Snow day in CLT

[Dont call me Shirley]

http://www.wcnc.com/news/US-Airways-passengers-wait-4-hours-on-tarmac-during-winter-storm-191613891.html

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A spokesperson for U.S. Airways says officials are still trying to get to the bottom of some seriously long delays during Saturday's snow storm.

Some passengers on arriving flightshad to wait on the tarmac for up to four hours because all of the gates were full...
Was it really that bad or there some exaggeration here? I would think that the folks at CLT would have been able to deplane passengers a bit faster, even if they had to use mobile steps and buses.

 

[Harry Callahan]

Most likely not the last time either. Maybe LD3 will be along with some good info.

 

[Harry Callahan]

Most likely de icing delays, Just go over to the US forum at
www.flyertalk.com
and check the weather waver thread & read about US1453 CLT-SFO on Sat. night.

 

[Crzipilot]

Just what I heard, numerous gates open, but ramp clogged with deice lines, so a/c couldn't park...... Then once they parked 3-4 hours late, it was a 1-2 hour wait for deice for the last bank going outbound....... Gotta give CLT some slack, they gotta screw the deice up at least once a year......(not US but the city, as they are running the show on that end I believe)

 

[cltrat]

Just what I heard, numerous gates open, but ramp clogged with deice lines, so a/c couldn't park...... Then once they parked 3-4 hours late, it was a 1-2 hour wait for deice for the last bank going outbound....... Gotta give CLT some slack, they gotta screw the deice up at least once a year......(not US but the city, as they are running the show on that end I believe)

you're correct the location on the deicing was blocking the tarmac badly I don't know if there is an answer for that or not.
On my gate one flt got on the ground at 19:56 and got to the gate at 22:15

the whole thing was pretty much a cluster f**k

 

[LD3]

It was the worst I've seen in my career here...I think everyone may have to take the blame for what happened...Crz is right, there were at least 50% of the mainline gates open, I didn't venture over towards Express, so I don't know how it looked over there. The taxiways were plugged solid with aircraft so any arriving a/c could not get into the ramps. I overheard some chatter a controller had with an AA pilot saying that the FAA went through their ground stop procedures but for some reason aircraft were still departing the origin stations and he said they could not stop them from arriving. I also heard that the deicing contractors were not utilizing the deicing pads correctly causing massive back ups. I think they tried to bus some people off, but they couldn't get the buses closed enough to the aircraft and it was to icey to walk to the buses....Not knowing how the airlines work, wouldn't they start cancelling flights at origin if there was a massive delay building up? It just seems that the FAA, airlines and the airport were not talking with each other. I know the Red Cross brought in a thousand cots and the airport had about 300 of their own, water was brought in and Starbucks must have made a killing that night...

 

[Crazy Daytripper]

well i am glad i was on vacation lol. This is a perk to be low in the bid list vacation in the winter 😛

 

[Harry Callahan]

well i am glad i was on vacation lol. This is a perk to be low in the bid list vacation in the winter 😛

I would always use 1 of my weeks in Jan or Feb. for reasons like this.

 

[jimntx]

Well, don't count on the merger solving this issue. I spent 5 1/2 hours Christmas Day at DFW on an airplane with 140 passengers and we never took off. Deicing station was so backed up, they eventually cancelled our flight. And, we also had the problem that a/c were taking off from other airports and flying to DFW only to find that the gates were occupied by outbound flights waiting to be assigned a number in the deicing line.

 

[nycbusdriver]

http://www.wcnc.com/...-191613891.html

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A spokesperson for U.S. Airways says officials are still trying to get to the bottom of some seriously long delays during Saturday's snow storm.

Some passengers on arriving flightshad to wait on the tarmac for up to four hours because all of the gates were full...
Was it really that bad or there some exaggeration here? I would think that the folks at CLT would have been able to deplane passengers a bit faster, even if they had to use mobile steps and buses.

It was definitely a cluster-***k in CLT on Saturday evening. The airline's largest hub had two....count em'...two...deicing trucks operating for the entire operation. One for the takeoff line for 36R, another operating on closed Rwy 5 to serve the rest of the operation. At 10 pm, the FRA A330 was still waiting to be deiced.

To all my future American colleagues: Give the Tempe Brain Trust a big welcome in Ft. Worth.

With delays over 3 hours, I wonder if the DOT will indeed fine the airline the $20,000 per pax as required?

 

[nycbusdriver]

...and Starbucks must have made a killing that night...

I had my 8 pm flight cancelled after it being incrementally delayed to 10:30. Luckily, I saw the handwriting on the wall (monitor!) and changed my reservation to the 10:20 pm flight while there were still seats on it. (Once they cancelled, the 8 pm, the seats were gone.) The 10:20 was on a real airplane (319) anyway, instead of a 175.

Finally pushed at midnight, but I'll bet Starbucks and every other food vendor closed shop on schedule. Usually the minimum-wage workers don't care to hang around and keep the cash register ringing.

 

[robbedagain]

SAT NIGHT FLIGHT 912 sat for almost 3 or 4 hrs on the tarmac in clt and flight 1918 SAT FOR A LONG WHILE and when i came into work sunday morning for my double flight 1918 had just arrived at 330am wow must been more than a bad horrible night there

 

[Harry Callahan]

Isn't Jerry Orr still in charge of this de icing ?

 

[LD3]

Folks, believe me, there were more than 3 deicing trucks going...there were two pads running on South Cargo, whick would be the 36R departure and there were 3 pads running on 23..now granted they should have had 4 pads running on S cargo..but for what ever reason there wasn't....and for the minimum wage worker you look down on Bus, Starbucks has a 24/7 store open in CLT....

 

[cltrat]

in all fairness Bus the FRA A 330 must not pushed backed until the 10pm range there was an a/c change on it and it left late anyway