Had to reschedule, a cancelled flight. Asked the gal at the desk: is Dallas or Phoenix for a connecting…she responded Dallas before I could finish.

quote:

Originally posted by SPWAMike0317:
Fly-Sig, thanks for an excellent explanation. The thing that bothers me is that the factors resulting in a delayed departure in this case are all physical and predictable. Temps in Phoenix will be high, density altitude will impact takeoff. All those factors can be calculated and a "window" of reasonability could be established allowing the captain a level of discretion.
I suspect that doesn't happen because some exec is compensated entirely upon "cost savings". Because people do what they are incented to do, hundreds of folks are inconvenienced. Profits are maintained. My logical side understands, my emotional side will always get pissed off.

There’s a lot of informed guessing when predicting max takeoff weight more than an hour out at a hot airport. For longer flights with bigger fuel load minimums, choices can’t be made until passenger and checked baggage are known. A good experienced dispatcher will be ahead of the game, but there is still a process. Plus, dispatchers can be overloaded when things start getting complicated for numerous flights.

Gone are the days of small passenger loads. Full flights mean more frequent problems.

Also gone are the days when the Captain could unilaterally add more fuel than the release calks for. Early in my career it was common to apply experience to add fuel for highly likely problems.