Just curious.

I'm flying for the first time since 2019, heading to Jackson Hole in a few weeks. Hoping this problem is past us.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/06/summer-air-travel-flights-cancelled/661385/

Query The Sodomite.

Pin the Tail in The Bureaucrat.

New DC Fun Game.

- KKM

BID.

Shortage of labor, from pilots to baggage handlers. Airlines are behind in hiring back up to fully operating schedules I was delayed 2 days in Dallas, 3 hours in Mexico city and last week two hours in Miami.

Per a CBS Sunday Morning news story, during the pandemic the airlines encouraged pilots to take early retirement.
Then when travel surged back, there weren't enough pilots to fly the planes.
Worse yet, the pilots who ARE flying aren't getting enough rest, or pay.
(The airlines also got $50 billion in bailout money.)

I don't know exactly what is going on, but I can relate my personal experience with a recent trip.

I had a court date in Ridgway, PA scheduled for Thursday June 23rd, so I bought tickets to Pittsburgh and back, planning to drive from Pittsburgh to Ridgway and back.

The first odd thing was when I tried to check in Tuesday, my reservation was confirmed but my seat assignments had disappeared. I was able to reselect my seats but at an additional cost of $58.

My flight up was IAH to DFW then DFW to PIT. The second flight was delayed by an hour because they had to replace the flight crew. I had the same thing happen during a return flight in February.

Coming back Friday, I had no issues on the flight from PIT to ATL, but in Atlanta the flight to Houston was overbooked by 29 people, and no one wanted to get off. I did notice one odd thing which may, or may not, have been a stunt:

As I got off the flight from Pittsburgh, I noticed my boarding pass for the flight to Houston had disappeared from my phone. So I walked down to the gate for my flight and asked for them to print our my boarding pass. A few other passengers did the same after me. I walked down to McDonalds and got some breakfast, and when I got back to the gate, passengers were less than happy, as the gate workers for some reason could no longer print out boarding passes; people would have to go all the way to the ticketing area for a printed boarding pass, but they were sure the boarding passes would be available on their phones again before too long.,

From comments by my fellow passengers who were able to board, the phones showed boarding passes for the First Class and priority customers, but the main cabin customers had to wait for the gate attendants to confirm their seat, unless of course they had a printed boarding pass as I did.

Whatever that was about, it was weird.

The industry has known for years there was a coming shortage of pilots, and the pandemic exacerbated the situation and as noted likely impacted other groups as well. We had similar difficult flights of flight cancellations, delays, and illogical re-routing, but that's how they have to do it.

Part of the challenge is the labor rules that govern particularly flight crews. You have the situation of both flights getting delayed and crews maxing out time. What they really need to do is pull down capacity until the situation stabilizes.

I also think they should be forced to keep some % of seats open each flight to accommodate passengers on cancelled flights until things get stabilized. I would pay $10 more / ticket as "insurance" if my flight gets cancelled I'm not facing a three-day delay.

Oldbear83 said:

---

From comments by my fellow passengers who were able to board, the phones showed boarding passes for the First Class and priority customers, but the main cabin customers had to wait for the gate attendants to confirm their seat, unless of course they had a printed boarding pass as I did.

Whatever that was about, it was weird.

---

That's SOP and a key advantage (pun intended) of having status. I am one of those that lost my Platinum status during rona. When I had status, when there was a cancellation I would regularly be re-booked quickly on the next flight and hear others told it might be a day delay. They always take care of First and status people as that's the bread and butter. I felt it bad on my last flight as we were delayed - not terrible but I did get to fly NYC-CLT-MSP-DFW and spend a night in an airport.

Harrison Bergeron said:

---

Oldbear83 said:

---

From comments by my fellow passengers who were able to board, the phones showed boarding passes for the First Class and priority customers, but the main cabin customers had to wait for the gate attendants to confirm their seat, unless of course they had a printed boarding pass as I did.

Whatever that was about, it was weird.

---

That's SOP and a key advantage (pun intended) of having status. I am one of those that lost my Platinum status during rona. When I had status, when there was a cancellation I would regularly be re-booked quickly on the next flight and hear others told it might be a day delay. They always take care of First and status people as that's the bread and butter. I felt it bad on my last flight as we were delayed - not terrible but I did get to fly NYC-CLT-MSP-DFW and spend a night in an airport.

---

I know about overbooking. What seemed weird was wiping seat assignments from the phones.

Old school often proves its value.

Pecos 45 said:

---

Per a CBS Sunday Morning news story, during the pandemic the airlines encouraged pilots to take early retirement.
Then when travel surged back, there weren't enough pilots to fly the planes.
Worse yet, the pilots who ARE flying aren't getting enough rest, or pay.
(The airlines also got $50 billion in bailout money.)

---

I've heard exactly this from those in the industry and have seen it with my own eyes.

I'm a financial advisor that works primarily with military and Fed employees. Those that leave military service typically go to the Fed, work for military contractors, or are doctors, pilots, lawyers, etc., for the most part. Over the past two years, I can't count how many furloughed and "bought" retirements we've seen from the airline industry. I can think of 5 cases I have worked on in the past few weeks along (4 from Delta - the most common for this, and one from Southwest - who's close behind).

As a side note, now is a great time to look at Roth conversions for those that are not going to rely upon IRA/401(k) money in retirement. If you are in this boat, definitely do what you can before some of the current tax law expires in a few years.