(HOST) If you’ve traveled by commercial airline this summer, chances are you’ve experienced a flight delay. And commentator Tim McQuiston says that weather probably wasn’t the only factor.
(McQUISTON) The late, great John Denver wrote: "I’m leaving on a jet plane. Don’t know when I’ll be back again." Legend has it that Denver conceived of the song while waiting in an airport for a delayed flight to Burlington.
OK, so it wasn’t Burlington, but it sure could’ve been.
In any case, we all know what he’s talking about. Who amongst us hasn’t got stuck in some airport somewhere waiting for a flight back to Burlington? Maybe that wait has even resulted in an over-night stay. Or two.
It isn’t always the return trip that’s the problem, but it usually is. Burlington is a terminus, so the flights going out tend to be at the start of the run, and those coming back are at the end — and are subject to every sort of delay from sea to shining sea.
Surprisingly, according to federal statistics, weather really has little to do with Burlington’s well below average on-time arrival performance. Weather is less than 2 percent of the problem in Burlington and less than 1 percent nationally.
Arrival rates for Burlington’s competitors in Manchester, Hartford and Albany are much better.
But, as we who fly into Burlington all know, the on-time rate doesn’t tell the whole story. It’s much worse. If you miss your connection you’ll probably wind up sleeping in the terminal. Don’t expect much help from the airline; we all know that. And one can go years without arriving back home more or less on-time, or even more or less on the same day.
Here are a couple of anecdotes: One Montpelier family had such a horrendous time getting back from out West recently that the husband vowed he’d never fly again. He emailed his entire extended family to put his testimony into writing — and to enlist their support to help him get through any moments of weakness.
Meanwhile, a business group coming back from Asia was on time all the way home until they reached the domestic connection in Dulles. The beleaguered counter person told them she could guarantee a flight back to Burlington on July 1. This was June 26. By the end of the second day they decided to eschew the hospitality of the terminal benches and rent a car to drive back through the night to get home. In line in front of them at the car rental desk? A couple of Vermonters.
Businesspeople trying to get here for a quick meeting or conference lasting a couple days cannot afford, quite literally, to spend a day in a connecting airport. Besides a loss of business, there’s a loss of confidence that you can "get here from there." Why bother? There are other places to do business.
If we’re serious about looking for ways to provide a more stable economic development platform for the state of Vermont, one thing we could do would be to persuade our elected officials to bend their significant political will toward getting the airlines that serve Burlington to be a lot more customer friendly.
Timothy McQuiston is editor of Vermont Business Magazine.