UPDATE - And the next flight will be in 75 years...

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) : One Thread

[Fair Use: For Educational and Research Purposes Only]

And the next flight will be in 75 years...

Source: The Observer

Publication date: 2000-07-09

FLIGHT delays are set to exceed 75 years or a total of 40 million minutes this year, causing untold misery to holidaymakers. Computer failures at the London air traffic control centre, strikes by French controllers and threats of industrial action in Greece and Belgium have already caused travel chaos and worse is to come. There is speculation that Spanish controllers will take industrial action as the summer rush reaches its peak, with the start of the school holidays later this month.

And there is no guarantee that the outdated equipment at the London centre, at West Drayton, near Heathrow, controls traffic using the southern part of Britain and aircraft overflying the UK, will not suffer further glitches.

The International Air Transport Association said this weekend that the official forecast for European flight delays this year was a total of 30 million minutes - the equivalent of 57 years.

But the unofficial prediction is higher. The association has received verbal warnings from the European air traffic control co- ordinating body, Eurocontrol, in Brussels that delays will exceed 40 million minutes during 2000, most of that during the summer.

'It is unacceptable. It can be a nightmare for passengers,' said an official.

Last summer was officially the worst of the Nineties as huge chunks of European air space were blocked off for military use during the conflict in Kosovo, resulting in 43 million minutes of delays.

But the association official pointed out that airlines and airports were aware of the situation last year and made contingency plans. The spor-adic strike action on the Con tinent and unexpected system collapses at West Drayton so far this year have thrown normal operations into turmoil with little or no warning - leaving passengers stranded abroad or stuck at airports for days.

Simon Evans, of the Air Transport Users' Council, said: 'It is outrageous that it is always the passenger that ends up suffering the consequences of these problems.'

He criticised airlines for not doing enough to help delayed passengers. With Europe's state-owned air traffic control authorities immune from legal liability and some airlines reimbursing passengers with only a refund of their one-way fares many were out of pocket, Evans said.

'Airlines are often too stingy and disorganised to give delayed passengers the proper information, meal vouchers, accommodation or alternative flights. They are not obliged to do anything.'

Many passengers have complained about the budget operators EasyJet and Ryanair. One couple complained that they were stranded in Barcelona when West Drayton had big problems last month. They spent pounds 1,000 getting home after EasyJet said it could not repatriate them for four days.

Both budget operators said EasyJet and Ryanair said they had done their best, putting up travellers in hotels and offering refunds.

http://realcities.yellowbrix.com/pages/realcities/Story.nsp?story_id=11918668&site=charlotte&ID=realcities&scategory=Computers%3AY2K

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), July 11, 2000


Moderation questions? read the FAQ