Originally Posted by
iaflyer
Hm - I'm an airline Ops manager - what should I do when bad weather threatens? What did the people pushing the Pax bill of rights think would happen?
In a winter situation, this probably saves the company money. Say the flight was only going to make $500 total. (with the small margins in the airline biz, this is possible). Throw on some de-icing fluid at $4 a gallon - it doesn't take much to make a flight unprofitable.
Helicopter overhead! Could be a medivac, could be black ops, I am too ascared to peek.
I have serious doubts that consumer/citizen complaints drove the rulings that resulted in the fines for tarmac delays.
There were some airline execs who were in favor of putting all of the competition on a level playing field for canx flights in bad weather due to the companies costs and bad press. They wanted those fines, they needed those fines and I think they invented those fines! They played those passenger-rights folks like a fiddle.
