For some time now, Captain Steve, a pilot with a major U.S. airline (and one of the nicest humans you’ll ever meet), has been answering your questions about flying. He has commented on everything from cabin air to maintenance problems and ticket prices. It’s been a while since we had him here, however, and since there’s no shortage of airline headlines — including an eventful winter for weather interruptions — we thought it was time to bring him back for another round of questions. So fire away in the comments section below, and we’ll post his answers shortly thereafter. I’ll prime the pump with a question of my own:
Steve, not long ago, I had occasion to fly into Hong Kong International Airport and, well — wow. It’s a very good airport in many ways but, to me, what’s most impressive is how it sits on an island outside the city, the product of a land-reclamation project, and how it therefore handles massive traffic by auto, bus, and rail without ruining traffic in the city itself.
On this blog, we’ve discussed the crowded New York airspace, and how closing LaGuardia might in fact alleviate that problem. So let’s blue-sky for a moment. What would happen if — against all existing political and financial obstacles — such an airport could be built offshore to serve New York? Talk to us about what such an airport would look like, what it would accomplish (or fail to), how large it would need to be to handle existing and future New York air traffic, etc. And most of all: what would such an airport be like from a pilot’s perspective?
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Steve,
Why does it normally cost much more to fly from the San Francisco Bay area to Dallas, and get off the plane, than it costs to fly from California to Dallas — on the same flight, on the same day, in the same seat, with tickets bought at the same time — and then take a 45-minute hop up to Oklahoma?
Why is the airline effectively paying me $100 to leave Texas? Why should travelers to and from Texas be subsidizing flights to and from neighboring states? Why aren’t the Texas politicians raising hell?
I read an article about this recently ( http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/05/hidden_city_ticketing?page=1 ). In order to get around this, apparently people are doing something called “hidden city ticketing” (buying a ticket for San Francisco > Oklahoma > New York, for example, then just skipping the last leg and staying in Oklahoma). While this Economist article says that it’s allowed as long as you don’t lie about it, I’ve also heard elsewhere that it’s not allowed by the airlines.
I do think it’s interesting, as you say, that the airline is paying you to leave Texas!
Given the number of flights in a year, are you as supprised as I am that major airlines have never had an paid pilot who wanted to commit suicide and bring down the rest of the flight with him? Causing perhaps a second 9/11? Probability seems to dictate that one of these pilots might be having a really bad day, might be over worked, might be having relationship problems, and just might be pushed over the edge? What factors are in place to prevent such a problem scenario?
Jack
This actually was attempted in 1994 (unsuccessfully). Look up FedEx Express Flight 705 on Wikipedia.
Are you proposing to close LGA and replace it with an offshore airport, or perhaps closing LGA _and_ JFK or EWR and replacing those two with an offshore airport?
I’d guess that high-speed transit to JFK and/or EWR, coupled with the closure of LGA and an expansion of the capacity of any two of JFK, EWR, HPN and TET might accomplish what you need at less cost.