It was a bit worse then what you heard. In defense of some of the rampers public transportation to the airport was shut down for part of the time. Delta finally threw in the towel and shut down all ops until noon on the 4th. Many inbounds had extensive holdouts for no gates.

For all the money threw away that day, Delta needs a better plan when the snow flies. Pay triple overtime, rent snowmobiles, hire limousines...

With everything we have riding on NYC, we can't afford such a weak link in the operation.

I was actually surprised since they have been a little more proactive in the recent years. I think they were being overally optimistic with their initial weather emergency plan. Hadn't seen it like this since 2009 timeframe.
The past few weeks it seems that the company's overally conservative approach to staffing and operating has finally hit its pressure point.

Overly conservative is an apt description. Here's a situation where Delta is going to blame 'weather' and sweep it under the carpet. They need to get off the dime and fix this repetitive problem. It happens in other cities too.

'For want of a nail the shoe was lost'.

So I guess this means we're getting cold weather gear and back braces so we can add 'ramper' to 'gate agent' and 'flight attendant' to our duties...I'm already carrying the whole operation on my back...
Must...... Stay....... Humble.........

Well, that was part of Delta's culture & back then humility was part of the rationale.

It used to be required that ALL employees worked the ramp, or customer service. It went out of style some time between my grandfather's and father's generation. Anyone know when that changed?

Reports are coming in of a Pinnacle jet off a taxiway and JFK closed for ice.

http://media.nbcnewyork.com/images/6...runway+jfk.JPG

When will pilot learn to slow font on turn off (high-speed or not). Delta 737 did this in MSN of Dec 18.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel...alted/4326995/

Flight Tracker has 1+50 dept delays.

Can't really tell if that was the issue. The snow was so thick that perhaps he could not see. He might have lined up on the edge markers or something.

That a lot better than the current 5 hour 15 minute AVERAGE delays at O'Hare right now.