European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 15, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 28 stars and stripes july your Money horror stories in a summer plagued with things Are getting Nasty out after one cancelled flight and hours of waiting at Ohare International travelling software consultant Andy Simmons stood inches from a Gate who studiously ignored him and the other passengers in Simmons the Gate agent declared Sim ply in out of youre out of Here Sim Mons said he asked incr Edu it was 7 and she had been at work since 3 the agent Stop Ping Only Long enough to give him a withering and then she just walks now theres an empty podium and 10 people in line behind and nobody knows what to in the University of Michigan 2007 american Cus Tomer satisfaction which bases its ratings on thousands of passenger airlines scored lower than at any time since delays have lost their Shock but this sum mers i politeness is stun said Phyllis who spent 48 hours trying to get to Chicago from starting june the Low Point came the next at new Yorks la guard a As a Long line of irritable travellers snaked to a ticket at the head of the a woman carried a cake in a Nutkis she was pleading to be let onto the next she had a wedding to get she was bringing the she told the Gate you Are where you and if youre still Here id love a slice of that Nutkis Over heard him Tell the the woman put her Back to the Slid to the floor and began airlines have been cutting a recipe for frustration among those who Are one expert Kelly Fryer was in the Northwest airlines terminal at Detroit metro Airport the night of june when hundreds of passengers were stranded there by East coast weather cancelled flights and an Faa computer glitch that had snarled flights earlier in the on a flight to Fryer and the rest of Northwest flight 650 were desperate for information about How to Fly for much of the there was Only one woman to help Fryer although varying explanations for the cancellations were one thing was Clear nothing was flying East from West bound passengers were Lin ing up at the Gate for another and the two groups mingled in a surly mob in front of the Gate she was so frustrated by the situation she was she literally got on the sound sys tem at the Gate and was yell ing at the people in if youre in this line to get information about the flight from Detroit to i am not Here to answer your ques in Here to get these people on this other Fryer a Jet Blue plane is backed away from a Gate last month on concourse a at Denver International air lines Are becoming increasingly angry As passengers clash with flight Crews and other members of airline Jet Blue suffered a wave of criticism earlier this year for the Way it handled the cancellation of hundreds of flights following an ice the a friendliest of skies Public gets squeezed As airlines tighten belts by Jon Hilkevitch Chicago Tribune Chicago the evidence is quickly adding up after More than a decade of troubled air trav the summer of 2007 May be the most tortured with congestion growing and More frequent meltdowns that Ripple across the stranding Pas sengers for the airlines onetime arrival performance in the first five months of this year was the worst in 13 the department of transportation reported last and that was before the weather got really nor do the statistics capture the most distinctive dynamic of this Summers air moments when the nations Huban spoke network of air ports seem to seize up causing passengers to miss not just one but the and next and Many because planes Are or or some of the ingredients in this Stew of frustration Are such As a burst of bad weather in june that shut Down Hub after and the labor troubles dog Ging some some Are such As unrelated computer outages at the Federal aviation administration on june 8 and at United airlines 12 Days but some result from attempts by the airlines to scratch out prof its after years of conditions that May not improve any time with a record 209 million Pas sengers projected to pass through the nations airports this airlines Are trying to keep air planes As full As when it the airlines make a mod est profit passengers get Low priced but when things go airlines have Little room to and delays and cancellations multiply Quick As they keep a lid on air lines have also postponed buying new while keeping flight and ground Crews to a when a plane Breaks or a Pilot Calls in flights Are often scrubbed and the dominoes Start falling the is operating close to using aging technology that can barely handle the growing volume of even on a Bluesky air traffic con trollers must sometimes create intentional delays to avoid being it has been a horrendous sum with flight delays rippling nationwide like never before and fears of having entire airline net works said Joseph an airline expert at Depaul a cancelled flight could mean a today wait instead of waiting for the next flight because so Many flights leave full and there is no extra added a former airline pricing this is the new reality for flight delays Are costing the struggling airlines billion annually because of excess fuel con inefficient use of air Craft and Crews and other according to the air transport As the Trade group representing the major the vicious Cycle of growing de lays and higher operating costs will Only increase the according to the which sees no near term while land based businesses often tout the strategy of keeping inventories at a the Justin time principle does not Al ways translate Well for Industry officials say they have no and warn Passen Gers to get used to full planes and Little margin for a Las minute passenger buying a full fare ticket can be the differ ence Between a flight operating in the red or the the carriers Are doing what is right from the business perspex insisted David spokesman for the airline Assoc a we dont have the luxury of having air planes or employees sit Ting around waiting to Deal with a customers Are going to have to make some its just no longer prudent for a Pas Senger to take a morning flight to meet a cruise ship in the after Castelveter