Originally Posted by
iaflyer
It is my opinion, that the operation has become too complex. In many of my trips that have a delay, it's because the airplane or the FAs are coming through a hub that's being impacted by weather. Also, because airplanes/crews are so tightly scheduled, a minor delay in the morning on the other side of the country can make the departure out of the west coast 12 hours later, delayed. No time to make up the delay.
Along these lines...
What do you guys think (especially fNWA guys who flew the DC-9) is the reason why the DC-9 has become so unreliable recently? Every single trip I fly, we end up with a major mechanical delay or even a cancellation due to mechanical. I find myself calling maintenance way more frequently than I have ever had to do with any other aircraft in my entire career. Now, the F/O's I fly with, who have flown the airplane for a long time, tell me that the DC-9 had an extremely high dispatch reliability at NWA. Is it that we're utilizing the aircraft more post-merger? (More utilization on an old aircraft = more maintenance problems?) Or is Delta doing something different in terms of preventative maintenance? Or maybe a combination of both? What do you think?