The Worst Flight in America

[DET63]

From Yahoo! Finance:

The Sad Scenes Aboard a Plane That Rarely Takes Off From Cincinnati on Time; 'It's Just Always Late'
By Scott McCartney | The Wall Street Journal – Thu, May 30, 2013 11:56 AM EDT

SOMEWHERE OVER OHIO—Some airline flights are just losers—day after day, they just can't get to their destination on time. And the worst flight of all?

That would be United Express Flight 4352, what's meant to be a 97-minute jump from Cincinnati to Newark, N.J. The 6 p.m. flight has run chronically late more often than any other U.S. airline flight over the past two years, according to Department of Transportation data.

Newark is the most-delayed airport in the country, prone to hourlong waits for even the most routine weather. And delays can pile up for smaller regional-jet flights that make trips into and out of Newark all day long with passengers for United's hub operation. By evening, delays often balloon into missed connections, overnight stays at airports and angry fliers.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Not much difference between a flight that's always late and a flight that's always on time. It needs to be on time enough to make being seriously late unpredictable. Otherwise what's the big deal?

In a way, this is how Amtrak has addressed some of their previous scheduling problems. They simply made the previously late time the new on-time. As odd as it may seem at first, in some cases that seems to have worked out as well as any other solution within their means.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

In a way, this is how Amtrak has addressed some of their previous scheduling problems. They simply made the previously late time the new on-time. As odd as it may seem at first, in some cases that seems to have worked out as well as any other solution within their means.

Good point. Funny how that works. It is all about expectations. I've noticed the padding at the end of most LD schedules makes the end of the trip 'seem' to go faster for many passengers and calms people who have been fretting about being a bit behind schedule.

 

[jis]

In airline schedules, block time is always considerable more than air time to account for expected delays 0on the ground due to congestion and expected flow control delays.

 

[fairviewroad]

I'm waiting for the follow-up article:

The Sad Scenes Aboard a Train That Rarely Leaves Grand Forks on Time; 'It's Just Always Late'