Quote:
Originally Posted by jsfarber
The inbound flight from SFO was delayed by weather in SFO. The outbound flight DL4585 was scheduled for 2:35p and departed at 2:31p. I know I am mad at Delta for leaving early. I'm not sure if the pilot or gate crew made the decision. I can imagine they think they the airport very well as they travel back and forth through the Delta gates all of the time and likely know how long it takes to walk between them.
What Delta doesn't understand and likely failed to consider was that a late passenger RUNS through the airport to get from gate to gate. I have never seen a PILOT or flight crew run through the airport - and they don't have to, the plane will NOT take off without them.
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Only 2 sets of people have the authority to hold a flight: 1.) system operations from corporate HQ, but there has to be several factors such as the %age of passengers connecting , if it is high then they will authorize a hold, if is low, then no hold, availability of seats via other flights to connect you to your final destination., 2.)Local station leadership based on the number of seats on other flights through out the day, reason for the delay on your original flight, what the approximate ETA of a delayed flight is, and availability of being able to rebook you via other means to the final destination. If non other those criteria are met, then the gate crew will dispatch the flight on time. Yes I have gone through this myself many times at my airline.