I was caught up in yesterday's ground stop at Atlanta as were a good percentage of travelers. As my flight approached Atlanta, I watched the storm on my favorite weather radar app, RadarNow! (It's mine), I noted how the entire Atlanta area was ringed by an alert and virtually every approach had significant weather. While this isn't a new phenomena, it seems to be getting more common. Put aside your beliefs in the climate for a moment and consider what commercial aviation would look like if these storms and ground stops became commonplace, and not just in Atlanta. Comments?
They already are common in some areas. North Texas and Oklahoma are tornado and thunderstorm central for the country, and people keep moving to the worst weather damage areas in the country, so more flights to those areas.
I don't think weather is going to be the issue that threatens an end to commercial aviation. The biggest issue in the future imo will be worker shortages and strikes likely from inflation and that being from currency devaluation and less resources per capita as consumption and population increases and finite resources dwindling.
While I feel for you, I don't see that making any difference. Weather has always been a factor in aviation, and always will be. Would you have preferred to take Amtrak to your destination instead? Or a bus? The weather avoidance tools we have now are actually much better than they were 25 years ago, so in theory that should improve things. However, traffic and travel are up, which increases congestion, which causes issues. There is only so much airspace.
??????? Forgive me if Im wrong but it seems to me weather is is less of an issue now than ever before in the history of aviation. We used to have to fly through it, now we fly above it. We so accurately track it, we avoid it. The replay of the planes sneaking into Memphis around an approaching storm is a great example. We have become so accustomed to uninterrupted travel any slight inconvenience seems like the end of the world. Weather used to dictate when, where and how man travelled by any means everywhere in the world. Now for the most part its a bump in the road.
One of the major weather factors these days is how weather on one coast can affect operations on the other side of the country. The entire system is very dependent on having resources (aircraft/pilots) remain on schedule. Any disruption cascades through the entire system.
True but its not like we need to wait for the correct month to set sail for the new world. We are spoiled. Nature will always dictate to us. We have minimized it to a very small degree.
It also does not help having mega hubs, that if the weather is bad hurts more than it used when they used large hubs mixed with smaller regional hubs. They also over gate the large mega hubs more than they used to.
I think the bigger problem is that in the name of maximizing profit all of the slack has been removed from the system. There is no excess capacity, in crews or aircraft, to absorb the inevitable cancellations due to weather, mechanical issues or whatever. If a flight get cancelled, it may take days to get rebooked and on to your destination.
Is that called maximizing profit or staying in business? I know of very few businesses that operate any other way save for a few luxury oriented businesses whose clientele dont mind paying considerably more for the convenience. You know, kind of like jet charter services.
I understand it from a business standpoint but from a consumer standpoint it is problematic. I recently had a flight to Europe cancelled due to mechanical issues. The flight they offered to get us there would arrive 2 days later. There was also a college musician group of 50 or so people going to perform in a music festival of some sort. Not sure how they could rebook at all.
I never said I knew how to fix it because I don’t. I think the problem is just the nature of the beast. Nobody’s happy but we just live with it and gripe.
Well like I said, there is always charter service. I try and keep life in perspective. I think I am pretty damn lucky to have it as easy as I do. I dont have to ride a horse or take a sailing ship anywhere.
1) People go on strike to get more money because the price of everything is going up. 2) Prices go up so they can afford to pay people more. 3) People go on strike to get more money because the price of everything is going up. 4) Prices go up so they can afford to pay people more. 5) People go on strike to get more money because the price of everything is going up. 6) Prices go up so they can afford to pay people more. 7) People go on strike to get more money because the price of everything is going up. 8) Prices go up so they can afford to pay people more. And so on.... And we have not even gotten into the slashes in employment companies are making (overall), so now, instead of someone crying and striking to get an 8% raise, now they are begging for a job - any job - that they can do, for $15-20 an hour, as opposed to the $40-45 an hour they WERE making. (I'm speaking in mid-America salaries, not west coast or NYC salaries)
Anybody see this crap? Delta Airlines pricing seats based on what they think you can afford? https://www.fortune.com/2025/07/16/delta-moves-toward-eliminating-set-prices-in-favor-of-ai-that-determines-how-much-you-personally-will-pay-for-a-ticket/?j=42468&sfmc_sub=16335495&l=1588_HTML&u=1965118&mid=546014653&jb=1160&utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NL_fortune-500-digest_2025-7-19_42468&sfmc_id=16335495
Its just a high tech version of what companies have been doing for a long time. I still laugh thinking back on the lectures in economics class. Long drawn out explanations with charts and graphs explaining the costs of design, production, materials, labor, transportation, advertising all thrown together, add in a reasonable profit to come up with a per unit price.......... Bull ****. How much will the market pay. Its all that matters. In this case just focusing on an individual customers price tolerance. The car and real estate industry has been doing the same from their inception.
So, if a guy whose demographics say he is 'low income', he will pay a cheaper price for a ticket compared to the more affluent guy sitting next to him whose demographics say he is 'rich'? That's how I read it...
