Game of hurry up and wait

Has anybody else noticed that airline trips are taking longer, when figured on a door-to-door basis?

Over the past several years, carriers have steadily increased the amount of time they advise travelers to show up at the airport prior to the flight's departure time.

For years, the rule of thumb had been that you were fine if you got to the airport a half-hour prior to domestic flights and 90 minutes for international departures. To accommodate increased airport security in the wake of the Gulf War, both windows were expanded by 30 minutes.

Recently, American Airlines started telling passengers on domestic flights that it is wise to show up 90 minutes prior to boarding, just to be on the safe side. But is American, which tends to be a trendsetter when it comes to airline innovations, only padding its time margin for error at the passenger's expense?

Somehow, something is out of whack when passengers need to be at the airport an hour and a half before a flight that lasts only one hour!

It is a good idea to encourage travelers to get to the gate a bit early to expedite the boarding process and increase the chances that the flight takes off on schedule. In addition to clearing security and having their checked bags routed to the right plane, passengers face other time-sucking situations and potential delays, from heavy traffic on the highways to a dearth of parking spaces. In this day of electronic ticketing, it's also wise to anticipate a few extra minutes at the ticket counters, especially during peak travel hours on busy days. Trying to time everything to the minute is a great way to miss your flight, not to mention develop an ulcer.

That's why all the airlines establish and enforce rules that require passengers to check in at the gate 20 to 30 minutes prior to the plane's scheduled departure time for domestic flights, or risk losing their seat reservations to stand-by passengers. In fact, most carriers, including US Airways, are taking the added step of trying to close the doors of the plane a full 10 minutes before departure.

Certainly, catching international departures involves extra paperwork; passports must be inspected and passenger manifests cross-referenced. And, of course, bigger planes also require more time to load.

But do the people who figure out these various boarding procedures really consider the toll their decisions take on a traveler's day? Don't we face enough temporal pressure without some of the questionable hurdles that have been added to the airport race?

Security is an important issue, to be sure, but how much time has been spent asking each and every passenger whether he's packed his own bags and kept the luggage in his possession the entire time?

No, the question doesn't take much time, unless of course you're standing in a long line of passengers waiting to check in and watching the clock tick off the minutes. And does it really provide any protection?

Has any traveler, out of all the hundreds of millions asked these questions in the past years, ever answered anything but "yes"?

Of course, on those occasions when all the travel pieces do fall smoothly into place, the early traveler has the pleasure of sitting around in the boarding area for a half-hour watching red-faced late-comers dash up to the gate.

Fortunately, the bountiful shopping options which have made Pittsburgh International a world-class airport provide plenty of opportunity to buy things before leaving town, assuming of course, that they'll fit in the overhead compartment on the plane.

The really galling part, however, is rushing to show up early for a flight that winds up being hours late taking off.

Every frequent flier realizes that flight delays are a possibility with each trip to the airport.

In 1999, the FAA figures that nearly 375,000 domestic flights took off more than 15 minutes late, a 22 percent rise over 1998's record.

Airline mechanical problems and overscheduling of flights during peak traffic hours are contributing factors, but more than 70 percent of all delays are weather-related.

While no one can control bad weather, steps are being taken to try to ease some of the schedule snafus it causes.

For example, the FAA, the airlines and aviation weather forecasters recently agreed to coordinate their decision-making and follow a more "passenger first" agenda. The changes let flight planners make weather adjustments sooner and give the traveling public better access to accurate information about how storms are affecting the schedule.

A new Web site, www.fly.faa.gov, is now updated every other hour with the status of operations at the nation's 40 largest airports. Travelers can log in and click on a window that lists runway traffic by individual destination, with time estimates for reported delays. But it's only a general indication, and travelers will still have to contact the carrier directly for specifics on any particular flight. Also, new contingency plans have opened additional routes for commercial flights during bad weather situations, which should help traffic flow a bit more smoothly.

It remains to be seen whether these moves actually help avoid the traffic gridlock storms so often create.

Even optimistic observers note the real issue is a long overdue upgrade of the entire air traffic control system. A $40 billion aviation bill proposes to do just that, but whether it provides relief for existing problems, let alone keep pace with projected traffic increases this summer, remains to be seen.

For their part, the airlines are also trying to keep passengers better-advised when their flights are delayed or likely to be canceled. As part of last fall's 12-point customer service commitments, airlines have started posting more accurate, real-time flight status information on their Web sites and automated telephone systems.

When they have contacts, the airlines are doing more phoning and e-mailing to affected passengers if there's sufficient advance notice.

The problem is that flight traffic status is in constant flux, and delays often crop up only at the last minute.

That's why wise travelers always make a point to call the airline and check a flight's actual status before they leave for the airport, either to catch a plane or to meet incoming passengers.

When all is said and done, it's the only way to avoid the hurry up-and-wait syndrome.