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  The Society for Consumer Advocates and Mavens

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AIRLINE DELAYS

Too often as you sit on the runway waiting to depart you may hear the pilots voice claim your departure is now delayed due to air traffic control problems or due to an unexpected weather delay. The truth is the pilot may be knowingly or unknowingly lying to you.

Weather delays are most often known well in advance of your flight so this excuse too often may just be an excuse. Using the air traffic control problem excuse as a reason for delayed departure, as you sit captive on the runway, may hold a kernel of truth; but the truth may be that the airline companies using the airport may have overbooked entirely too many flights which is not the fault of air traffic controllers.

Another airline pilot trick is to tell passengers they may be departing late but will make if up while in the air. The scam here is certain flights that are generally, notoriously late, the flight times may have already been padded to accommodate any expected delays. Remember, jets do not usually take shortcuts or fly faster to try and make up for lost time.

There is a list of notorious delayed flights that gets published to warn passengers and help them avoid certain flights, but once the flight gets any bad publicity, the airline may eliminate the flight number and re-name it with a new number that does not yet have a bad reputation so passengers cannot try and protect themselves against possible delays and being held captive on a runway.

Remember, if an airliner moves just one foot away from the terminal, with all passengers on board, the airline company can still claim the flight departed on time even if the passengers end up having to sit on the runway for hours before actually departing!

Also, do not always expect much, if any, help from the airline company while you are in the airport terminal before departure concerning potential delays because if you knew of a delay you may cash in your ticket and fly with a competing airline causing loss of revenues. Critics point out that profits drive the industry and not necessarily customer satisfaction.

Moreover, just because the airport terminal flights listed on the big TV screens there do not hint at any possible delays, this does not mean there will not be a delay and you could still end up held captive on the runway for an undetermined amount of time.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: ABC TV 20/20 4/12/00

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