Delta Grounds Three 767s, Stranding More Than 600 at JFK

[T-Bird76]

Just to clarify, I didn't mean to say that 600 people stranded isn't newsworthy, but 3 mechanicals in a short period really isn't - it's just bad luck.

Andy that's the news story...that 600 people got stuck at JFK....as a result of the planes breaking down. You can't just report that 600 got stuck at JFK, I think people would probably ask, "why were they stuck?" No one said the story was that three planes broke down.... If that was a news story I would have called the LA times since the 767 I'm on right now had a 2 hour MX delay.

[NLovis]

All of Delta's planes at JFK are accounted for flights with nothing to spare.

Delta's utilization of JFK is far beyond the capacity they can handle while providing reasonable levels of customer service.

You can say that again. Some true some false. I flew into JFK on the DC-9 flight in from DTW today. Everything was superb untill we hit the ground at JFK. What was supposed to be a 3 min ramp hold for gate space turned into 15-20 min waiting for a gate to open. There wasnt a single gate open at DAL. They have too many flights and not enough gates to cover these flights. Next and the worst, baggage. It took them over 30min before they even turned on the belt for the baggage and another 5min before the 1st bag came up. And customer service was absolutely horrible. 2 ppl only at the desk during peak hours and a line out the door. Not to mention costomer service wasnt very friendly either. I'm glad my bag was the 4th one up. But it isnt over yet. During this wait time there wasnt a single employee at the baggage claims to help anybody out. 1 Person showed up after the bags started comming up. After I asked her why it took so long for the bags to come up she said "it usually takes 45 minutes for the baggage to come up." "Its peak hours". If peak hours is your excuse for late baggage there is a major problem there. I watched them start unloading the plane right away. They had bags off the plane before any pax started getting off. Long story short... DONT FLY DELTA INTO JFK.
Next. Delta actually has a few hot spares at JFK ready to go. Usually 757 and 763's. If these were 764's that went down they indeed have no spares to cover for them. Look around H19. DAL havs holding spots over there for their a/c. They also hold at the T4 area. They can have 1 757 sitting for up to 36hrs before they swap it with another spare to be.