Airport Nightmares Underscore Need for Change

By MARY ELLEN SCHOONMAKER

PASCACK VALLEY RESIDENTS who want to sue the Federal Aviation Administration over its redesign of flight routes should think again.

For one thing, the $5,000 each of 10 towns has pledged to pay for legal costs is nowhere near enough to sue a federal agency. The fight could be long and costly, and the odds are against the towns.

That’s because, with all due respect, whether someone in River Vale hears more jet noise is fairly small potatoes compared with the magnitude of the FAA’s plan to reconfigure flight paths in the Northeast. The plan covers an area so large that it involves airspace in five states, air traffic from 21 airports, and a population of 29 million people.

The redesign is an attempt to reduce delays at the New York metropolitan area’s three major airports, which handle one-sixth of the world’s air traffic on any given day, according to the FAA. The plan took years to put together, and it will take years to put into effect. It affects thousands of flights at Newark Liberty, Kennedy and LaGuardia airports. And it’s absolutely necessary.

The current number of flight paths, not changed since the 1960s, is simply too small to keep up with today’s air traffic. The system hasn’t been updated in decades, and it’s a house of cards. One delay at one end can ripple all the way across the country.

At this region’s airports, you’re now almost as likely to be delayed as you are to be on time.

If you fly, you know it’s true. And it’s not just our region. I’m sure readers have all kinds of horror stories.

My family’s experience so far this year and we aren’t even frequent fliers is instructive. Coming back from Florida in February, we made it as far as Atlanta and then had to spend the night at an airport hotel because of cancellations due to bad weather in other parts of the country. We only had to spend one entire day in the Atlanta airport waiting for a flight. Some people were told they would have to wait three days, including families with elderly grandparents and babies.

Cancelled with no explanation

In April, my husband’s brother got married in Kansas. Our flight out of Newark was on time, but my sister-in-law’s a few hours later was cancelled with no explanation. Coming back, the flights from Kansas City to Newark before and after ours were cancelled due to weather, but ours took off six hours late.

Last month, my husband flew back from Louisiana and got stuck in Atlanta again. His flight was cancelled, he was given a hotel voucher and told to come back the next morning. A business traveler he met said that happens to him half the time he flies.

This past weekend, coming back from a wedding in Florida, our flight was delayed for several hours and then cancelled. First the excuse was weather. Then we were told it was a mechanical problem. Finally, about 11 p.m., we received a voucher for a seedy Travelodge. All kinds of plans were upended. One woman wondered if she’d make a wedding in Boston the next afternoon. A frantic man said he had an international connection at Kennedy the next morning and couldn’t miss it. He was lucky enough to be put on a 6 a.m. flight. We came back to the airport at 7 a.m. and finally took off for New York 16 hours after we were originally scheduled to depart.

This constant uncertainty has made air travel a potential nightmare for many travelers: pregnant women, parents with infants and toddlers, the elderly and the disabled. They have to be prepared for anything: long hours in crowded airports, unscheduled overnights in airport motels, even long waits for the tiny shuttle buses that take them to the motel. They might go to bed, like we did, with nothing to eat but a bag of Doritos from a vending machine.

Factoring in delays

Planning to fly to weddings, reunions, holiday get-togethers, business meetings, conventions, college parents’ weekends and everything else now requires factoring in potential delays that can cost hours or even days or make you miss the event completely. If you’re traveling any time during the upcoming holiday season, this is something to think about. And don’t forget to factor in the uncertainty of winter weather.

Given the extent of the problem, adding some jet noise to quiet suburban communities seems like a small price to pay if it can add efficiency to overall air traffic and ease some of this widespread inconvenience.

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Mary Ellen Schoonmaker is a Record editorial writer and columnist. Contact her at schoonmaker@northjersey.com. Send comments about this column to The Record at letterstotheeditor@northjersey.com.

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