Summer of Air Discontent: Passengers Endure the Roughest Vacation Season in Years

By Eric Anderson, Albany Times Union, N.Y.

Aug. 5–COLONIE — It was 1 a.m. on a Friday and the baggage claim area at Albany International Airport was crowded.

Storms in lower Michigan and western New York state had snarled air traffic throughout the Northeast and upper Midwest in the hours before, and many flights were just making their way to Albany, delayed for hours by the weather.

Younger travelers and baseball fans didn’t seem to mind. Former pitcher Steve Carlton had arrived for the upcoming Baseball Hall of Fame festivities in Cooperstown, and he was busy in one corner signing baseballs and anything else they had handy.

Carlton and the other passengers waiting for their luggage were among the lucky ones. They managed to get to their destinations, even if they were a few hours late.

The unlucky ones, those whose flights were canceled by the storms, faced the possibility of waiting as long as a day or two for their airlines to find a vacant seat for them, thanks to planes that have been filled to capacity this summer.

That night’s delayed flights taxed the baggage handlers at Albany International Airport, leading to waits of up to 40 minutes to collect checked luggage.

This summer so far has been the toughest on travelers since 2001, for a number of reasons. Among them:

A shift by airlines to smaller planes as they seek to match market demand and capacity. Every major carrier at Albany except Southwest is depending at least in part on smaller regional jets (and in a few cases on turboprops) to provide some or all of its flights. Planes on many routes typically are full.

Air traffic also has increased, and is expected to grow even more quickly as a new generation of very light jets, four- to six-seaters, joins larger corporate and private aircraft. Daily flights nationwide are expected to increase to 66,000 in a decade from 44,000 currently, says the Air Transport Association’s David Castelveter.

The Federal Aviation Administration, the airlines, private aircraft owners and pilots, and Congress all are debating ways to fund the next-generation air traffic control system. All agree the current one must be replaced, and a new one, based on satellite navigation, would increase capacity. The argument is over how to pay for it.

Add bad weather and increased security to the mix, and most travelers will agree that flying is becoming far more difficult.

“No one is having a good time this summer,” said Jean Gagnon of Plaza Travel in Latham. “I literally have one call a day with a horror story.”

Although we’ve seen worse weather, Ray O’Keefe, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Albany, said the Capital Region had 89 severe storms in June and July, up from 72 last year but down from 107 in 2005.

The weather service measured 103 hours of reduced visibility during the same two months, up from 77 hours a year ago. The weather service covers an area within an 80- to 90-mile radius of Albany.

Visibility data for 2005 weren’t available.

O’Keefe said the low clouds and fog often occur in the early morning at the airport, which is a busy time for departing flights.

While fog remains a challenge, the FAA has gotten more flexible in rerouting planes around thunderstorms, instead of holding them on the ground until the storms clear their flight path. The agency also is reconfiguring the airspace around the New York City and Philadelphia airports, an area that reaches as far north as the southern edge of Albany County.

The reconfiguration will increase the capacity of the space to handle flights, an FAA spokeswoman said. Airports in Philadelphia and Newark are important connecting points for many Albany travelers.

On trips west out of Albany, aircraft often are routed into Canadian airspace to avoid thunderstorms and other weather, said John O’Donnell, chief executive officer of the Albany County Airport Authority, which operates Albany International Airport.

Still, the airspace flow program, as it’s called, isn’t a perfect solution. Often, “it spreads out delays,” said Castelveter, the spokesman for ATA, the airlines’ trade organization.

“The longer-term solution is going to be NextGen,” he said, using the term to describe the satellite-based air traffic control system. “It’s technology that already exists and is being used today in Canada and the United Kingdom. We can begin putting in pieces of NextGen immediately.”

Manny Weiss, eastern regional administrator for the FAA, said the system, which would cost an estimated $15 billion to $20 billion to install over the next 20 years, would give pilots the same ability to see all the aircraft around them that air traffic controllers now have.

Other improvements include navigation by global positioning system satellites instead of the current system of ground-based radio beacons, allowing closer spacing and more flexibility in routing of airplanes.

That would increase airspace capacity and, the FAA said, improve safety.

The Bush administration’s NextGen Financing Reform Act, which would provide funding for the FAA, is being opposed by private pilots because they would bear more of the cost of operating the air traffic control system.

“The general aviation side costs 16 percent. Yet they only contribute 3 percent” of the cost, Weiss said. “The commercial side puts in 95 percent.”

The proposal includes an increase in the tax on a gallon of aviation fuel from its present 19 cents to 70 cents, as well as other new user fees that private pilots would pay.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association backs a separate bill introduced in the House of Representatives that would boost taxes on aviation fuel a more modest 5 to 9 cents per gallon and wouldn’t include new user fees on private aviation.

It would also retain a tax on passenger tickets that the FAA proposal removes. A separate Senate bill, meanwhile, adds user fees, leaves the fuel tax unchanged for personal aviation, and leaves the tax on passenger tickets in place.

The Air Transport Association opposes the House bill.

“We view the House bill with a real sense of disappointment,” said ATA President and CEO James C. May in a press release. “It does nothing to resolve record delays, growing congestion and the crisis that faces the nation’s travelers.

“It does little to promote a next-generation air traffic control system, raises barriers to efficiencies, imposes a multibillion-dollar new tax on airline passengers, and does not stop requiring passengers from subsidizing elite corporate-jet fliers,” he added.

And the ranks of corporate and other private jets are expected to grow as such companies as Eclipse Aviation ramp up production of small four- to six-seat aircraft.

Albany will see increased traffic because Eclipse’s Northeast service center is based here.

But O’Donnell, the airport CEO, says it won’t lead to congestion on the ground.

“At this airport, we’re not challenged with delays on the runway,” he said last week. “We’ve got capacity to expand three-fold at this airport.”

At least one purchaser of Eclipse jets is considering offering air taxi service for business travelers from Albany, a move that could skim off some of the airlines’ most profitable passengers. Growing delays and cancellations, some observers think, could make such alternatives more appealing.

In the meantime, travel agents and industry officials have some suggestions to minimize the inconvenience of delays.

O’Donnell said he always checks in online for his flight before going to the airport. This avoids lines at the ticket counter. Passengers also can use the self-service kiosks at the airport, which often have no lines.

On Thursday, a Clear Registered Traveler lane opened at Albany International Airport, giving frequent fliers who pay a $99.95 annual fee and undergo a background check their own lane — typically much shorter — to the security checkpoint.

Clear Registered travelers still must go through the metal detectors and have their carry-on luggage screened, but the program shortens the wait to get to that point.

“It takes one of the big hassles out of (air travel),” said Steven Brill, founder and CEO of Verified Identity Pass Inc., which operates the Clear program. “You know it’s going to take you a minute to five minutes to get through security.”

New scanning equipment now being tested by the Transportation Security Administration could further reduce hassles, allowing Clear lane travelers to leave their shoes on and, at some point in the future, their coats.

Brill said approval for the shoe scanner could come as soon as Labor Day, and a machine would be at Albany shortly after.

Additional detection devices being developed would analyze liquids and computers, potentially doing away with the 3-ounce limit on containers and the need to remove laptop computers from carry-on bags.

Traveling earlier in the day can help avoid delays that tend to accumulate as airplanes fall further and further behind schedule throughout the day. Not cutting connections too close, and planning to arrive the day before an important meeting or other event, will provide an extra cushion in case of delays.

Loyalty to one carrier helps, said Gagnon, the travel agent.

“If you’re a platinum-level frequent flier on Delta or chairman’s preferred on US Airways, you can call and get a little more assistance,” she said. “If the flight’s canceled, it doesn’t help. But ahead of time, it gets you a better seat assignment.”

But don’t expect seats to become more plentiful soon.

“Carriers don’t have the luxury of flying bigger airplanes,” said the ATA’s Castelveter, who said a barrel of fuel that cost $25 pre-9/11 now nears $80. “They’re flying the right-size airplanes to meet demand.” Anderson can be reached at 454-5323 or by e-mail at eanderson@timesunion.com.

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