Quote:
Originally Posted by skyscraperpage17
I really don't care what Delta chooses to do. I merely suggested ways they could easily mitigate this type of situation. If they choose not to, for whatever reason(s), it's well within their right as a private, for-profit entity. That said, doing so means they also share some responsibility in exacerbating the situation and criticism of their choice is perfectly fair game.
My focus is on the consumers (individual passengers) who were negatively impacted by a combination of factors (not how much money a business is making for its shareholders), which include the lack of proactive emergency planning and a operational strategy that doesn't prioritize the needs of its customers when disruptions like this occur. To repeat, I'm sorry if some disagree that Delta's disproportionate reliance on one airport for their operations (virtually building a house of cards) is not relevant to the discussion, as I feel it very much is relevant.
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It is interesting that you have already determined that Delta, the most operationally-reliable major airline in the world, has failed to proactively plan for disruptive events such as this. First of all, it seems pretty clear that Delta had nothing to do with this. An investigation will determine exactly what happened, but it certainly had nothing to do with Delta.
As someone who works in this industry (not for Delta nor ATL), Delta's "reliance" on ATL is the core of its historic success. It is also the core of Atlanta's success over the decades. But in this industry, disruptions will happen. This one wasn't due to nature causes, but it's impact was similar. It was unfortunate for everyone involved. But 24 hours later Delta's operation was basically back on track. Given the complexities of airline/airport operations, that is practically a miracle.
But it isn't a miracle. It is a testament to exactly what you rail against. In fact, Delta's IROP (Irregular Operations) plan at ATL worked fantastically given the circumstances. Those of us in the industry are marveling at how quickly they got the operation back on track.
Here is the tradeoff. Either ATL is the busiest airport in the world and Delta operates the most successful hub in the world, or not. No manner of planning will EVER mitigate an airport completely losing power for 10 hours. The question is, how quickly is it mitigated and how quickly do you recover. Delta did a fantastic job here.
In comparison, look at the computer meltdown they had earlier in the year. That was a mess. Delta acknowledged as much and has subsequently invested $200M in new IT infrastructure to prevent such an occurrence again. If you were complaining about that situation, we'd be in more agreement. But you insinuation that a greedy company doesn't care about customers and neglected proper planning and even network strategy is bunk. Delta has proven to be the MOST operationally-reliable major airline in the world over the past many years precisely because it does all the things you imply it doesn't.
I get what you are trying to say and I appreciate the point you are trying to make. But as someone who has spent 25 years in this business, I'm going to suggest that you are off base here.