Thursday, May 14, 2009

So, I board my American Airlines flight in Miami, scheduled to depart for Dallas-Fort Worth at 10:10 a.m. But the pilot comes on the PA and informs us there are thunderstorms in Dallas, directly over the airport, and there’s a ground hold. There are no flights going into DFW; everything is stopped. We’re told initially that we’ll take off at 11:30 a.m., then it’s moved to 12:20 p.m. I whip out my laptop to see what that means for my connection, scheduled for around 1 p.m. from DFW to San Francisco. According to the American Airlines website, it’s on time.

I figure the website just hasn’t been updated, but then I check to see where the flight is coming from. It turns out it’s coming from Dulles, and it took off on time at—wait for it—10:10 a.m. That’s right, a flight from the East Coast—where I am—scheduled to leave at exactly the same time as my Miami flight bound for an airport with a ground hold due to thunderstorms was not subject to the ground hold, will land on time, and then leave on its next leg on time.

But wait…weren’t we told there was a ground hold for all air traffic bound for DFW?

This just smells bad.

As it turns out, the earliest flight out of DFW that isn’t completely booked is as 7:30 p.m., so I got off the plane and got myself onto a 3:30 p.m. nonstop from Miami to SFO, leaving me plenty of time to sit and write this post about the inconsistent information American Airlines tells its passengers as though there’s no way those passengers can investigate and find out just how inconsistent it is.

Posted by Shel in • Planes
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