Winging It

Tom,
I caught your interview on WHYY this past week. I picked up the program on Satelite radio while in South Jersey.
Could this be the beginning of a new career?

All the best,

John Mullen

TOM REPLIES: Thanks, John, but it's unlikely. I was pleased to help out Radio Times last week, but the day job here at the newspaper pays much better than a few minutes of broadcast fame.

Another example of USAirways' incompetence occurred last Sunday when my wife and I attempted to return home from a 5-day trip to Denver. It was US546 scheduled to depart at 10:50am. We pushed off on time, and then we sat on the runway for about 10 minutes when the pilot announced that due to thunderstorms in the Midwest and East, ATC had re-routed us, and we needed to go back to the gate for more fuel.

Fine. I understand.

Once we were parked at the gate the pilot announced that we were now put on a one-hour "hold" and passengers could disembark to the terminal but had to stay close in case the hold was lifted quickly. Also well-handled. Nice gesture.

After an hour had passed I found one of the pilots by the cockpit door, and I asked him about the further delay. He explained that our Denver to Philadelphia flight had been rerouted through Milwaukee. He added that "we decided that was unacceptable and it would use up too much fuel."

Huh?

About a half hour later passengers who had disembarked to the terminal were scurrying back on, yelling "Flight's canceled." Sure enough Flt 546 was cancelled. A quick phone call to the USAirways Gold Preferred desk found that there was only one seat left on a DEN-PHL flight that day, scheduled for departure at 1:20pm. My wife and I decided that the threat of storms probably would put PHL behind for the rest of the day and that we were better off taking the first flight out the next morning.

We ended up flying home last Monday morning without incident.

While I was happy to be home, my thoughts went back to Sunday, specifically my conversation with the pilot. How does USAirways determine what constitutes "too much fuel." Did the decision to not accept the Milwaukee re-route cause the flight to fall farther behind in the queue to land at PHL? Isn't USAirways' first responsibility to get passengers safely from point to point?

While I understand that ATC re-routes and holds are out of the airline's hands, is it possible that USAirways abrogated its responsbility to its customers by turning down the re-route? I understand the return to the gate for more fuel, but is it possible this decision was caused by fear of the flight being unprofitable?