On Comair, I believe the commenter misunderstands the failure mode and issue, which was software, not hardware. Duplicate, "backup" software would have tried to solve the same problem the same way and yielded the same failure. By contrast, more robust software -- a new system capable of solving a larger problem size, faster, which Comair had planned to implement in early 2005 -- might have made a difference. Fact is at the end of any crew schedule month, especially at regional carriers that fly FARs, many crews are near or at max legal hours, where bid construction hours ~ contractual hours ~ legal hours = FARs. (After all, any end-of-month excess availability would be "wasted".) Add peak monthly holiday flying, weather, diversions and delays, and you add hours to earlier projections. Cancellations subtract hours. Both result in out-of-position crews and equipment. Repositioning after diversions adds hours back. Software designed to solve and optimize the "off schedule operations" (OSO) problem is attempting to solve a very complicated "one-shot" problem and can easily run out of solutions towards the end of a crew schedule month, which is what causes it to "crash". It's not a hardware issue, it's the inability to reach a workable or feasible solution, primarily. Just my opinion, of course. On USAirways, both commenters ahd it about right. it was clearly a combination of individual dereliction of duty out of frustration or hopelessness on the one-hand, and a failure of management to anticipate and compensate for what, given they had for a month or more been incentivizing crews to report for their scheduled shifts, ought to have been viewed as a likely failure mode, on the other. This costs them customers and good will and future revenue in a weak revenue environment, in a seasonally weak period of the year, AND drives up their costs to re-unite passengers and bags and recompense customers to the extent they attempt to do so. Agreeing with Mr. Burris, not pretty. DOT will be second-guessing both failures. Ought to be interesting. - Bob Mann -- R.W. Mann & Company, Inc. >> Airline Industry Analysis Port Washington, NY 11050 >> tel 516-944-0900, fax -7280 mailto:info@xxxxxxxxxx >> URL http://www.RWMann.com/ This e-mail is for the designated recipient only and may contain privileged or confidential information. If you have received it in error, please notify the above sender immediately then delete the original e-mail. Any other use of this e-mail is prohibited. Michael A. Burris wrote: >AIRLINE: > >I just watched some talking-heads on the Lehrer News >Hour discuss the melt-down in the airline sector this >weekend. > >One gentleman from Emery-Riddle University summized >that Delta should have had a back-up >system in the event a disaster like the one that >occured; pilot schedule, in the wings. And to not >have one was a serious management fax paus. > >With respect to US Airways, the situation was bad to >begin with and many workers (either really sick or >otherwise) simply called in sick and that snarled >things but good. For an airline looking seriously at >liquidation, upsetting the customers was the last >thing that they needed to do. > >All in all, a tough weekend for the American airline >business. > >Mike Burris >Cambridge, Massachusetts > >