Letters to the Editor
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I'm getting used to it
Newark is my home airport, and I've grown accustomed to fairly lengthy delays on my trips home. Typically my return flights are scheduled to arrive in the late afternoon or early evening when the weather is at its worst. Sometimes I'm delayed when the weather is gorgeous, and the explanation is simply "too much traffic going into the New York air space" and we've got gridlock.
I experienced a four hour delay into Newark from Las Vegas yesterday, including an unexpected stop in Cleveland for refueling after we had spent about 90 minutes in a holding pattern over Michigan. The reason was thunderstorms that closed Newark for some time in the early evening. It's just what I've come to expect in the summer. The weather will be bad, and I'll be delayed.
If those are my expectations, and the airline gives me enough information, I can deal with it and not get stressed out. I have to give Continental a lot of credit for keeping me informed yesterday. By the time I arrived at the airport I had received three emails explaining why our departure would be delayed, with updated departure times. And once in the air, the pilot made announcements approximately every 20 minutes once it was clear we'd be further delayed.
So often, that's all it takes. Just tell us what the heck is going on! If it's bad weather, we can deal. We don't want to fly into dangerous weather either.