[Tom Hutchison]

Flight 1104 was prepared to leave Nashville on time at 10:15, Saturday December 6. Just before we pulled away from the gate, and after the pilot had announced an eminent departure, the plane just sat there. After about 10 minutes, the pilot announced that there was a delay due to some paperwork issues and joked that “as soon as the paperwork equals the weight of the plane” we will depart. We waited another 10 minutes, with no one boarding the plane, and then several NWA employees and perhaps a passenger or two boarded the plane until it was full. At one point the flight crew was counting empty seats and relaying the information to someone outside the aircraft. Then we departed 35 minutes late. The pilot announced that we would be 1 hour and 10 minutes in flight to Detroit.
The flight ended up getting to the airport 30 minutes late. During the final decent, the flight crew was unavailable to answer questions about missing connections. When the plane landed, they did announce there would be agents standing by to assist with connections. There were no agents. I missed my connecting flight so that NWA could fill empty seats in Nashville with their employees wanting a ride to Detroit. NWA had cancelled the later flight to Bangor and re-booked me on a flight to Bangor the following afternoon. I missed a day of work, missed an important work-related event, and my reason for traveling in the first place.
At the Detroit airport, I was told the delay was due to weight problems on the plane and the fact that they had to take on extra fuel because of the weather. There was no refueling. There was no weight issue because the plane was not full until they decided to hold it to accommodate late-arriving people (passengers or employees).
My attempts to contact their customer service since then have been futile. The endless recordings, menus, hold-times, and ultimate hang-ups have left me no choice but to file formal complaints against the airline.

[airhead]

How do you know the late arriving passengers were employees? Did you ask or did they tell you that information?

Is it possible that since the flight was already delayed due to close out procedures (which can be a pain) that it would not hurt to add another passenger who was also running late. No sense in keeping a late passenger from boarding if the flight is already late.

Sometimes the captain will make a call to dispatch to change the fuel order since it would take longer to have the fuel truck put in say, 5 lbs of fuel, which obviously is not worth the time. But the order change does not happen instantly, the weights onboard have to be reported for recalculations.

You see, their is no way of knowing exactly how much fuel an aircraft will be arriving with, due to taxiing and other factors, until it actually gets to the gate.

IT WOULD NICE IF AIRLINES ALLOWED MORE TIME BETWEEN FLIGHTS FOR PASSENGERS AND EMPLOYEES TO DO THEIR JOB. I get 20 minutes to deboard passengers and luggage and board new ones. Not much time when dealing with 100 passengers.

[Tom Hutchison]

Good questions. Thank you for your responses.

>>How do you know the late arriving passengers were employees?

I knew the late arrivals were employees (or assumed they were) because they were dressed in NWA uniforms. Plus they all boarded at exactly the same time after a 20 minute wait by the rest of us.

>Is it possible that since the flight was already delayed due to close out procedures

We weren't late already, according to the captain, who initially said we would be pushing away from the gate in a few minutes.

>>the weights onboard have to be reported for recalculations.

We were not a full flight until the late-arriving passengers boarded. Perhaps at that time a re-calibration of weight was necessary--a delay again attributed to waiting for these late passengers.

>>IT WOULD NICE IF AIRLINES ALLOWED MORE TIME BETWEEN FLIGHTS FOR PASSENGERS AND EMPLOYEES TO DO THEIR JOB. I get 20 minutes to deboard passengers and luggage and board new ones. Not much time when dealing with 100 passengers.

I sympathize with you on that one. However, I have been aboard several NWA flights that were running late where the flight crew actually asked for a show of hands of who had close connections. Then they asked other passengers to wait until those people had first crack at getting up to leave the aircraft. It worked very well, and I was among those who was willing to allow others to go first. In another case on NWA, the passengers actually requested that the flight crew announce this. They did, I was in a hurry and it made all the difference in the world. it's still the same 100 passengers deplaning, just in a different order.

At no time were any NWA employees rude or inconsiderate, but I was told a few things that made me believe I was not going to miss my connection. They turned out not to be true.

Thank you again for your response.

[countrynewsman]

Sounds to me like a total lack of information being communicated to passengers, or information that was a downright lie. I guess they think ALL passengers are a bunch of brainless airheads (ooops...sorry AA...LOL ), never mind that a number of them are. I'm assuming the NWA employees were travelling by orders of the company, and not for pleasure...else why would they be in uniform? Could they have been a crew that was going to Detroit to fly a trip from there? I learned a long time ago that if I absolutely have to be somewhere at a certain time, I will allow for delays in connections and not cut it so close. Of course, in your case, it wouldn't have made much of a difference since the next flight was cancelled. I think you have a very legitimate complaint in being lied to and to have received no help on deplaning in Detroit. NWA has never been my favorite airline anyway.

[airhead]

Mr. Hutchison:

Thank you for answering my questions. I would file an official complaint to their headquarters. It may not do much, but the more people do it, the more (I believe) some policies can be changed to better suit the customer. Airline operations are ridiculously complex and stressful and I believe the CEO and board of directors have the power to change that, even a little, to make the travel experience better for everyone. Good luck to you.