An Airline to Avoid Right Now.....

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Picture this... you're on a 28 hour flight from NY to India. You settle in only to find there's no food being served the entire way other than a muffin.... Sounds like Air Jenny Craig....

John Konrad was settling into his seat for a 28-hour Delta Air Lines Inc. flight last week from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Mumbai, India, when he got some unpalatable news: Along with routine preflight announcements from the cockpit, the captain thanked several flight attendants who had driven to a nearby supermarket and bought muffins so that passengers on Flight 118 would have something to eat.

Linkety-Link



That's not all... it turns out your pilot retired 10 years ago!

One perilous problem was at least temporarily resolved yesterday, when Delta pilots approved a deal allowing the struggling airline to avert staffing shortages in the cockpit by bringing back retired pilots. Delta had warned earlier this month that an unexpected surge of retirements by senior pilots, who were leaving early to secure at least a portion of their pensions, could force Delta to park some of its most profitable planes and even push the carrier into bankruptcy.

Delta was always bad... but this is beyond bad....

[CaramonLS]

Wow... now we have old people who probably forget where they parked their plane back in the skies after 10 years.

I guess Delta is trying to cut costs, no food eh...

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

28 Hours? Huh I know that NY and India are very far away from each other but I have the feeling that is greatly exagerated.

[peter12]

Originally posted by Mean Mr. Mustard@Sep 29 2004, 04:25 PM
28 Hours? Huh I know that NY and India are very far away from each other but I have the feeling that is greatly exagerated.

It's 16 to Armenia. Thats the farthest I have been from home. So 28 to India is probably a bit exaggerated.

The only American airline I have flown is Continental and they are apparently the best, no complaints from me.

I have no problem with the following airlines in fact; Air Canada, Continental, Aer Lingus, any of the EU airlines are great, RyanAir (27 bucks for a ticket, who can complain?), WestJet.

Worst ever is Northwest and even they serve food. Delta must be hurtin.

[Bill Bumface]

If you guys read the article you'd realize they planned on serving food.

And its 28 hours because even if you are flying from Moscow to Tokyo you stop over in Salt Lake City

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally posted by hulkrogan@Sep 29 2004, 05:11 PM
If you guys read the article you'd realize they planned on serving food.

And its 28 hours because even if you are flying from Moscow to Tokyo you stop over in Salt Lake City

Precisely. They had planned on serving food but didn't as their food service company refused to provide food to them out of fears of not getting paid due to Delta being in dire straits.

Makes you wonder what else is getting cut from Delta to make ends meet.... Still want to fly with them right now?

However, there does seem to be some exaggeration in the article, a quick check of Delta's site comes up with this trip iteniary:

Delta 5732 * JFK 1:25pm 06 Oct 2004 to BOS 2:45pm 06 Oct 2004
Delta 8303 * BOS 5:35pm 06 Oct 2004 to CDG 6:20am 07 Oct 2004
Delta 118 CDG 11:20am 07 Oct 2004 BOM 11:55pm 07 Oct 2004

BOS = Logan International in Boston
CDG = Charles DeGaulle in Paris
BOM = Mumbai

So there's where the 28 some hours comes from, stopovers and and indirect flight path. In their dire cash straits, I'm sure Delta doesn't have any of the Boeing 777-ER models that can make a Singapore-JFK run DIRECT NON STOP. The article is likely further exaggerated as presumably people could grab a bite to eat in other airports or the plane itself might have been replenished by another food service provider like LSG SkyChefs.


Heck.... maybe their retiree pilots are flying at half speed to save fuel costs... in the left lane with the blinker on....

[BlackArcher101]

I wouldn't say avoid the airline like the topic says, but avoid this flight instead.
Everyone has this thought stuck in their head that Airlines are evil and screw you over every chance they get. So many people attack airlines.
If there is a change of planes, then the people should be responsible for eating.

Also... I thought retirement was mandatory by FAA rules.

[TheCommodoreAfro]

There is no easy flight from NA to India. Flying from NY to Tokyo is about 15-16 hours, a layover, then off on another 8-9 hour flight to Mumbai. The Europe route is about the same, methinks. Recently some airlines have started doing polar routes to cut down on this time, but most airlines with no money for paying pilots withing FAA regulations don't have the long-haul planes to do this.

NY-Beijing


More Polar Routes

Even Canada 3000 had them
Canada 3000

The last link sorta disproves my last point in the first paragraph, though.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Here it is, the world's longest NON STOP flight:

Can I get some more peanuts?

18.5 hours in the air, 16,600 km... impressive. My mistake it's an A340-500, not a 777ER that made the trip. Delta has 8 777-200's, and is selling off future deliveries to make some cash. I do believe they have one of the oldest fleets in the sky, lots of planes old enough to remember disco....

Group buy to start Air Calgarypuck?

Then again, if anyone's flown Singapore Air, it makes Air Canada look like Aeroflot. Nintendos on an LCD monitor even in economy, gourmet food, and no stewardesses greater than a size 4. SIA along with Emirates usually have the swankest jets in the sky. I believe they are a launch customer for the new A380 superjumbos...

[ChipOne]

i have flown Air France, Delta, Continental, TransAir, American, Air Canada, Canadian, Canada 3000, WestJet, then a whole wonk of regional airlines as well.

easily the best was Air France. AMAZING food service (though it was 10 years ago now) and one of the most comfortable rides ever. they had 2 movies, two meals (the french like to eat) and a lot of break-through features at the time (ie. phones on the seat back).

i took delta last year as an air canada connector en route to boston, and it sucked. they were so totally profiling me. i had two connections to make each way and got searched at every stop. fuggen americans. they saw my canadian ID and that was it. no bungholio inspections, thank god, but they made me take my socks and shoes off and swabbed everything i owned, riffled through my bags and confiscated my two cans of coke (because i could drink them, rip them open and use them as a weapon).

the landings were brutal and the connections were at opposite ends of the airports. the airline seemed very disorganized in that regard. the meal looked like chicken something but smelled like dog food. and they were hostile with me (i even filed a complaint about it). one of the attendants refered to me as 'that canadian passenger' in a snarly snotty voice. then they gave me a can of coke to drink with my meal. ?!?

maybe we're more pampered here than we think in canada...

[Bill Bumface]

Originally posted by BlackArcher101@Sep 29 2004, 06:30 PM
Also... I thought retirement was mandatory by FAA rules.

I thought it was mentioned that the pilots were retired early in some sort of cost saving measures from earlier. I read it yesterday though, so I may be wrong.

I have flown Delta, Air Canada, West Jet, Jets Go, and Air Transat. West Jet is miles ahead of every other airline in that list just because it seems like they actually make an effort, and enjoy themselves in the process. Air Canada flight attendants just have the attitude of being totally inconvenience by your presence and counting the minutes until their shift is over. Jets Go was a little overboard with the 'no frills' not even serving drinks on the plane unless you paid for them. The aircraft deffinately weren't as nice as west jet's new 737-700's either.