Air Travel Delays

Delays and the Airline business are as synonymous as peanut butter and jelly without the fond memories. As an airline employee who has intimate experience with the day to day operation, I can attest that the delays are getting worse. I can also attest that a big reason is the antiquated Air Traffic Control System we use in this country. I can watch on our radar sites as aircraft are rerouted around storms and taken the long way around storms. Once an aircraft is in the air it is directed by Air Traffic Control centers into what could be called airborne highways to a predetermined point only to be redirected to the next "fix" as it is called, until they reach their destination. It's like driving your car around a bunch of detours and construction zones and not using 60% of the other streets along the way. This take you miles out of your way to get to where you are driving. By utilizing only the predetermined sky-highway routes aircraft are forced to take the long way more often than they should. The airlines don't have any choice. Think about it. Would we want to delay you, use up more fuel and make all the flights after you late if we didn't have to? We are using a system that is from 1960 to route aircraft through our skies in 2007. Are you still watching a TV from 1960? Driving a car from 1960? The system needs to be replaced. Analog to digital. Ground based to satellite based. Radar blips on a screen to GPS. Until congress gets off it's butt and appropriates funds for this change you can expect that the delays will only get worse and the system more taxed. Meanwhile the airlines take the heat from the traveling public for delays that, for the most part, are beyond our control. The government has been collecting billions of dollars in taxes from the airline industry and our customers but have yet to fulfill the promise of an updated air traffic control system. It's time they put our money where their mouths are.