All around the United States for the past 2 weeks there have been huge snow events and often in places that are not accustomed to accomodating them.  Just yesterday, we got 10+ inches at my house and I think DFW is well over 8 inches.  DFW saw hundreds of cancellations, many delays and lots of entangled airliners all day.

Over the past 2 weeks, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC-La Guardia, NYC-JFK, NYC-Newark and several more smaller airports saw true blizzard conditions and snowfall measuring in the tens of inches.  One friend in the Baltimore area reports that Baltimore has seen nearly 7 feet of snow this season so far. 

Yes, there have been many more cancellations for each event but there is one thing I’ve noticed.  It’s been strangely quiet on the consumer front.  I haven’t seen people ranting on TV that their flight could have gotten out if they had had just 1 hour more to sit on the tarmac.  Believe me, I’ve been looking for those folks. 

Even stranger, despite these terrible events (and, let’s face it, these are once in 20 year events at best), airlines have been recovering their operations with a bit less fuss.  No airline executive has gone on TV ranting that if his company had had just one more hour to sit on the tarmac, they would have gotten more passengers to more destinations.  Believe me, if that had been said in the news media, I’m pretty sure I would have noticed. 

No doubt we’ll be hearing about some losses due to these events.  But here is the thing:  those losses were going to occur whether or not the infamous 3 hour rule  was in existence or not.  However, this “terrible” rule has given airlines some cover and, I think, allowed them to make the better decision without pressure to try to carry on.  Or, more importantly, it’s given dispatchers and pilots the cover necessary to make the smarter decision.

Despite a rule that every airline employee said was bad, the system is working better under these conditions than it has in years and years.   Passengers are checking before they leave for airports and seeing the flights cancelled.  Are they disappointed?  I’m sure they are.  Few people aren’t disappointed to have to delay a trip whether it is for business or pleasure.  But they aren’t massively inconvenienced by traveling to the airport for a flight that will be cancelled but which hasn’t been cancelled yet because of the eternal optimists at airlines.   They aren’t sitting on aircraft for hours wondering if they’ll ever take-off.  They even aren’t returning to gates only to discover that they can’t get a hotel room and they can’t get back home.  That’s the stuff that infuriates passengers.  If it was really important that they leave, many took advantage of the airlines’ offer to switch flights with no fees or penalties and got out early. 

In other words, yes, consumers have been inconvenienced by the cancellations but they appear to be much *less* inconvenienced than they were in previous years during similar events.  Consumers understand why flights get cancelled when 20+ inches of snow is falling. 

More important, I suspect flight crews are being disrupted less (I didn’t say they weren’t being disrupted, just less) and from the way the airlines are recovering their operations and moving passengers again, I suspect many airline ops people are less stressed out and, perhaps, even a bit pleased at having a smoother, more sustained ramp up once the weather is over.  That *can’t* be bad for airlines even on the bottom line.

The 3 hour rule hasn’t been a travesty and it is clear it has helped all involved.

Filed under: Airline Service by ajax