Flights late or deleted? The only company that tells the truth to the passengers (and what are the reasons)

The warning appears just above the times of the Milan Malpensa-Newark/New York travel on the application of the airline. « The flight will start late because the crew was unable to enjoy the sufficient rest time required by federal law », is communication. « We apologize for the inconvenience (estimated departure 15 minutes late) ». For a quarter of an hour – however zeroed during the journey – United Airlines, one of the largest companies in the world, however, wanted to update the over 200 passengers of the UA18 flight.

The analysis

It is no isolated case. The analysis of the Courier In the last month on over two delayed or canceled flights – scheduled by the North American carrier – shows a level of transparency with few precedents. And the tests on about twenty applications for smartphones and about fifty websites of as many aviolinees – five stars, traditional, low cost – operational all over the world also confirm this: none of them, when it was about providing information on a late or canceled trip, goes beyond the simple « late » or « canceled ». Some limited to providing a statistics of that flight. Someone else releases a « certificate ».

« Resources are needed »

« Nobody is happy if your flight has a problem, but knowing immediately why it has the effect of reassuring the passengers involved and can help them reprogram the day, » explain several insiders. The CEO of an important European carrier does not hesitate to say « envious » of what the American rival does on this front. But he adds that « this type of information requires resources and a structure that few can afford ». « We want to be transparent and honest, » explains Scott Kirby, CEO of United, On the sidelines of an event in Brooklyn, New York.

Examples

Let’s take, for example, the UA1376 Newark-Forre Myers flight (Florida). It is a couple of hours late. Reason? « A previous delay influenced your plane arrival. » Another connection, from Newark to Denver, has instead been canceled « due to the expected adverse weather conditions ». On Newark United had to cancel several for the critical issues that they concerned the staff of the reference Radar Center. « The number of flights is currently limited to allow the control of air traffic to safely manage the volume of aircraft along your route », always communicates the company on the app which, in the last few days, has also introduced some notices generated by artificial intelligence (and reported to the user).

The causes of delays

In his analysis the Courier He counted at least 24 reasons that led United to delay or delete a flight. And net of those relating to bad weather (wind, rainfall, lightning) – in the departure airport, arrival or along the route – which lead to change course or reduce the number of planes to manage, there are different ones that also explain how a complex machine works like that of a global aviolinea. The Newark-hypoenix connection, for example, starts an hour and 4 minutes after scheduled hours. Reason? « A flight coming from Washington-Dulles suffered a delay while heading to Newark and your crew is on that flight, » the carrier explains on the app.

Timely communication

« Your flight will start late because the loading of the luggage is requesting more time than expected, » warns the application about the San Francisco-Los Angeles section. While the Rome Fiumicino-Washington connection was deleted « because we had to remove the plane from the service to solve a technical problem. Your security is our priority and we apologize for the inconvenience ». It went better to the Chicago-San Francisco, late « due to a technical problem on the initially assigned jet, which made a change of aircraft necessary ».

The notice for 9 minutes

Another departure, this time from San Francisco to Chicago, has been canceled « due to a change in the crew programming ». And to those who are on the Houston-Savannah flight, United writes on the app that the plane will take off 9 minutes beyond the scheduled timetable because « we are waiting for several customers in transit ». Connections are the reason for the delay of the Newark-Tokyo flight: « We waited for some passengers with a narrow coincidence, » reads. While other times it is daily operations that slow down the flows. « The cleaning of the cabin took more time than expected » (Newark-Jacksonville flight), « We had a delay in the refueling of your plane » (Newark-Salt Lake City), « we needed additional time to assist passengers » (Newark-Santiago).

What do other vectors do

And how do the other companies behave? When the flight DL214 Atlanta-Rome Fiumicino was canceled-together with the opposite section-, on its Delta Air Lines app, it bears the word « deleted » and inserts under statistical data on the performance of the historical connection. Some more details can be found only on the site where it is explained that the decision comes « because of an operational problem ». While on late planes there is no additional information.

No information

If you look elsewhere – From American Airlines to Southwest, from British Airways to Cathay Pacific, from Turkish Airlines to Emirates, from Qatar Airways to Qantas – the apps and sites do not go beyond the indications « late » or « canceled » about their flights. Lufthansa adds only the waiting time estimated at safety checks, to avoid presenting itself at the Gate beyond the scheduled time. While Air France, it allows you to download a « test of the flight delay » (a sheet in PDF format) which, however, « cannot be interpreted or used as an admission of responsibility ». The only one who seems to strive a little more than the average, but far from United, is Easyjet, where some strong flights delay is accompanied by a minimum of information.

« Customers must know »

«One of the goals I have, and that I consider really important for our customers – CEO Kirby continues – It is that every time one flies and there is a delay or any type of disservice, I want us to pretend that I am on that plane, that he called our Operations Center and asked: « What is happening? ». I want 100% of our customers to know exactly what happens on their journey ». Even at the cost of explaining things that carriers usually do not want to make known.

« Three options to solve a problem »

« We also have the aim of reaching a point where if we lose a luggage – and the percentage is really low – we want a message to be sent and a notification on the passenger seat screen with this text: » We apologize, we have not been able to load your luggage. Here is where it is located and here there are three options to get it back «  », underlines the head of United. «I have given a goal to the team: I want our » Net Promoter Score « (measures customer satisfaction, editor’s note) of the passenger to whom we have lost the luggage is higher than that given by the customer who has not had hitches ».