways will allow passengers traveling to or from the these locations to change their flights. Please check flight information for latest details.

Airports Affected by Winter Weather

February 10 - February 13, 2006

Washington, DC (DCA)
Baltimore, MD (BWI)
New York, NY (LGA, JFK)
Newark, NJ (EWR)
Westchester, NY (HPN)
Islip, NY (ISP)
New Haven, CT (HVN)
Newburgh, NY (SWF)
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New Hampshire
Maine
Pennsylvania
Virginia




Passengers originally scheduled to travel to or from affected airports above, on the dates specified, will be able to make the changes outlined below to their itineraries. For flights originally scheduled for this time period, US Airways will waive the standard change fee, advance reservation or ticketing requirements.

The entire itinerary can be moved forward or delayed, up to seven days from the scheduled origination date. The length of the trip cannot be changed.

Full value of wholly unused tickets can be applied toward the purchase of a ticket to an alternate destination, with travel to originate within seven days of the scheduled origination date.

 

[AtlanticBeach]

Normally a great help to passengers. I just got off the phone with the CP desk to change my ticket to Boston this morning for return tomorrow. It took almost 30 minutes for what, is usually, a very quick change.

However, inventory management has limited fare buckets on the 19th to F, Y, B and M for most flights although those flights are showing significant seat availability. This would usually translate to increased profits, except for the following problems.

1. Next Sunday is the middle of a holiday weekend. Not many business travelers to pick up the slack.

2. The amount of time that will be needed this weekend to make the changes will overload the reservation centers.

3. Failure to fully allow for the blizzard tomorrow in the Northeast will strand passengers, further overloading the system. Common sense would allow outbound passengers from today to cancel tickets quickly to open up space for returning passengers who wish to travel earlier to miss the inevitable delays.

4. The folks in Tempe are about to learn about tens or hundreds of thousands of passengers disgruntled in a snowstorm.

I feel badly for the employees who are working this weekend and having to deal with these issues. Unfortunately, an example of failing to consider the cost of employee time and customer goodwill in dealing with a large issue.

Good luck, folks.

 

[mbmbbost]

The entire itinerary can be moved forward or delayed, up to seven days from the scheduled origination date. The length of the trip cannot be changed.

Full value of wholly unused tickets can be applied toward the purchase of a ticket to an alternate destination, with travel to originate within seven days of the scheduled origination date.

Seems like the policy is more restrictive than it has been in the past...in an impractical way.

 

[robbedagain]

are they going to cancel flights ahead of this snow storm? if so can we get a list of cities that will be affected besides the states or is it to early?

 

[BoeingBoy]

I know you're probably talking about cancellations in specific cities, but in general look for the DCA-BOS corridor to have cancellations as the storm moves NE.

So far, as near as I can tell, nothing out of the ordinary ATC-wise:

ATCSCC ADVZY 021 DCC 02/11/06 OPERATIONS PLAN
VALID FOR 111500 THRU 112100

TERMINAL CONSTRAINTS:
IAD/DCA/BWI-AM SNOW/LOCIGS
PHL/EWR/JFK/LGA-PM SNOW/WIND/LOCIGS
ATL/CLT-RAIN/LOCIGS/VIS
MIA/FLL/MCO/DFW/DAL/IAH/HOU/PHX/LAS-WIND
CLE/PIT/CVG/ORD/MSP/STL/MEM-LT SNOW
SFO-LOCIGS
BOS/JFK/LGA/TEB/MIA/IAH/LAS/SFO-CONSTRUCTION

EN ROUTE CONSTRAINTS:
ZAN-MT AUGUSTINE/MT CLEVELAND/SOUFRIERE VOLCANIC ASH PLUMES
ZMA-MILITARY ACTIVITY 1300-0300
ZOB-TURBC

1. ROUTES
2000-2315 -CHOKE POINT ROUTES EWR/JFK EXPECTED

2. ZTL
AFTER 1230 -ATL/CLT MIT, LIMITED HOLDING

3. ZOA
AFTER 1600 -SFO GROUND DELAY PROGRAM EXPECTED

***SUBMIT NEW OPERATIONS PLAN AGENDA ITEMS VIA WEB PAGE***

NEXT PLANNING TELCON: 111615Z
111424-111659


06/02/11 14:25 FSA.//lxstn08a

 

[Harry Callahan]

I just hope they do not wait till the last minute to cancell like has been done in the past. Go ahead and cancell early so psgrs can be re routed.

 

[BoeingBoy]

It starts.....

AIRPORT: PHL
ADL TIME: 2124Z
GROUND STOP PERIOD: 11/2124Z - 11/2224Z
SCOPE: (2ndTier+CZY_AP) ZAU ZMP ZID ZJX ZOB ZBW ZTL ZNY ZDC CYHZ
CYOW CYUL CYYZ
PREVIOUS TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 0/0/0.0
NEW TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 596/51/33.1
REASON: WEATHER, SNOW
PROBABILITY OF EXTENSION: MEDIUM
=====
AIRPORT: PHL
DELAY ASSIGNMENT MODE: DAS
ADL TIME: 2144Z
ARRIVALS ESTIMATED FOR: 11/2144Z - 12/0559Z
PROGRAM RATE: 20/20/20/20/30/30/30/30/30
FLIGHTS INCLUDED: ALL CONTIGUOUS US DEPARTURES
SCOPE: (ALL+CZY_AP) ZSE ZAB ZLC ZFW ZLA ZAU ZMP ZDV ZKC ZME ZID ZMA
ZHU ZJX ZOB ZBW ZTL ZNY ZDC ZOA
ADDITIONAL FACILITIES INCLUDED:
CANADIAN AIRPORTS INCLUDED: CYHZ CYOW CYUL CYYZ
DELAY ASSIGNMENT TABLE APPLIES TO: ZNY
MAXIMUM DELAY: 197
AVERAGE DELAY: 125.9
REASON: WEATHER, SNOW
=====

Jim

 

[flyingcat]

Normally a great help to passengers. I just got off the phone with the CP desk to change my ticket to Boston this morning for return tomorrow. It took almost 30 minutes for what, is usually, a very quick change.

However, inventory management has limited fare buckets on the 19th to F, Y, B and M for most flights although those flights are showing significant seat availability. This would usually translate to increased profits, except for the following problems.

1. Next Sunday is the middle of a holiday weekend. Not many business travelers to pick up the slack.

2. The amount of time that will be needed this weekend to make the changes will overload the reservation centers.

3. Failure to fully allow for the blizzard tomorrow in the Northeast will strand passengers, further overloading the system. Common sense would allow outbound passengers from today to cancel tickets quickly to open up space for returning passengers who wish to travel earlier to miss the inevitable delays.

4. The folks in Tempe are about to learn about tens or hundreds of thousands of passengers disgruntled in a snowstorm.

I feel badly for the employees who are working this weekend and having to deal with these issues. Unfortunately, an example of failing to consider the cost of employee time and customer goodwill in dealing with a large issue.

Good luck, folks.

The reason there are limited fare buckets is that Presidents Day weekend is one of the busiest travel weeekends for the entire northeast, rivaling Thanksgiving. Planes will go out full during the peak times and even off peak will be busy.

Email Tempe and make sure that inventory clear through mother nature in the future. The blizzard was just forcasted this week.

P.S. They can't force people who bought tickets months ahead of time for next weekend to cancel reservations to make room for people from the previous weekend.

 

[NCFL]

It'll be very interesting to see how the Sand Castle reacts to its first Nor'easter. Anyone care to share their predictions?

 

[AtlanticBeach]

The reason there are limited fare buckets is that Presidents Day weekend is one of the busiest travel weeekends for the entire northeast, rivaling Thanksgiving. Planes will go out full during the peak times and even off peak will be busy.

Email Tempe and make sure that inventory clear through mother nature in the future. The blizzard was just forcasted this week.

P.S. They can't force people who bought tickets months ahead of time for next weekend to cancel reservations to make room for people from the previous weekend.

Please re-read my post. For example, as of 4:30 AM yesterday, there was a 734 to CLT showing only 49 seats assigned in Y on February 19. Only fares shown were Y, B and M. It appears that the fares were in place in the anticipation of heavy traffic next Sunday which did not materialize until the snow. Not a problem for me, but the public response will be interesting.

 

[deelmakur]

I'll take a crack at predicting events. In spite of dire warnings by local media in the affected areas, since last Wednesday, the US website, as of this morning, still only had a small link labelled something like "winter", which took you to a page telling you what cities could be rebooked without change fees. It looks to me like another example of Tempe not understanding the business they bought, and more to the point, thinking they know everything. If I am right, and they failed to anticipate this thing, they will have gotten significant assets and crews caught on the ground, which will disrupt the whole East division. Less motivated ground crews won't bust their rear ends to negotiate bad roads, so shortages will occur there. Judging from the rolling cancellations I am seeing, this may be exactly what is happening, in which case, swamped res centers, misplaced aircraft, heavily booked holiday flights, etc., will mean it takes 2 to 3 days to reset the system. Should be entertaining.

 

[Art at ISP]

I cancelled my trip to GSO yesterday for Deborah Thompson's dinner, because I wasn't sure I'd get home in time for my wife's surgery on Tuesday. Now I looked at the web site just now, and the previous flight to mine 3080 is cancelled, but the following flight, 3018 is showing a delay, which means it will likely cancel as well. I checked flight explorer, and there is virtually no air traffic in and out of the NY area airports although the FAA shows only DCA closed.

DL cancelled all flights in to NY yesterday....I wonder which was the smarter move.

In any case I missed a wonderful dinner last night, but at least my colleagues were there to thank a remarkable lady for 35 plus years of service to US customers.

Travel safe everyone......

 

[NCFL]

It looks to me like another example of Tempe not understanding the business they bought, and more to the point, thinking they know everything.

Now THAT deserves an "Amen."
I hear from those who work at US that communication West to East is nonexistent. Decisions get made unilaterally and without vital input from departments that are most affected by changes or that have knowledge of past decisions on similar subjects. There's no respect for institutional knowledge or experience - only "newbie" hubris.

 

[nycbusdriver]

Now THAT deserves an "Amen."
I hear from those who work at US that communication West to East is nonexistent. Decisions get made unilaterally and without vital input from departments that are most affected by changes or that have knowledge of past decisions on similar subjects. There's no respect for institutional knowledge or experience - only "newbie" hubris.

And the US/East folks are now tasting what PI and PSA had to deal with 18 years ago at their hands.

Same scene; different players.

 

[NCFL]

And the US/East folks are now tasting what PI and PSA had to deal with 18 years ago at their hands.

Same scene; different players.

Double Amen. Still doesn't make it right. Look how successful (NOT) that approach was for the US/PS and US/PI mergers. You'd think West would want to learn from our mistakes, rather than repeat them.