Many of us have heard about and probably even experienced the recent surge of flight delays (I know I have) across the US. There are many theories/explanations as to why American flights are becoming increasingly delayed, from a shortage of pilots to a plethora of RJ traffic to antiquated airport design, etc., etc.

When flying throughout Asia last summer, however, even in monsoon-happy Thailand, the few delays I experienced were neither as extensive nor as prolonged as those that I've experienced in the US. However, it's no secret that Asian carriers routinely fly widebody aircraft between medium and even relatively short city-pairs, i.e. 777s on SIN-BKK or even A330s KUL-BKK.

I began wondering if maybe it was high-time that American carriers started adopting a similar strategy, even if it means sacrificing frequency for scale? I know that there are some heavily traveled domestic routes (some seasonal) that do employ widebodies like AA on DFW-MIA or DL on ATL-MIA or several of the legacies on transcon NYC-LAX. But is it time for this to become more common between shorter city pairs say the overly crowded, continously delayedCHI-NYC? To that end, should more US carriers begin looking at the 787-3 as a means to accomplish this? Personally, I wouldn't mind sacrifing some frequency for larger aircraft with fewer delays....

[Edited 2007-08-07 02:37:51]

[Edited 2007-08-07 02:38:26]