United's number 1
 

at sitting on the "tarmac" for more than 3 hours. 4 of the 5 three-plus hour delayed flights in May were UAL mainline.

Story here: Govt says 5 May flights sat on tarmac over 3 hours - Yahoo! Finance

Congrats? Chicago and Denver in the winter, and SFO in the foggy season probably don't help.

The fifth was a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Dallas-Fort Worth on May 28. That flight sat for two hours in Atlanta when the tarmac was closed for lightning. Delta spokesman Anthony Black said air traffic control denied the pilot's request to turn back to the gate, and the plane sat on the tarmac for another hour before it ultimately took off.

Wow, what a racket the U.S. government could get into, "need to return to the gate? DENIED, DENIED, DENIED, oh look, you're past 3 hours, now pay me $27,500 x 142 passengers, thank you."

:rolleyes:

Pilot Pushing
 

For years the safety folks have fought the practice of "pilot pushing."

That is, until the U.S. Government thought they could cash in on the idea.

If the DOT was a Charter Operator, the FAA would shut them down.

What happened to SWA?
 

Here's a link to the whole list of on time arrivals in May:
Airlines on-time rates in May at a glance - Yahoo! Finance

SWA is in the middle of the pack.

*** is a "tarmac" I have been in this industry since 1987 and the only time I have ever heard or seen this word is in the media. No one in the business uses it. Ramp, taxiway and runway. The only outside spaces and airplane on the ground can occupy. Well I guess you can add penalty box to that too. Rant over. Now back to your regularly scheduled thread.:D

What is more remarkable is that ASA is ahead of them... Now THAT is improvement. Good on 'em

Yet another airline bashing article. What was that joke about building a thousand bridges?

It's an old term... and I usually hate using Wikipedia as a source, but:

Tarmac - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think that's a term from WWII when the SeaBees would chop down the jungle and build a runway out of tar and macadamia nuts.

At least that's the way grampa told it...