Jun
17
If you find yourself frequently sitting in a plane on the runway waiting for a gate, I thought you would find this MSNBC.com article 4 secrets for avoiding long airline taxi-in times by Christopher Elliott of interest.
“June 15, 2009 – Airlines would rather publish realistic flight times and use their gates as efficiently as possible, but aviation analyst Michael Miller suggests pressure from customers is behind the schedule inflation. “Airlines have gotten so much bad press about being late that they’ve added time to their schedules,” he told me. “When a flight arrives early, it makes them look better. But if you land too early, and you’re not expected, you have to wait.”
Can you avoid a long taxi-in time? Perhaps. Here are a few tips.
1. Think alternate.
Smaller, alternate airports, such as Chicago’s Midway Airport or Ontario International Airport in Southern California, aren’t as busy and far less likely to send dozens of aircraft to the penalty box. At least that’s the experience of Andy Simpson, an attorney who lives in Christiansted, St. Croix. When he flies to Miami, “I groan when I hear we are early, because it inevitably leads to a longer delay than if we arrived on time,” he says. But the other way around? No problem.
2. Fly early.
The first flight of the day is less likely to experience a taxi-in delay, according to Miller, the aviation consultant. If yours is the first flight of the day to arrive, chances are there won’t be another plane competing for the same gate. “There are a lot of things that could happen during the day,” he says, adding that a safe bet for a delay would be the last flight of the day between two busy airports. Avoid those if at all possible.
3. Bigger is better.
Smaller aircraft tend to get held in the penalty box more often than larger planes, according to recent statistics and several passengers with whom I spoke for this story. For example, three of the most-delayed flights for April were on American Eagle, a regional carrier. It makes sense that air traffic controllers wouldn’t want to keep a Boeing 747 waiting for an hour. You can avoid regional jets by paying attention to the airline when you’re booking. The wording “operated by” followed by a regional airline like American Eagle, means you’re on a little plane.
4. Avoid bad weather.
If you’re flying into South Florida during a summer afternoon, you’re practically guaranteed a close encounter with a thunderstorm. Headed to Montana in January? Look out for blizzards. Flying into San Francisco or Juneau, Alaska? At certain times of year, mind the fog. Bad weather isn’t the sole cause of taxi-in delays, of course, but the most extreme taxi-in troubles are often tied to storms and other meteorological disturbances, some of which are predictable.
By flying into a small airport on a big plane, avoiding peak travel times and predictably bad weather, you can minimize your chance of getting stuck on the ground. But you can’t avoid it entirely.
Andrew Hetzel, a beverage consultant based in Hawaii, says the trick is to set realistic expectations when you arrive early.
“Invariably, the crew will make some premature, boastful announcement about being proud to arrive 20 minutes early,” he says. “Experienced travelers roll their eyes, knowing what is about to come next from the cabin: ‘Sigh. Well folks, it looks like there’s another plane at our gate, it will just be a few minutes until we can park.’ ”
And that’s the trick: When your flight attendant says you’ve arrived early, you might want to wait until you’re exiting the aircraft before saying, “Thank you.”
