If any of you easties want to read this, I suggest you find an adult to help you.
B. US Airways Has Incurred Significant Costs From Increased Baggage and Passenger Misconnections Attributable to Pilot Caused Delays
50. Flight delays increase the probability that connecting passengers and their checked
luggage fail to make their connecting flight. When passengers or checked luggage fail
to make their connecting flights, US Airways can incur additional costs. Although
many passengers that miss their connections can be rebooked on a later flight the same
day with minimal direct costs to the Company,55 US Airways may need to provide
various forms of compensation for passengers with longer delays due to a missed
connection such as meal vouchers, additional frequent flyer miles or flight vouchers to
be used on a future flight. Likewise, US Airways may need to incur the costs of hotel
accommodations and ground transportation for passengers who miss the last
connecting flight of the day to their final destination due to a flight delay. Finally, in
some instances, US Airways may need to pay the costs of re-accommodating
passengers who have missed their connections on another airline.
52. US Airways estimates that the costs associated with each mishandled piece of checked
luggage is approximately $50.59 Based on the estimated increase in the rate of
Charlotte mishandled bags attributable to pilot actions of 5.2 per thousand connecting
passengers and an average daily number of Charlotte connecting passengers of 37,863,
I estimate that pilot actions have added approximately $10,000 per day to US Airways
costs solely as a result of mishandled bags. Thus, since May1, East pilot actions have
led to over 17,000 misconnected bags, imposing more than $856,000 in incremental
mishandled baggage costs on the Company.
