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A direct flight between Laguardia and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport should only take about two and a half hours. On August 24th, it took a planeload of passengers flying Delta flight 521 14 hours to make the trip in what participants quoted by CBS2 call "madness" and a "torturous" experience. The 170 passengers of flight 521 were subjected to the sort of journey that makes bus travel seem like an attractive option.
The flight's trouble began when it encountered dangerous weather conditions over Atlanta and so it circled waiting for the skies to clear. After an hour, however, the flight had to be diverted to another airfield due to low fuel levels. That in itself is not that unusual. The Delta plane landed in Augusta, GA to refuel and wait for clearance to return to Atlanta. After 30 minutes on the tarmac, however, the plane's air conditioning turned off and with an outside temperature of 80 degrees, the interior of the sealed plane soon became very uncomfortable. A passenger told CBS2 that the bathrooms started to stink, people were sweaty, and some began crying, even as flight attendants handed out cups of ice.
What followed was hours of discomfort trapped in a stifling aircabin interrupted by a tarmac scare when disembarked passengers and crew ran from an engine that started unexpectedly. After the flight crew exceeded their allowable on-duty times, passengers were forced to wait the night at the small southern airport in Augusta before they could continue their journey to Atlanta, which they completed the next morning.
Delta responded to CBS2's inquiries about what happend to flight 521 on August 24th and they commended their personnel for looking after their passengers in a difficult situation. They said that the diversion due to weather was unavoidable and that construction at the Augusta airport prevented the deplaning of passengers to an airconditioned terminal. The noise that passengers thought was an engine was actually an auxilliary power unit and the captain wasn't running back onto the plane to turn off an engine, but to restart the aircraft's airconditioning system.
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August to Atlanta is less than a 3-hour drive. Why didn't Delta just rent a couple of buses?
Some of the passengers did just rent cars and drive the remaining distance rather than spend the night in Augusta.
I'd like to post about a disappointing occurance on Delta from this weekend.
I arrived at JFK at 4:15 for a 6:40 flight to Phoenix. At the time I checked in, it was delayed to 7:10. It was later delayed to 7:20. After hearing one announcement at 6:00pm that they were preparing for pre-boarding for the flight, I went to the bathroom, and then set back at the gate. There were no further announcements about the flight to Phoenix.
at 7:00pm, I went up the gate counter to ask about the flight, and noticed that it was not listed anymore. the agent sighed and told me that the flight already left, and that I wasn't the only one stranded for this flight. Apparently, the flight left at 6:30pm, and there were indeed others who missed this flight.
I was comped for *almost* the entire cab fare needed to get back home for the night before the flight I was re-booked on for hte morning. However, my bag was on the overnight flight to Phoenix.
It seems odd to me that this airline would have such shoddy procedures. Granted, people can miss an announcement; but when other announcements are made ad nauseum for flights to Tampa and Atlanta; and nothing is made for a flight to Phoenix, which doesn't have regular flights, it seems odd. Their demeanor was questionable, and it seemed like they were prepared for multiple potential passengers to have missed this flight with the way the agent acted.
All the more reason to restore rail transit in this country.
Delta, you owe 170 people a refund. Shame on you!
i always think to myself "why don't passengers just get off the plane" but then I realize it's a 15 foot drop to the tarmac plus the possibility of being sucked into a jet engine that keeps the passengers aboard.
Eric,
I had the exact same thing happen to me on a Delta flight from ATL to LGA. Luckily, I was able to get on the flight that left less than an hour later.
However, in the time I got on the second place to the time I got in a cab at LGA, I met 10 people who the same thing had happened to, including a DETLA PILOT who was supposed to fly out of LGA.
It all just seems like a sure fire way to lose customers.
I really hope they're getting double SkyMiles.
High speed rail system anyone? Why are we one of the most developed nations in the world but can't seem to get a good rail system working?
I'm all for rail in this country. I take Amtrak as often as I can, even overnight to Florida. It's great, I reserve a sleeping car bedroom, eat my meals in the dining car while America rolls by outside my window. I fall asleep to sound of the trains whistle while I look out the window at the stars at night, the train rocking me to sleep. Sounds cliche, but it's all true. As long as I have the time and the money, travel by rail (or sea) will ALWAYS be my first choice.
erica...high speed rail in fargo or witchita wouldn't be too hard. it wouldn't even be that outrageously difficult to get it in places like chicago or st louis because there is a lot of track and urban abandonment. but there are about a billion complications in adding serious high speed service to the existing northeast corridor right of way...
High speed rail works in Europe because a socialist country can eminant domain your farm land for new tracks. Try cutting a new corridor between Boston - New York - DC. It would be the mother of all NIMBYs. As for Japan, having almost all of your infrastructure firebombed creates a nice blank canvas. See the recent Times article about why Japan has faster Internet speeds: combination of regulation and better copper wiring for DSL. It also helps that most people live close to a phone switch.
what ever happened to that passenger's bill of rights that congress was all about after that valentine's day mess?
we would have high speed rail from NY to Boston, if not for the incompetence of those in charge of Amtrak. They determined that the high speed trains in France were not safe enough for use in the US, and instead, created a new model that was heavier, and therefore incapable of making turns at a high speed. France seems to do okay with their system. Additionally, the heavier trains are the reason for the cracks in the brake systems that sidelined the trains a couple of years ago.
We don't have decent passenger rail because Detroit and the airlines don't want us to. Take a look at where federal funding is going to. It's not Amtrak.
In response to "Cool".
That's not true. The cracks were due to poor manufacturing by Bombardier and the TGV trains won't work here because of the existing track. You want to blame someone for the sorry state of our rail system? Look no further than Washington D.C.
Flying Delta twice this summer, both times they struck out. Once, cancelling due to "weather" when other airlines were flying successfully to the same destination; the other when a delay caused by maintenance meant we had to reroute our flight to a different end point. My biggest beef with Delta is that the gate agents and some flight attendants are horrendous with customer service. I was sneered at, dismissed, and poorly treated in both cases. My flights on United? No issues (well, there is that annoying new no-pretzel policy...!)
cool, you are a little mistaken. besides...it's just not possible for 200+ mph trains to travel along the boston-ny row. those tracks are well used by several commuter railroads. we could improve stuff, but i don't think it will ever get to the point of going between boston and ny in under 2 1/2 hours.
Sadly its not just delta that's terrible. Add united to that mix.
I flew via chicago to Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago for what should have been a few hours of flying (with the connection) for a 3 hr meeting, then back to NY. Instead in a comedy of issues, I spent most of the day on the plane and had 90 mins for the meeting.
Here's the highlight:
When I got to chicago, we actually started to board the plane, when an attendant came running off
shouting at us, about why we're boarding, when they dont have a captain. Seems they forgot to book one. So they forced us back out into the waiting area and for the next hour or so scrambled to find a captain for the plane. The monitors meanwhile were never updated and as i was sent off to customer service (after the woman at the gate suggested I take a bus 3 hours from chicago to madison...) the monitors suggested the plane had already taken off.
Long story short is that no one from united customer service was even aware of the problems going on and as I stood at the counter for 10 mins waiting for them to just get me back to NY, they tell me that the plane is suddenly boarding and to run back to my gate. No announcements, I was the last person to board, at least 3 people missed the flight who were probably online at customer service.