Airline Pilot Central Forums - Avoiding cancellations

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Quote:

Originally Posted by UhhhKhakis (Post 4000961)

Just seems a little silly to send an empty airplane from a hub to an outstation, back to the hub again empty just for the completion.

It seems counterintuitive sometimes, but this is what Richard Anderson did to turn Delta into an operational and financial standout. With high load factors there is little capacity to reaccommodate passengers if aircraft don’t follow the schedule. Passengers get understandably upset when it takes days of standing by for flights to get where they are going. It takes a lot of planning and operational/maintenance commitment to make it work. Glad to see United following suit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by UhhhKhakis (Post 4000961)

Thanks for the responses. The rolling delay on the deadhead was actually on mainline. But what you all said makes sense, need the airplane there the next morning. The completion factor thing for the regional carriers makes sense too. Just seems a little silly to send an empty airplane from a hub to an outstation, back to the hub again empty just for the completion.

I think it is a fair question, and don’t always assume that operations doesn’t make bad judgments and decisions too. Mainline ops you know Deltas, Uniteds…they are pretty good….so they probably are on top of it……but if you ever worked at JetBlue you’d know that’s definitely not always the case.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swakid8 (Post 4000966)

Keep in mind, a lot of times there’s crew swaps at outstations well. There’s a big picture to all of this….

I know first hand there were no crew swaps on these examples. Empty to outstation, immediately turned around and empty back to hub.

Quote:

Originally Posted by UhhhKhakis (Post 4000891)

Let me start off by saying that I am in no way trying to stir any sort of pot here. United is always my first choice to fly on no matter what the circumstances because you all always treat me like I am one of your own. This is more for my genuine curiosity. I work for a regional partner (if you really wanna know you can look at my post history) and it seems as though lately United refuses to cancel a flight for any reason whatsoever right now. I saw at least 3 Express flights in January that flew with 0 passengers just so there would be not be cancellations. I was supposed to be on a deadhead today that departed at 1:30pm and due to maintenance issues, an equipment change, and subsequently crew issues is now currently delayed until 2am assuming they can get some pilots (it’s currently 0042)… just wondering if any of you knew the reason why delaying so long is better than a cancellation or an overnight delay?

Not enough info given but top reasons include:

Future gate allotment at departure or arrival airport tied to usage.
Aircraft needed in place for downstream flying.
Aircraft needed in place for maintenance requirements.
Measured performance metrics include completion factor in calculations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Otterbox (Post 4001103)

also add in EAS…..government requires you fly no matter how many people are on board.

and if the flight was EAS then that isn’t even a United decision it’s a Skywest decision as it’s their flight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by UhhhKhakis (Post 4000961)

Many Corporate travel contracts include performance guarantees for both on time and completion factor. If the airline fails to meet those obligations a portion of the travel contract has to be rebated. These are not small sums. Delta took over the NYC corporate market 12 years ago with these guarantees. United is trying to take it back.