Comments on: Can technology solve air travel woes?

Senators and aviation executives say it'll help. Others warn that travel snafus can't all be blamed on a 1950s-era air traffic control system.

[Renegade Knight]

One Issue...

Back before the airlines were deregulated they used a feeders and belt style system to get people around. It was fairly efficient. Now it's spoke and hub. You can actually fly backwards to get to a hub to fly out to the next spoke and then backwards again to your destination. It's wasteful. It's also overutilizes the hubs, and underutilizes the outlying areas.

[fredmenace]

Also

Just as airlines tend to overbook flights, they also overbook airports. During popular times, they schedule more flights than the airport (runways, taxiways, etc.) can handle, because those are the times people want to fly. They figure it's better to sell the tickets for those extra flights and have a lot of them be late, than not sell so many tickets in the first place.

[Pete.Goswell]

Flight Delays

Main problem is overbooking & the Hub system.Other problems are "Flight miles program" needs to be knocked off. And last minute passengers arriving at the gate.

[paulej]

Late passengers

I know some get frustrated at late-arriving passengers, but I actually appreciate the plane waiting sometimes. I once had an ATC delay leaving my home airport, causing me to miss my connecting flight to Europe by 5 minutes. The plane would not wait for me, though they knew I was coming. The end result was that I arrived 8 hours later than scheduled, had to take a longer router and multiple carriers, my baggage was lost, and United Airlines told me they would not help, because lost baggage is the fault of the terminating carrier, and since I "volunteered" to fly on the other carrier (volunteered!?!?!), that it was my problem. So, I had no clothes for the week in Europe, thanks to United.

And, a plane waiting a few minutes when going on a trans-Atlantic flight will not make that much difference. I fly internationally a lot and, in almost every case where the plane left late, it still arrived on time. I guess they just fly a little faster ;-)

[paulej]

There are many reasons for delays

Traffic control is definitely one problem. But, who is at fault, I don't know.

What I can tell you is that it is very frustrating to get on a plane, taxi away from the gate, only to have the pilot come to a stop and power off the engines because ATC said he could not take off. That has happened many times. Can this kind of thing not be avoided?

I once had to spend a night in a hotel in Atlanta, missing a day of important meetings, because of this. I got a very tiny apology and a ticket for a flight out the next day. Thanks to ATC or the airline, the hotel charge was my problem. I would have preferred to not even leaving my home airport if I knew the pilot was just going to park and sit!

The other major problem I have had is mechanical problems. On the one hand, I am pleased that various safety checks are performed, but why does it always seem to be my plane that has a problem? I'll venture to guess that it's not. Why are there always so many small mechanical problems? Are planes not checked properly?

I once had a 45 minute delay because somebody noticed that the fire extinguisher needed to be recharged. The airline did not have a spare, so we had to wait for the recharge. Shouldn't that be somebody's job and shouldn't that be done before the last minute? I really do think that nearly every general maintenance item is done last-minute on most airlines.

If you take an early morning flight and have a mechanical problem (which has happened to me many times), it makes me wonder why those problems could not be found before all of the passengers were boarded. Would it not be reasonable to have the plane checked an hour to two before, or perhaps even at the end of day when the plane makes its last stop?

So, as much as ATC might be blamed, I think other factors are also to blame.

[USAV1]

Technology to the rescue...

Technology, managerial accountability and adequate funding can solve the problems with the Air Transportation System.
Congestion and the resulting delays are a result of airline scheduling at peak demand times. Airport capacity (runway acceptance rates and ground facilities) limit the number of aircraft that can be handled without increasing delay time. Airport capacity can be increased if airlines would use or be "regulated" to use the twenty-four hour clock. Based on the twenty-four hour clock there would be very few delays.
Global Positioning System Satellites can be a valuble tool for navigation but has limits as a remedy for aircraft separation. RNAV, also a good tool but comes with separation control problems and the "Human" factor. The Air Traffic Controller has all of the resposibility but very little direct control over aircraft volume.
The key to the problem solving is the "management of the System"... There is a breakdown in the accuntability and control of "The System"... Who is in charge? Who is responsible for the "System"???
The Executive branch and the congress have the ultimate authority to fund or underfund the system. The "users" (airlines,general aviation, military, private flyers) share in the mix.
Industry attempts to respond to the "problem" by offering "off-the-shelf hardware and software that is designed to fix problems...at a profit.
Who designs the "System"? Who is charge if the system fails?
Systems that are designed by professional highly educated/trained personnel are seldom held accountable for system failure.
Systems change over time inorder to make them work. (Air Traffic Controllers invent tools to expedite traffic movement that system designers did not think about).
Large amounts of capital investment that is justified on a reduction in air traffic controllers will not work. FAA's problems seem to increase when management attempts to reduce scheduling.
Bottom line: Invest in technology, provide trained/skilled management and adequately fund system upgrades. Don't blame the weather or Air Traffic Controllers as the primary reason for the problem. It is also essential to have built in a systems measurement criteria that management can measure and be measured.
Consider regulating scheduling...