Complain about a product or service

Were Flight Cancellations a Snow Job?

International Flights Operated on Time While Domestic Carriers Canceled

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

February 17, 2006
U.S. airlines may have been too quick to pull the plug on flight schedules during the Feb. 12 nor'easter.

At least that was the case in Boston, where Logan International Airport reported no delays or diversions for international flights but massive cancellations for domestic ones.

"International carriers seem to recognize our ability to stay open better than domestic carriers do," said Massport chairman John A. Quelch, whose agency runs the airport. "It's a little disappointing they didn't recognize the capabilities we have to serve Logan during times of snow."

Logan never closed during the 17-inch snowfall but 90 per cent of domestic flights were cancelled anyway, he noted.

Quelch blamed airline cancellations - not poor work by Logan plow crews - for the massive Sunday cancellations and subsequent residual delays on Monday.

He even pointed out that all three British Airways flights due to land during the storm met their schedules almost exactly.

Airline officials said they were hampered by the inability of employees to get to the airport. In the New York area, which got a record 26.9 inches of snow, about 70 per cent of the American Airlines workforce reported to assignments at the area's three airfields.

Many pilots and crew members, for example, couldn't dig their cars out of their driveways.

Most domestic carriers refused comment, preferring not to lock horns with their Logan landlord. But several suggested some Logan cancellations were the result of planes and crews stuck in other snowbound cities.

The Feb. 12 nor'easter was the heaviest snowstorm of the winter in large areas of the northeast.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Back to the top |