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Summer Brings No Relief For Fliers

Computer Glitches, Bad Weather, Plumbing Problems

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

June 21, 2007

As incredible as it may seem, things just keep getting worse for airline passengers:

• The entire United Airlines system ground to a sudden stop during morning rush hour yesterday because of a computer crash

• Bad weather in the Midwest the night before stranded thousands at New York’s three major airports

• Malfunctioning lavatories on a trans-Atlantic Continental flight forced passengers to spend hours holding their noses as well as their bladders.

United Snafu

During the two-hour United fiasco, which began at 8 a.m. CDT, at least 250,000 people were stranded – many of them on airport tarmacs.

Huge United hubs in Chicago and Denver were hit especially hard, with United, United Express, Ted, United PS affiliates, and others involved in code-sharing agreements all unable to take off. Flights were also delayed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington Dulles, among other major airports.

The system that failed handles such functions as filing of flight plans, fuel maintenance, and aircraft weight distribution.

The computer glitch not only caused massive delays but numerous cancellations and rebookings – not easy during the peak summer travel period, when United flights average 90 per cent full.

United and its partners normally operate 3,600 flights per day.

Bad Weather

Although other airlines were not affected by the United shutdown, any carriers heading to or from the Midwest had big problems the night before. Severe thunderstorms there forced hundreds of delays and cancellations, including 19 by American Airlines, from the New York area.

That only added to the choking effect of too many planes in too little airspace surrounding New York City and Northern New Jersey.

During the first four months of this year, 38 per cent of all planes into Newark, LaGuardia, and Kennedy airports were delayed or cancelled. Airlines, airports, and government agencies are working feverishly to alleviate the problem, with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) offering re-routing alternatives when thunderstorms threaten.

It Stinks

The situation stinks – but not as much as that Continental flight from Amsterdam to Newark. The scheduled nonstop flight first made an unplanned overnight stop in Shannon, Ireland to fix malfunctioning toilets. The so-called repairs didn’t work.

Shortly after the same plane took off for Newark the next morning, the toilets overflowed, creating a cabin-wide stench and leaving more than 200 passengers with a single lavatory that worked even a little.

Passengers reported flight attendants telling them not to eat or drink too much – not that anyone wanted to eat or drink anything because of the overpowering foul smell.

With sewage leaking from the lavs, reaction by passengers was predictably bad. They called the experience "sickening," "nauseating," and "the worst flight experience I ever had."

Continental Flight 1970 started its smelly two-day trip on June 19.

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