FR24 showing 5hr delays at ATL, some nasty weather to be had, and a ground stop.
https://www.flightradar24.com/airport/atl/departures
Any A.netters there?

readytotaxi wrote:

FR24 showing 5hr delays at ATL, some nasty weather to be had, and a ground stop.
https://www.flightradar24.com/airport/atl/departures
Any A.netters there?

Got one right here. It's been crazy today. The first round came in mid-morning with lots of rain and some high winds. Around lunch time the second round came through with heavier rain and less wind. I'm starting to see limited activity on the ramp finally.

Interesting consequence of this: GSP is seeing more WN action than it may have even when it had multiple N/S destinations today!

GSP is where all this stuff is going next (along with the rest of the Carolinas)

Flightaware.com is showing Delta as leading the cancellation derby for today http://flightaware.com/live/cancelled/today and also for the past two days.

Can this all be due only to unusual weather at Atlanta?

BobPatterson wrote:

Flightaware.com is showing Delta as leading the cancellation derby for today http://flightaware.com/live/cancelled/today and also for the past two days.

Can this all be due only to unusual weather at Atlanta?

Two thoughts on this: First, kicking DL in the heart of the operation for two of three days will have a significant impact on operations. Second, let's see what Thursday and, perhaps more importantly, Friday look like. Thursday may still be negatively impacted by out of place crews, but as the weekend approaches, weather related headaches will dilute and true (non-weather) operational performance will be evident.

Alternatively, look at last week, and see how Delta performed compared to their peers. If it was something other than weather, those effects would be visible there, as well. Operational mishandling of the airline doesn't develop overnight.

Yeah I have a buddy that is stuck in DSM all day with tickets to Thursday at The Masters. I'd imagine he's one of several other thousand with this same issue. Most rent vehicles and drive over.

BobPatterson wrote:

Flightaware.com is showing Delta as leading the cancellation derby for today http://flightaware.com/live/cancelled/today and also for the past two days.

Can this all be due only to unusual weather at Atlanta?

That is exactly why its going on.

We got absolutely rocked yesterday with bad weather and it came in several waves. Its going to take a day or so to get all the logistics of the hub (crews, aircraft etc) back up and running PLUS dealing with all the Atlanta based employees who might need to take time off to take care of things at home.



Its the first time in all my years of living here I have ever seen schools closing in the metro area because of severe weather..... That only happens around here if its ice/snow.

It was basically weather and weather related after effects. Many flights were diverted later in the afternoon because there was no gate space in ATL. It was deemed better to land the plane and chill out for a while, than spend 2.5 hours waiting for a gate. ATL was just clogged up.

We got many diversions here at BNA, including a UA 319 from DEN and a DL 320 from SAL. Was wondering why I was hearing so many takeoffs after 11 p.m. and looked on Flight Aware to see a steady stream of diversions finally taking off for ATL with 12-1 a.m. arrivals.

I can tell you the one that came though late night was nasty enough that it actually caused a 5-6 second blackout (guessing circuits were switching) in the Sugurloaf/Duluth area around the Arena.

If it's bad enough to knock power out (even temporarily) at that major a commercial area, it's pretty darned bad.

I'm trying really hard to check my fanboy-ism at the gate (pun intended) with this post. Looks like social media is abuzz with that Delta southern hospitality and how they brought in pizzas, drinks and other snacks for flyers stuck due to the storms.

http://news.delta.com/pizza-delivery-su ... atl-storms

Some quotes... Also, it looks like judging from some of the pictures that the pilots got into the action of serving pizza to the passengers.

Bad weather ATL & other airports. @Delta employees - total pro's. Snacks, water, pizza & much patience. Silvia H - GSO amazed me.
— Ronda B.C. (@RondaReport) April 5, 2017
@Delta thank you for delivering pizza to flight 2030. I love you.
— Zahra (@DearZahra) April 5, 2017

BNA has had a 30 degree drop in temperatures between yesterday and today. Maybe it'll snow and really muck things up.

jumbojet wrote:

I'm trying really hard to check my fanboy-ism at the gate (pun intended) with this post. Looks like social media is abuzz with that Delta southern hospitality

Yep. Twitter really lighting up today:

Diana Davis‏ @davis_diana
3 people working behind the ticket counter handling this whole crowd! Wow...3 employees.

Chuck M‏ @ImsportsM
Never in my over 30 years and 2 million miles of being loyal Delta flyer have I experienced this poor service. #delta

Laura Frazier‏ @lurfrzr
@Delta @shinebox87 It is truly unreal!! I've been trying to reach #delta for Seven hours. Phone lines are down, no responses on twitter or fb. What next??

Mark Arabo‏ @MarkArabo
I fly often, but first time on @Delta @DeltaAssist in a long time and will not be back. #Delta stands for Don't Ever Leave The Airport

Don't Tread On Me‏ @MisterDuchess
#Delta Stop updating me with #FalseInformation #GetMeOutOfAtlanta #BlueSkyDay

Robert Bird‏ @robertbirdgps
Been on hold for over 2 hours with delta. UGH @Delta @DeltaAssist

Mikaela‏ @mharris0426
Hold time over two hours with @Delta can't access website to help either. No fun

IPFreely wrote:

jumbojet wrote:

I'm trying really hard to check my fanboy-ism at the gate (pun intended) with this post. Looks like social media is abuzz with that Delta southern hospitality

Yep. Twitter really lighting up today:

Diana Davis‏ @davis_diana
3 people working behind the ticket counter handling this whole crowd! Wow...3 employees.

Chuck M‏ @ImsportsM
Never in my over 30 years and 2 million miles of being loyal Delta flyer have I experienced this poor service. #delta

Laura Frazier‏ @lurfrzr
@Delta @shinebox87 It is truly unreal!! I've been trying to reach #delta for Seven hours. Phone lines are down, no responses on twitter or fb. What next??

Mark Arabo‏ @MarkArabo
I fly often, but first time on @Delta @DeltaAssist in a long time and will not be back. #Delta stands for Don't Ever Leave The Airport

Don't Tread On Me‏ @MisterDuchess
#Delta Stop updating me with #FalseInformation #GetMeOutOfAtlanta #BlueSkyDay

Robert Bird‏ @robertbirdgps
Been on hold for over 2 hours with delta. UGH @Delta @DeltaAssist

Mikaela‏ @mharris0426
Hold time over two hours with @Delta can't access website to help either. No fun

The moral of the story is it happens. To everyone. We can wax poetic about our preferred airline but at the end of the day, they're just a business. They have real people who make mistakes, go above and beyond, or just punch in and punch out. Most do their best, some fall short, and the leaders are not infallible nor walk on water.

When you travel, you are in someone else's care. Don't count on them being willing or able to perform 100% to your satisfaction. Bring a book, bring a snack, use the bathroom before you board, fly in the day before, have a backup plan, or just drive. Oh, and the lowest fare usually wins.

The end.

IPFreely wrote:

jumbojet wrote:

I'm trying really hard to check my fanboy-ism at the gate (pun intended) with this post. Looks like social media is abuzz with that Delta southern hospitality

Yep. Twitter really lighting up today:

Diana Davis‏ @davis_diana
3 people working behind the ticket counter handling this whole crowd! Wow...3 employees.

Chuck M‏ @ImsportsM
Never in my over 30 years and 2 million miles of being loyal Delta flyer have I experienced this poor service. #delta

Laura Frazier‏ @lurfrzr
@Delta @shinebox87 It is truly unreal!! I've been trying to reach #delta for Seven hours. Phone lines are down, no responses on twitter or fb. What next??

Mark Arabo‏ @MarkArabo
I fly often, but first time on @Delta @DeltaAssist in a long time and will not be back. #Delta stands for Don't Ever Leave The Airport

Don't Tread On Me‏ @MisterDuchess
#Delta Stop updating me with #FalseInformation #GetMeOutOfAtlanta #BlueSkyDay

Robert Bird‏ @robertbirdgps
Been on hold for over 2 hours with delta. UGH @Delta @DeltaAssist

Mikaela‏ @mharris0426
Hold time over two hours with @Delta can't access website to help either. No fun

Low blows. Betcha could have found plaudits to report also.

In any event, ingrates will almost always outnumber the grateful when things don't go according to plan.

How do you plan for 100-year storms in the airline business?

BobPatterson wrote:

IPFreely wrote:

jumbojet wrote:

I'm trying really hard to check my fanboy-ism at the gate (pun intended) with this post. Looks like social media is abuzz with that Delta southern hospitality

Yep. Twitter really lighting up today:

Diana Davis‏ @davis_diana
3 people working behind the ticket counter handling this whole crowd! Wow...3 employees.

Chuck M‏ @ImsportsM
Never in my over 30 years and 2 million miles of being loyal Delta flyer have I experienced this poor service. #delta

Laura Frazier‏ @lurfrzr
@Delta @shinebox87 It is truly unreal!! I've been trying to reach #delta for Seven hours. Phone lines are down, no responses on twitter or fb. What next??

Mark Arabo‏ @MarkArabo
I fly often, but first time on @Delta @DeltaAssist in a long time and will not be back. #Delta stands for Don't Ever Leave The Airport

Don't Tread On Me‏ @MisterDuchess
#Delta Stop updating me with #FalseInformation #GetMeOutOfAtlanta #BlueSkyDay

Robert Bird‏ @robertbirdgps
Been on hold for over 2 hours with delta. UGH @Delta @DeltaAssist

Mikaela‏ @mharris0426
Hold time over two hours with @Delta can't access website to help either. No fun

Low blows. Betcha could have found plaudits to report also.

In any event, ingrates will almost always outnumber the grateful when things don't go according to plan.

How do you plan for 100-year storms in the airline business?

I think it was payback for all the equally low blows that JJ has cast at other airlines, but I agree - we can do better as a group, that's for sure.

Today would have been a great day to have lots of interline agreements and ability to reaccommodate on other airlines across the system....

Thousands stuck as Delta cancels another 500 flights
http://www.ajc.com/travel/thousands-stu ... TZb9jQz0I/

=

Spent Monday and Tuesday in Augusta watching (or at least trying to watch) some of the practice rounds...and then trying to get home Wednesday. Attempted to fly out a couple times AGS-ATL on Wednesday with no luck, so a few of us (strangers) somehow got a rental car to drive up to ATL on Thursday morning. Now I'm booked on three separate flights ATL-MCI trying to see if I can get on any of them tonight.

Travel is fun...

Delta proportionally puts more eggs into a single hub than any other carrier; when things go operationally badly South at ATL, it has a proportionately larger impact on the whole network than say a similar event at DFW (AA) or UA (IAH).

Flight Attendants were on hold with crew scheduling for over 5hrs. Many Flight Attendants had to sleep at the airport.

BobPatterson wrote:

Low blows. Betcha could have found plaudits to report also.

In any event, ingrates will almost always outnumber the grateful when things don't go according to plan.

How do you plan for 100-year storms in the airline business?

Absolutely. I don't really think anyone could reasonably disagree with that - massive weather events and other unavoidable disruptions do sometimes happen, to Delta just like every other airline. I think the point being made, though, is that sometimes it seems like people treat Delta as invincible, and infallible, when of course it's not. It's not really debatable that Delta has clearly cracked the code on generally - usually - running a solid, reliable operation. They clearly have got it right - and do a great job. But Delta gets hit hard sometimes, too. But in the airline industry as in life, a bit of humility goes a long way.

LAXintl wrote:

Today would have been a great day to have lots of interline agreements and ability to reaccommodate on other airlines across the system....

Yeah, but as has been discussed numerous times before, I'm quite sure that there are financial analysts sitting in a cubicle in ATL who can quite confidently say that whatever the cost of this is, it's still cheaper than having the interline deal with AA. And maybe they're right. It's inherently unknowable. In the context of situations like this, interlines are essentially an insurance policy. And it's impossible to ever know whether or not an insurance policy is truly "worth" it - if the day comes when you need to use it, you're sure glad you have it. But insurance policies aren't free. So yes, I'm quite sure that regardless of what Delta's financial analysts say, there are plenty of gate agents in ATL and across the Delta system that wished today they had the option of AA for reroutes - just as I'm sure they wished that when Delta has suffered IT meltdowns in the last 18 months. But gate agents and operational people always like redundancy and backups - because they're operations people. Finance at Delta clearly concluded that the AA interline wasn't worth it. We can all subjectively debate whether or not they were right or wrong.

From a customer service perspective when things become messy, the cost of having interline options is like having gold.

Imagine how much goodwill for DL could be saved if customers could be expeditiously diverted away and be sent on other airlines?

For a company that is so allegedly focused on "customer service" the inability, or refusal to play well with others via standard interline practices is mindboggling and hardly a pro consumer outcome.

And any interline agreement is only as good as the number of available seats on a given flight. With the planes going out full on most airlines, interline agreements would barely scratch the surface of the lift needed. If you are stuck in ATL the odds are probably several thousand to one you would get on another airlines flight.

mercure1 wrote:

From a customer service perspective when things become messy, the cost of having interline options is like having gold.

Imagine how much goodwill for DL could be saved if customers could be expeditiously diverted away and be sent on other airlines?

For a company that is so allegedly focused on "customer service" the inability, or refusal to play well with others via standard interline practices is mindboggling and hardly a pro consumer outcome.

Yes its somewhat mind boggling the stress, inconvenience and delays DL is willing to subject its customers to by thumbing its nose at a well established industry safety valve designed to be of help exactly in these type of situations when operational meltdowns hit.

TVNWZ wrote:

And any interline agreement is only as good as the number of available seats on a given flight. With the planes going out full on most airlines, interline agreements would barely scratch the surface of the lift needed. If you are stuck in ATL the odds are probably several thousand to one you would get on another airlines flight.

True the folks stuck in Atlanta might be hosed either way, but having the ability to access flights of OALs from other cities across the DL network could certainly provide relief and provide option to move thousands to their destinations directly and avoiding ATL or other troubled DL hubs.

That was obviously a very bad day of severe weather, but I've never seen a day of thunderstorms bring an airline to its knees like this. This is unbelievable. Another epic meltdown for DL operations. Obviously much of this couldn't be avoided, but it seems like a lot of could have. When you hold passengers captive without proactively cancelling flights and resetting operations, issuing a weather waiver in a timely manner, having interline agreements, and having the IT and staffing to handle the load, this is what can happen. I don't see any excuse for the day after the storm being this bad too.

TVNWZ wrote:

And any interline agreement is only as good as the number of available seats on a given flight. With the planes going out full on most airlines, interline agreements would barely scratch the surface of the lift needed. If you are stuck in ATL the odds are probably several thousand to one you would get on another airlines flight.

As already mentioned, interline would be of relatively little value for ATL O&D passengers, true. But for those passengers connecting over ATL between two spokes, it is theoretically possible that they could be rerouted, through a different hub, on a different airline. And by not having an interline with AA, Delta has effectively cut off what would arguably be one of the most useful alternative airlines. In many cases, the next largest airline after Delta in many markets in the southeastern U.S. is either AA or Southwest - Southwest doesn't do much interlining, but obviously AA could provide some relief in that part of the country. And while it's true that load factors are high everywhere, again, every seat helps - and I'm sure that there are lots of Delta GAs in ATL and at other stations around the country who would be thrilled right now to have the option of even just a few incremental seats on the next AA flight to get people out.

But, again, all of this is subjective. I'm quite confident that Delta is still quite happy with the decision it made on the AA interline, and has concluded that the cost in disruption and goodwill from a few days of spring thunderstorms in ATL still wasn't worth the price of the AA interline "insurance." And they may be right. It's impossible to know.

NOT that I am defending DL's response, but the storm couldn't have happened at a much worse time, sans the day before Thanksgiving. Wednesday evening and Thursday are when many consultants, conference attendees, and biz travelers are trying to get home, plus it's the end of spring break for many folks, plus there's the Masters golf tournament in Augusta this weekend.

As a commenter in the AJC article wisely pointed out, when you're already running an operation at 100-110% capacity like DL does, it makes it almost impossible to recover from an event like this in a timely manner. They are going to have to start adding segments if they want to have any hope of getting through the backlog, not just trying to find empty seats on existing flights. I am curious as to their ability to logistically do that.

IPFreely wrote:

jumbojet wrote:

I'm trying really hard to check my fanboy-ism at the gate (pun intended) with this post. Looks like social media is abuzz with that Delta southern hospitality

Yep. Twitter really lighting up today:

Diana Davis‏ @davis_diana
3 people working behind the ticket counter handling this whole crowd! Wow...3 employees.

Chuck M‏ @ImsportsM
Never in my over 30 years and 2 million miles of being loyal Delta flyer have I experienced this poor service. #delta

Laura Frazier‏ @lurfrzr
@Delta @shinebox87 It is truly unreal!! I've been trying to reach #delta for Seven hours. Phone lines are down, no responses on twitter or fb. What next??

Mark Arabo‏ @MarkArabo
I fly often, but first time on @Delta @DeltaAssist in a long time and will not be back. #Delta stands for Don't Ever Leave The Airport

Don't Tread On Me‏ @MisterDuchess
#Delta Stop updating me with #FalseInformation #GetMeOutOfAtlanta #BlueSkyDay

Robert Bird‏ @robertbirdgps
Been on hold for over 2 hours with delta. UGH @Delta @DeltaAssist

Mikaela‏ @mharris0426
Hold time over two hours with @Delta can't access website to help either. No fun

Weather related delays are hardly delta's fault. A major storm barreled through ATL, what do you expect? Some people are just not going to be happy unless they complain. However, with that, Don't Ever Leave The Airport, that's pretty funny. Give that man a cigar! Funny indeed!

Just returned from ATL on DL 2049 (ATL-SFO).

- Complete chaos in the airport. Customer service lines 100s of yards long, security backups, people sleeping everywhere, etc.
- Flight was announced as on time until a few minutes before boarding. No pilots. 2.5 hour delay.
- 5 minutes before the delayed boarding was scheduled, we were told that the pilots were on their way to the airport
- Finally boarded and arrived to SFO right around 4 hours late. Other plane at gate.
- Finally got to the gate 20 minutes later. "We have to find someone to come and work the jetway now".

How hard is it to get pilots to the airport on time for a regularly scheduled flight? I looked at the arrivals board upon landing, and saw two ATL flights were cancelled. I guess I was lucky.

The last time I flew DL, their computer system crashed and I had to rebook on AA. If I were a casual traveller, I would think this was standard operating procedure.

milesaway826 wrote:

Just returned from ATL on DL 2049 (ATL-SFO).

- Complete chaos in the airport. Customer service lines 100s of yards long, security backups, people sleeping everywhere, etc.
- Flight was announced as on time until a few minutes before boarding. No pilots. 2.5 hour delay.
- 5 minutes before the delayed boarding was scheduled, we were told that the pilots were on their way to the airport
- Finally boarded and arrived to SFO right around 4 hours late. Other plane at gate.
- Finally got to the gate 20 minutes later. "We have to find someone to come and work the jetway now".

How hard is it to get pilots to the airport on time for a regularly scheduled flight? I looked at the arrivals board upon landing, and saw two ATL flights were cancelled. I guess I was lucky.

I'm guessing the pilots who flew your flight were not the originally scheduled crew.

ty97 wrote:

milesaway826 wrote:

Just returned from ATL on DL 2049 (ATL-SFO).

- Complete chaos in the airport. Customer service lines 100s of yards long, security backups, people sleeping everywhere, etc.
- Flight was announced as on time until a few minutes before boarding. No pilots. 2.5 hour delay.
- 5 minutes before the delayed boarding was scheduled, we were told that the pilots were on their way to the airport
- Finally boarded and arrived to SFO right around 4 hours late. Other plane at gate.
- Finally got to the gate 20 minutes later. "We have to find someone to come and work the jetway now".

How hard is it to get pilots to the airport on time for a regularly scheduled flight? I looked at the arrivals board upon landing, and saw two ATL flights were cancelled. I guess I was lucky.

I'm guessing the pilots who flew your flight were not the originally scheduled crew.

Bingo. People naturally get pissed at delays but when its weather, not much you can do. However, jumping to conclusions about 'where the pilots are' or 'where the flight attendants are' won't help matters. Maybe try the local hotel, maybe they stopped for a few cold ones at the bar to help ease the pain of dealing with crazy people.

Delta - Don't Ever Leave The Airport; gotta love the creativity of some people, that by far is my favorite tweet!!!

For the storm, they've actually done a decent job. I've seen more positive news stories about pizza and drinks than negative ones. It does look like things are rough right now but they are working hard. Executives (all the way to the top) and corporate staff are at the Atl airport helping.

mercure1 wrote:

For a company that is so allegedly focused on "customer service" the inability, or refusal to play well with others via standard interline practices is mindboggling and hardly a pro consumer outcome.

They only need the public perception of being a "customer service" airline. That drives sales, and since there's few people that understand the customer-unfriendly actions they take (like lack of interlining or holding passengers captive by not issuing timely and comprehensive weather waivers), it's a profitable move.

And this is how...

gonnagetbumpy wrote:

I've seen more positive news stories about pizza and drinks than negative ones.

That's DL's PR machine in full force. They flooded the airwaves yesterday with headlines that read "free food" and article bodies that focused on it, hardly mentioning the operational meltdown. It's not hard to dupe the media. The MSP paper homepage still has the "food" headline and an article that says "about 300 flights were cancelled in the Southeast". In reality that's only a fraction of the flights that have been cancelled so far, and the mess is going to last at least into tomorrow. If they were as proactive in cancelling flights and issuing weather waivers as they are about getting positive PR in the airwaves, fewer of their passengers wouldn't need to trade being stranded for a slice of pizza.

Oh Dear God ATL had hours of bad storms. No freaking big and beyond Delta control. The Northeast is dealing with the same system. ATL just happen to get three different rounds of servers weather yesterday.

GSP psgr wrote:

Delta proportionally puts more eggs into a single hub than any other carrier; when things go operationally badly South at ATL, it has a proportionately larger impact on the whole network than say a similar event at DFW (AA) or UA (IAH).

This is so untrue and proof that you are not familiar with all of Delta operations.

Atlwarrior wrote:

GSP psgr wrote:

Delta proportionally puts more eggs into a single hub than any other carrier; when things go operationally badly South at ATL, it has a proportionately larger impact on the whole network than say a similar event at DFW (AA) or UA (IAH).

This is so untrue and proof that you are not familiar with all of Delta operations.

Taking no side in the debate, but UA reports 530 daily flights at ORD, AA reports 800 daily flights at DFW, DL reports 1038 daily flights at ATL.

Total daily flights are UA 4523, AA 6700. DL includes worldwide partners in their number, so I had top pull from wiki which says 4804.

So on a percentage basis:
ORD is 11.7% of UA's flights
DFW is 11.9% of AA's flights
ATL is 21.6% of DL's flights

(I think ORD is UA's biggest hub?)

ty97 wrote:

Atlwarrior wrote:

GSP psgr wrote:

Delta proportionally puts more eggs into a single hub than any other carrier; when things go operationally badly South at ATL, it has a proportionately larger impact on the whole network than say a similar event at DFW (AA) or UA (IAH).

This is so untrue and proof that you are not familiar with all of Delta operations.

Taking no side in the debate, but UA reports 530 daily flights at ORD, AA reports 800 daily flights at DFW, DL reports 1038 daily flights at ATL.

Total daily flights are UA 4523, AA 6700. DL includes worldwide partners in their number, so I had top pull from wiki which says 4804.

So on a percentage basis:
ORD is 11.7% of UA's flights
DFW is 11.9% of AA's flights
ATL is 21.6% of DL's flights

(I think ORD is UA's biggest hub?)

I believe Delta currently has around 950 flights a day in ATL but still a high percentage.

jumbojet wrote:

IPFreely wrote:

jumbojet wrote:

I'm trying really hard to check my fanboy-ism at the gate (pun intended) with this post. Looks like social media is abuzz with that Delta southern hospitality

Yep. Twitter really lighting up today:

Diana Davis‏ @davis_diana
3 people working behind the ticket counter handling this whole crowd! Wow...3 employees.

Chuck M‏ @ImsportsM
Never in my over 30 years and 2 million miles of being loyal Delta flyer have I experienced this poor service. #delta

Laura Frazier‏ @lurfrzr
@Delta @shinebox87 It is truly unreal!! I've been trying to reach #delta for Seven hours. Phone lines are down, no responses on twitter or fb. What next??

Mark Arabo‏ @MarkArabo
I fly often, but first time on @Delta @DeltaAssist in a long time and will not be back. #Delta stands for Don't Ever Leave The Airport

Don't Tread On Me‏ @MisterDuchess
#Delta Stop updating me with #FalseInformation #GetMeOutOfAtlanta #BlueSkyDay

Robert Bird‏ @robertbirdgps
Been on hold for over 2 hours with delta. UGH @Delta @DeltaAssist

Mikaela‏ @mharris0426
Hold time over two hours with @Delta can't access website to help either. No fun

Weather related delays are hardly delta's fault. A major storm barreled through ATL, what do you expect? Some people are just not going to be happy unless they complain. However, with that, Don't Ever Leave The Airport, that's pretty funny. Give that man a cigar! Funny indeed!

But, but, but - DTW, MSP, JFK, SLC, SEA, LAX. Aren't you the one that touts the size of Delta over the weaklings of the airline world? I think what someone upthread would be helpful, and that would be to bring a bit more humility to the constant commentary. UA has #Leggings. WN has #LandOnTheFrontWheels. DL has #TheEvilWeatherKeepsKillingUs. Everyone has bad days - maybe it's time some people stopped rubbing their noses in it.

Next month I will have lived in the Dirty for 20 years. This was the first time they preemptively closed schools and companies told people to stay home from work. This was not a big storm. This was 3 big storms. We got 5" of rain at my house, which is under the downwind leg of the North runways at ATL. If you hate Delta, great, don't fly them. From where I sit, they did the best with a shitty situation that they could.

ATLJRV wrote:

Next month I will have lived in the Dirty for 20 years. This was the first time they preemptively closed schools and companies told people to stay home from work. This was not a big storm. This was 3 big storms. We got 5" of rain at my house, which is under the downwind leg of the North runways at ATL. If you hate Delta, great, don't fly them. From where I sit, they did the best with a shitty situation that they could.

Sounds nasty. In Seattle, we call that Tuesday.

Actually, to be fair to Delta, Mother Nature doesn't belong to any FF program or alliance - she's an equal opportunity bi-- , well, you get it.

Atlwarrior wrote:

GSP psgr wrote:

Delta proportionally puts more eggs into a single hub than any other carrier; when things go operationally badly South at ATL, it has a proportionately larger impact on the whole network than say a similar event at DFW (AA) or UA (IAH).

This is so untrue and proof that you are not familiar with all of Delta operations.

Is it though? Because the thing is, it's not. Data below is derived from the schedule as it is currently published with the time period of full year 2017 including regional ops:

AA: 2,312,086 flights globally, with 535,531 operated in and out of their largest hub by flights: DFW. The percentage? 23% of global operations
UA: 1,667,245 flights globally, with 395,760 operated in and out of their largest hub by flights: ORD. The percentage? 24% of global operations
DL: 1,918,426 flights globally, with 686,701 operated in and out of their largest hub by flights: ATL. The percentage? 36% of global operations

So tell us again how the statement was 'so untrue'? I'd love to see your data that contrasts what I've just provided. I'm all ears.

BobPatterson wrote:

IPFreely wrote:

jumbojet wrote:

I'm trying really hard to check my fanboy-ism at the gate (pun intended) with this post. Looks like social media is abuzz with that Delta southern hospitality

Yep. Twitter really lighting up today:

Diana Davis‏ @davis_diana
3 people working behind the ticket counter handling this whole crowd! Wow...3 employees.

Chuck M‏ @ImsportsM
Never in my over 30 years and 2 million miles of being loyal Delta flyer have I experienced this poor service. #delta

Laura Frazier‏ @lurfrzr
@Delta @shinebox87 It is truly unreal!! I've been trying to reach #delta for Seven hours. Phone lines are down, no responses on twitter or fb. What next??

Mark Arabo‏ @MarkArabo
I fly often, but first time on @Delta @DeltaAssist in a long time and will not be back. #Delta stands for Don't Ever Leave The Airport

Don't Tread On Me‏ @MisterDuchess
#Delta Stop updating me with #FalseInformation #GetMeOutOfAtlanta #BlueSkyDay

Robert Bird‏ @robertbirdgps
Been on hold for over 2 hours with delta. UGH @Delta @DeltaAssist

Mikaela‏ @mharris0426
Hold time over two hours with @Delta can't access website to help either. No fun

Low blows. Betcha could have found plaudits to report also.

In any event, ingrates will almost always outnumber the grateful when things don't go according to plan.

How do you plan for 100-year storms in the airline business?

You don't staff your airline to the bare minimums. You also put a plan into place how to handle the customers needs when these things happen. You don't have a fire everyday at an airline but you still have a plan just in case. The normal operating procedure when thins like this happen is oh well we're doing our best but guess what your best isn't good enough when you have complaints. I understand that there are unreasonable people but I assure you for the most part people are pretty reasonable if they believe their concerns are being addressed but we all understand customer service does not add to the bottom line just like IT doesn't so it's not that high on the priority of funding by most corporations that try to do everything on the cheap so that their investors can enjoy lavish returns on their investment while you spends hours or days stuck in an airport with little or no options but to suck it up.

Absolutely horrendous IRROPS mismanagement. They had no plan and that's pretty obvious.

I have never seen an airline pre cancel a days worth of flights for thunderstorms. Thunderstorms usually are short lived and hard to predict to the minute. Usually a thunderstorm causing a ground stop only lasts for an hour or so. Yesterday Atlanta was in and out of ground stops with tornado warnings for 6-8 hours.

jumbojet wrote:

IPFreely wrote:

jumbojet wrote:

I'm trying really hard to check my fanboy-ism at the gate (pun intended) with this post. Looks like social media is abuzz with that Delta southern hospitality

Yep. Twitter really lighting up today:

Diana Davis‏ @davis_diana
3 people working behind the ticket counter handling this whole crowd! Wow...3 employees.

Chuck M‏ @ImsportsM
Never in my over 30 years and 2 million miles of being loyal Delta flyer have I experienced this poor service. #delta

Laura Frazier‏ @lurfrzr
@Delta @shinebox87 It is truly unreal!! I've been trying to reach #delta for Seven hours. Phone lines are down, no responses on twitter or fb. What next??

Mark Arabo‏ @MarkArabo
I fly often, but first time on @Delta @DeltaAssist in a long time and will not be back. #Delta stands for Don't Ever Leave The Airport

Don't Tread On Me‏ @MisterDuchess
#Delta Stop updating me with #FalseInformation #GetMeOutOfAtlanta #BlueSkyDay

Robert Bird‏ @robertbirdgps
Been on hold for over 2 hours with delta. UGH @Delta @DeltaAssist

Mikaela‏ @mharris0426
Hold time over two hours with @Delta can't access website to help either. No fun

Weather related delays are hardly delta's fault. A major storm barreled through ATL, what do you expect? Some people are just not going to be happy unless they complain. However, with that, Don't Ever Leave The Airport, that's pretty funny. Give that man a cigar! Funny indeed!

But how Delta handles it is their fault and they are very poor at customer service especially in Atlanta may uninformed CSAs there and not to mention rude.

PSU.DTW.SCE wrote:

In hindsight, DL should've pre-cancelled most of the ATL schedule for Wednesday, thrown in the towel in ATL and attempted to re-set the operation for Thursday. However Thursday today was bad for anything in the NYC/DCA/BOS area as well.

This is what used to happen 10-15 years ago when airlines used to try to "operate-through" weather events until it grinded them to a halt.

That said, with DL when ATL goes down, it impacts almost everything operating to/from/through East of the Rockies. They've constructed so many aircraft and crew routings that flow through multiple hubs in a given day that its very easy for delays to cascade around the network.

Look at the 753 fleet for example that is a small fleet that operates many of the trunk routes. DTW's 757 & 753 routes were running 4-6-8 hours behind yesterday and today so almost every tail in the fleet hits ATL on a daily basis. You have routes like ATL-LAX-DTW-MCO or ATL-SEA-DTW-TPA etc. and unlike what AA & UA used to do (I don't know if they still do or not) they'd isolate hubs. AA in the early-2000s isolated ORD so when IRROPS hit ORD the damage was limited to ORD routes and DFW & MIA could operate unaffected.

That said, ATL for DL is "too big to fail" it may have 36% of their global departures, but its probably more like 40% of their domestic operation (flights) and based on passenger probably more like 50-60% as ATL operates significantly more mainline (seats per departure) than any other hub in the system.

Why would Delta not be set up so that if there are disruption in ATL that the whole network doesn't crash again more mismanagement. You would think they would want to minimize the impact on the rest of the network when there is a disruption at one hub.

Lots of people like to belch and moan - hope y'all feel better. Would suggest that the impact of 3 major storm fronts in one day is not being fully appreciated. In that situation how many external factors also come into play, to restrict what movements there can be. I can imagine major ATC restrictions, and lightning induced ground stops, no doubt there are many more factors.
Haven't heard of any casualties, so the result was good on a very shitty day.