Maybe It Isn't All Just US's Fault

[PHX PHLyer]

This is not a Kool Aid post (even though, may I add, that the kool aid term on here is so over done and tired that there needs to be a new phrase asap). But, I have noticed that the weather in the Northeast has been perfect the last 2 days. There have not been any thunderstorms to throw the DC to BOS corridor to the sh*ts. There weren't really any ground holds, delays, or anything from ATC in the corridor yesterday or today. And.....what do you know....US operated an amzingly good operation compared to what we have seen this summer. Even in PHL. While I pretty much assumed that US's problems this summer were a combination of the weather, terrible congestion in the NE, and bad airports like PHL.....ALONG with the incompetence and poor US operation....it seems that when things are manageable in the Northeast, US actually can run a good operation, something that I wasn't so sure of before. Now that does mean that US is very poor in irregular ops, yes, but at least not incompetant at running a good operation in general. Here are some stats.

Monday 8/27

Departures (All)

Airline Scheduled Tracked Departed Cancelled 15-30 30-45 45+ Ontime
US Airways 975 970 963 9 245 98 95 55%

Not a good departure stat, but look at how many are in the 15-30 minute range....thats easy to makeup in the air and during taxi to the gate after landing.



Arrivals (All)

Airline Scheduled Tracked Arrived Cancelled 15-30 30-45 45+ Ontime
US Airways 973 968 968 8 93 21 51 83%

When was the last time that US operated with an 83% ontime rate? Not amazing.....but not bad either...especially for a Monday....arguably the busiest travel day of the week. They beat West's 81% yesterday (although there were ATC issues is LAS and PHX yesterday.....I'm pretty sure LAS had t-storms)



Arrivals (By Busiest US Airports)

Airport Scheduled Tracked Arrived Cancelled 15-30 30-45 45+ Ontime
CLT 227 226 227 0 26 4 7 84%
PHL 155 155 158 0 22 2 11 78%
DCA 77 77 77 1 2 1 0 96%
BOS 61 61 58 3 3 2 3 86%
LGA 44 44 44 0 4 1 1 86%
PIT 31 31 31 0 1 0 0 97%
MCO 21 21 21 0 3 0 4 67%
PHX 19 19 18 1 1 0 1 89%
TPA 18 18 18 0 1 1 2 78%
LAS 16 16 15 1 3 2 2 53%

PHL with 78% is amazing for that airport.....CLT 84% is a welcome improvement.....but look at DCA!! 96%!!! PIT 97%!!! LGA and BOS at 86%?!



Tuesday (8/28) as of 3:20pm


Departures (All)

Airline Scheduled Tracked Departed Cancelled 15-30 30-45 45+ Ontime
US Airways 964 961 535 10 126 29 29 66%

Over the half-way mark at this point....and once again....while 66% isn't impressive....look at how many of those are in the 15-30 minute column.



Arrivals (All)

Airline Scheduled Tracked Arrived Cancelled 15-30 30-45 45+ Ontime
US Airways 964 960 476 11 24 7 20 89%

89%...not too shabby



Arrivals (At Busiest US Airports)

Airport Scheduled Tracked Arrived Cancelled 15-30 30-45 45+ Ontime
CLT 226 226 124 2 5 1 5 91%
PHL 149 149 75 2 4 1 1 92%
DCA 76 76 41 1 2 0 1 93%
BOS 62 62 31 0 2 0 0 94%
LGA 44 44 25 0 2 1 1 84%
PIT 32 32 14 1 1 0 0 93%
MCO 21 21 10 0 0 0 1 90%
PHX 19 19 10 0 2 0 0 80%
TPA 19 19 8 0 0 0 0 100%
FLL 15 15 7 1 0 0 1 86%

PHL with only 1 arrival more than 45 minutes late must mean the world is ending. Top 4 airports over 90% mark is pretty damn good.


So in conclusion....I guess that I have hope that once the ATC thing is resolved and starts improving....US can improve with it. And I am now more convinced that US is possible of running a good operation, and that employees do at least have the most basic of tools to run a legit operation. The one thing this proves, however, is the lack of tools available during irregular opps. Management needs to start looking at how when weather and ATC goes arry, how they can manage to not run the whole thing through the ground.

 

[AstroLounge]

the WEATHER Excuse gets OLD R-e-a-l FAST........every airline deals with it whether it is NY/Chicago/Dallas/Atlanta. It is NOT like Dr.Doom is hanging over the USAirways route system in a hot air balloon wrecking havoc across the system. The level of Customer Service is minimal at best and when things get messed up (weather/ATC/misconnects etc.) the ground personnel are swamped and rarely is Managerial support available. Flights getting out ONTIME is hampered by our 'friend" called SHARES.....and this is a domino effect that lasts all day. A/C not being catered properly at certain stations only compounds the problems......either they Don't speak English, Don't Understand English or are just too stupid to know WHAT Needs to be done. Getting the picture yet? Most of the people that report for work expect to DO THEIR Job.......not everyone else's. Most of the problems afflicting THIS Airline are Management related and can be CORRECTED by Individuals that care, and Tempe has demonstrated that they DON'T. The bad press Team Tempe continues to garner shows they are in WAY OVER THEIR HEADS or THEY COULDN'T GIVE A RAT's ARSCE in Running a Respectable Airline. They Suck, BIG Time!

 

[AtlanticBeach]

When was the last time that US operated with an 83% ontime rate? Not amazing.....but not bad either...especially for a Monday....arguably the busiest travel day of the week.

Are you implying that an 83% on-time arrival rate is now the Gold Standard? Whatever happened to 83% being high average or a "really good month"?

On a zero weather day, 83% should be unacceptable. It indicates that the best this airline can be is just above average.

But, it does provide clear documentation why knowledgeable travelers are avoiding US.

 

[tadjr]

On a zero weather day, 83% should be unacceptable. It indicates that the best this airline can be is just above average.

Guess the signature line is really what we're in for then?

 

[Travelpro72]

Wow I can't wait for the first sign of a snowflake flying in PHL. 🙄 We might as well just shut the operation down. Why bother! Two good weather days and THAT is how this company performed? That is "not bad" it is absolutely SAD and there is NO EXCUSE for it to happen. EVERYTHING that is hampering this operation all goes back to Tempe and not only Doug but that little person behind him named SCOTT.

 

[AAA73Pilot]

PHX PHLyer wrote:

Not a good departure stat, but look at how many are in the 15-30 minute range....thats easy to makeup in the air and during taxi to the gate after landing

I guess the pilots are just not trying hard enough. It's really sad when you have all that extra pad in block times now and the best we could do is 83%. Sad, very sad.

Need to try harder I suppose. With all that extra expense in block times and extending the day :30 mins. equals 83% over 2 good weather days, I wonder if that money could be put to better use elsewhere? Just my opinion though.


Later Prater

addendum: I wonder why the fuel bill was $120m. more last quarter vs. a year ago? Food for thought

 

[PHL]

You'd have to compare the fuel prices a year ago to today to make that kind of comparison.

I was pleasantly surprised Monday on a 730am departure (on an ERJ 175). We pulled out of the gate (C concourse) on time and were rolling on runway 27L within 15 minutes. Arrived at our destination 15 minutes early, too.

 

[Singleflyer]

I have always rated airlines on how well they do in ir-regular ops. That is when it counts the most. 83% in great weather is just pi$$ poor.

In the past I could always count on US getting me where I needed to be, on time and in ir-regular ops within a reasonable time. I can't count on them anymore so I don't fly them anymore.

I can remember about 8 or 9 years ago just before Xmas and a BIG snow storm in PHL we took off about 4:00AM to MHT and arrived as the day crew was coming to work. The point is, I got to my destination about 6 hours late with luggage. Last spring they could not get ROC within 24 hours of schedule.

To brag 83% is the 'gold standard" just shows how low this airlines expections have shrunk.

 

[Poug Darker]

You'd have to compare the fuel prices a year ago to today to make that kind of comparison.

I was pleasantly surprised Monday on a 730am departure (on an ERJ 175). We pulled out of the gate (C concourse) on time and were rolling on runway 27L within 15 minutes. Arrived at our destination 15 minutes early, too.

ERJ 175s are not operated by mainline, they are contract express carriers, most likely Republic.

 

[YVINTERN]

ERJ 175s are not operated by mainline, they are contract express carriers, most likely Republic.

Is that you Pougie? Come out of hiding!

 

[AAA73Pilot]

You'd have to compare the fuel prices a year ago to today to make that kind of comparison.

Fuel was about the same as I recall.

Later Prater

 

[BoeingBoy]

I'm not sure where you got the info on the fuel bill increasing $125 million.....

According to the quarterly filing, it was $11 million less for Group, and $6 million less for East mainline - but the fuel cost was down 2 cents per gallon. Fuel usage wasn't broken down, but combined mainline used 1.8 million gallons less fuel than the year ago quarter.

Jim

 

[AAA73Pilot]

I'm not sure where you got the info on the fuel bill increasing $125 million.....

According to the quarterly filing, it was $11 million less for Group, and $6 million less for East mainline - but the fuel cost was down 2 cents per gallon. Fuel usage wasn't broken down, but combined mainline used 1.8 million gallons less fuel than the year ago quarter.

Jim

I stand corrected. Next time I'll verify before posting. Thanks for letting me know. Guess we'll just have to try harder.

 

[gaucho99]

Keep in mind, US led all legacy carriers in on time performance for 2006 and there was plenty of bad weather. It wasn't until we did away with Sabre that the operation tanked.

 

[FutureUScapt]

From US Daily:

Congratulations! Yesterday’s A14 of 84 percent was the best mainline performance of any day so far in 2007. This marks the FIFTH day this YEAR that we have met or exceeded our A14 mainline goal of 82 percent! (NOTE: Month to date is still under 70%).


Looks like Piney was pretty much dead on.

5 Days On/Above Target
250+ Days Below Target

I'll let you folks decide...