Anyone know anything about flights being cancelled due to empty seats vs. weather?

[Muttocracy]

I'm supposed to fly for work tomorrow and just discovered that my flight was cancelled. I think they cancelled due to the plane not being full enough but I can't see the seat map now that they've cancelled it. They rebooked me on a later flight that's too late for where I need to go. They're vaguely claiming weather. I flew out of the same airport a few weeks ago during heavy snow, with ice on the runway at both airports. In the morning there's a 30% chance of flurries with no accumulation, clearing, and above-normal temperatures at both airports. I think they're lying to me...

[hedgehog]

1. What about the airport you're headed into? Alternatively, the plane

you were supposed to fly out on may be held up somewhere today and will not be ready by flight time tomorrow.

[Muttocracy]

5. From FlightAware.com, the plane flew it first leg earlier today and is about to leave

for my airport on schedule. The airline hasn't cancelled it, but has cancelled the same plane that turns around and leaves in the morning. I'm wondering if not many people booked the really early morning flight and they decided it's not worth the fuel :shrug:

[hedgehog]

7. Maybe they have a plane but not a crew - if whoever is scheduled for tomorrow is sick

or had an accident?

[Muttocracy]

8. that could be - small enough town that there aren't extra pilots around. nt

[hedgehog]

13. It's possible that they've canceled an empty flight, but the headaches

that's going to cause the rest of the day when that piece of equipment is not where it's scheduled to be will be really painful.

[Muttocracy]

15. I think it bounces between two small towns, via a large airport

So they may be facing the same problem on the other end as I am.

[hedgehog]

17. LOL - I followed one of the planes my husband was on one day and the flights went like this:

Newark-Albany-Newark-Rochester-Newark-Syracuse-Newark- Raleigh.

I'm amazed the pilot didn't end up back in Upstate New york out of force of habit!

[Muttocracy]

19. that's crazy - I wonder if they switched pilots at some point! nt

[hedgehog]

20. I tell you - no one works as hard as the air crews on those short hops.

Get everyone seated for take-off, up and down the aisle with drinks and chips, up and down the aisle to collect trash, get everyone seated again for landing and repeat six times!

[babylonsister]

2. Maybe the weather is supposed to deteriorate?

My sister flew into MX recently with 37 people on her flight, from CA. :shrug:

[Muttocracy]

3. nope, forecast is fine, tomorrow's going to be like spring at both locations

:shrug: indeed

[babylonsister]

10. Then you could be right.

My b-i-l was booked on a flight to upstate NY years ago, and knew it was cancelled because it was under-booked. The weather wasn't great, but he thought the same thing. I think it happens, as much as I hate the thought.

[hedgehog]

18. On the other hand, Spring is the peak of tornado season!

[Bluebear]

4. Airlines really don't cancel "due to empty seats"...

they really don't, especially not one night before. The particular airline's reputation and repeat business would plummet if that were the case. There is probably no conspiracy that they are "lying to you".

[Muttocracy]

6. OK, but then I'm wondering why the other airline hasn't cancelled flights

that leave an hour later?

[Bluebear]

9. For instance....

....two airlines could be leaving to Chicago a half hour apart. Midway airport might be fine, but O'Hare could be in low visibility and a snowstorm. That can happen.

Also, different airlines have aircraft equipped with more or less sophisticated equipment which allows/forbids them to land under foggier conditions.

[AllieB]

11. It's the story of my travel life.

This is especially true if you're flying into less major markets. the secret is going on out the first or last plane of the day, because the last plane has to be somewhere for the evening in order to fly out the next day, and the first one needs to be somewhere for a connecting flight.

[Muttocracy]

12. that's why I picked the before-sunrise flight. Sigh. nt

[hedgehog]

14. Say - you aren't trying to fly out of Syracuse, are you?

My husband always leaves early even if it means he spends a goood part of the day sitting around Newark waiting for his next flight. A few weeks ago, he left the house at 4AM . He made his overseas flight out of Newark at 6 PM, no sweat. The other guy took a noon flight out of Syracuse and missed the overseas leg by 5 minutes after all the delays.

[AllieB]

16. If you're flying out of Upstate (BUF, ROC, SYR), you're at the mercy of US Air or JetBlue, correct?

JetBlue generally doesn't fly in inclement weather because of inexperienced pilots. Lots of young bucks manning those planes. I trust US Air and Continental (do they still serve your market?) because of pilot experience.

[MajorChode]

21. What two airports are you referring?

What airline and flight number?

It's not always just the two airports involved. If there is severe weather enroute, the FAA will ground stop aircraft when the ATC routes get saturated even if it is severe clear at the departure and destination airports.

It is unusual that an airline would cancel a flight due to weather this far in advance, but it depends on a lot of circumstances.

[bermudat]

22. I have been on a flight cancelled due to empty seats.

It was a flight from CT to LaGuardia and then catch another flight to BDA. They put us in a cab
and we drove from CT to NY. My niece and nephew were with us and they were excited because it was
their first time in a cab. I just remember listening to middle eastern music and smelling incense the
entire time. I was fuming but we made our flight. Just remember that airport in CT was worse than Newark.

[SheilaT]

23. Airlines don't really cancel

because of underbookings. However, if an aircraft is out of service because of maintenance problems, and a flight has to be cancelled somewhere, they may choose the one with fewer passengers.

But cancelling only because of lack of passengers? I doubt it. I can tell you that when I was an airline ticket agent some years ago, no flight was ever cancelled for that reason. The plane was going to have to fly the next segment anyway. We flew planes with as few as four passengers on it.

Added on edit:

Sometimes one airline will have a weather cancellation when another airline, flying between the same two city pairs, is still operating. The first airline might have its plane stuck somewhere else. I recall one time, many years back, when my airline wound up shutting down its entire system for two days because of bad weather affecting most of the system, although not the city I was in. The up side to this was that I could get my passengers where they wanted to go by routing them on another airline. So weather can be a factor, but not necessarily in a way that makes sense to the passenger whose flight has been cancelled.