A constant wildcard in being a NYC-based frequent-flyer, requiring that one avoid tight connections, which can be easily missed due to the frequent delays. I often get flight update messages from UA, and usually it's because they have determined that I might not have allowed sufficient time for the next connecting flight, so they changed my itinerary or flight time after taking into the notorious NYC delays.
Common weather, airspace, etc... storms get three for the price of one (region)... I imagine PHL is often affected similarly by the same bad weather?
Yeah DC and BOS are far enough away, otherwise the entire NE region would be choking the country to a halt. But in spite of the notoriously bad weather at times, the problem is an over-saturated schedule IMO. All you have to do is look for flights and you'll see where the problems are -- JFK handles something in the order of 1,200 flights a day, and the other airports are not much better. You look at the board and you have 3-4 flights leaving at the same time somehow, and any hiccups in the system like a few flights arriving early can make a mess of things on the ground, which in turn makes a mess of things overall.
That is another aspect of the delays that is quite frustrating. It has happened for flights to get passengers in early in NYC, only to have them wait on the tarmac for delays that can be as long as 30 min because there are no open gates, nullifying any advantage that may have been gained by early arrival...
What isn't said is what fraction of each day's flight go through those four airports (which obviously are four of the busiest in the country). It has to be a big number and this is yet another example of a lazy reporter. DTWBOB
3 out of those 4 I will try to avoid as much as possible. I will fly to LGA secondary it is the best way to get to Manhattan.
I think there's a significant amount of traffic, as JFK, EWR and PHL are obvious gateways for quite a few airlines heading across to Europe. Still, volume-wise, JFK was only #16th in the world last year and EWR hasn't been in the top 30 since 2003. I would imagine that if it was just passenger traffic, ATL or ORD would play a much bigger role. Then again they don't have that nightmarish corridor that IAD/DCA/PHL/EWR/LGA/JFK/BOS create. Plus the geography of it all doesn't really help... a single storm traveling up the Northeast corridor can affect DC today, NY tonight/tomorrow and Boston shortly thereafter.
Although the 3 NYC-area airports are lower on the list individually, collectively, they make up the largest volume of air traffic in a metro area, by far. 2010 data show (total passenger boardings): ORD + MDW = 32.2M + 8.5M = 40.7M ATL = 43.1M JFK + LGA + EWR = 22.9M + 12.0M + 16.6M = 51.5M PHL = 15.0M According to the stats, this is the largest airport system in the country, and 2nd largest in the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_the_United_States
Dear goodness. ATL is 4th with ONE airport. ONE. After all of London, NYC, and Tokyo. No wonder everytime I'm delayed on DL, I just pull up the weather in 30320 -- "yep, that's the reason."
