Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We welcome in mister J. Ratliffe, aviation and travel expert,
not just for this show, but all of iHeartMedia knows
that he's the guy.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
He's the guru. Jay Ratliff walcome back, sir, Good morning
and happy Thursday and to you as well, sir.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Let's dive into a couple of topics. You know, first,
I want to it's beautiful outside here in Colorado, record heat.
What is it like traveling day? Be ahead of the
airport right now? Is it a good day to travel?
Speaker 3 (00:23):
You mean with that little storm coming up the Gulf
Coast through Florida.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, it's a beautiful day in Colorado. Jay telling you.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
It's a beautiful day there, you picked the right spot
to be. It's yeah, because I mean Atlanta's getting hammered
and we had the flight to canceled at the Tampa
airport up through Florida. And then you know, as this
storm continues to go north, it's going to give us
a lot of issues. And I mean, you've got Atlanta,
we've got Charlotte, You've got towards the northeast later today Philadelphia,
(00:50):
New York, d C. And as this storm continues to
kind of blast through the Midwest. It's going to create
all kinds of flight delays and cancelations that. Oh yeah,
Atlanta one, if not the busiest airport in the world.
So it's I'm just glad it's happening in September, slower
travel month than maybe you say, a month ago, when
you know every flight was filled.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
So the recovery of this is you know, Florida's getting
the brunt of this thing today. Really, it's going to
affect us Today's Thursday. I mean, this could really screw
things up moving northward through Saturday Sunday. How long will
this effects of this last.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Well, you know, it's going to depend on the speed
of the storm. And one of the things airlines do,
even though they absolutely suck when it comes to customer service,
when we have an irregular event due to a weather situation,
I've got to give airlines high marks. They've got a
weather department that works with flight control and scheduling, where they,
in essence find out which airports are going to be
(01:47):
impacted at what point, and they make sure that those
aircraft are nowhere near those high wind events. Because one
of the things that we're always worried about in the industry,
and I dealt with this for decades, is you're always
worried about aircraft days image. So when you've got a
high weather event like this, where you've got winds that
are going to be higher than usual, the thought is, okay,
(02:07):
if a piece of ground equipment that's supposed to be
locked comes undone and starts rolling across the ramp the warriors,
it's going to strike an aircraft. And now that airplane's
in the mechanics hangar being looked at repaired instead of
being a revenue producer for us. So they're very good
about making sure all those airplanes are staged or relocated
(02:29):
outside the impacted areas, and then as quickly as that
storm goes through, they get those airplanes back in there
so they can resume service as quickly as possible. Now,
the recovery part of this is going to be aided
by the fact that, again we're in the month of September,
one of the slower travel months of the year. So
instead of every flight being filled overfilled, we've got plenty
of room and the agents are going to work well
(02:51):
to get people accommodated. Plus there's a lot of people
that take advantage of the weather waiver where the airline said, look,
if you don't want to travel this week and you
want to go next week, next month, no problem, we'll
let you do it. And we'll let you do it
apps in a change fee to try to again better
accommodate passengers.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
All right, So the bottom line is, if you're not
if you have travel planned, especially heading towards the east
coast Florida on up the Eastern seaboard, you might want
to check your flight plans, make sure that you're get
your text messages set up, and just be alert.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
You have to make sure the airlines have a way
of getting a hold of you. Absolutely, And look, just
because you're sitting there with that beautiful weather going to
the west coast, look, it doesn't mean your flight couldn't
be affected. Because if your aircraft is being routed through
any of these areas that are being impacted by the storm,
you know you're denver to you know California flight could
be impacted as well. So again, just as long as
(03:47):
the airlines have got a way to get a hold
of you, don't cut it close. Getting to the airport
should be in pretty good shape.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Your house in Savannah Okay, is it in the eye
of the storm.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, it has been. We're in Ohio today and plans
are Lord willing to head in that direction. And well,
actually after you and I talked, because this is a
priority today. So within the hour, we're going to point
that Chevy Silverado south and plow through that weather and
get there. And as long as it's not floating down
the river out towards the Atlantic, I'll be okay.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
All right, I don't want to float. Floating house is
usually bad.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
So I mean, if we got a little water this
or that, it can be fixed as long as everybody's okay.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
All right, let's talk United Airlines. Of a lot of
folks in Colorado perk their ere up to United, one
of the hubs for United Airlines. A couple of passengers
got injured. How they do that? You got to keep
the seat belt.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Buckled, you do.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
But this is an interesting story because we've got a
flight from Newark, I think, to San Francisco and they're
in the final stages of the flight when the crew
is just flying along and all of a sudden, seat
belt sign is on, So everybody should be locked in
and secured. The traffic collision avoidance system sounds. Now, when
you travel a lot, there's a lot of times that
we board and we hear these sounds, these really interesting
(05:02):
sounds coming from the cockpit. One of them might be
pull up, pull up, And what the crew is doing
is testing the TCAST system. And it's designed so that
if you have two aircraft that are nearing the same airspace,
the system is designed to send a message to one
crew to pull up and ascend and the other one
to descend immediately. It's kind of a I don't call
(05:25):
it a last ditch safety tool, but kind of is
because the airplane shouldn't be close enough for this thing
to sound. But that's exactly what happened, where all of
a sudden, the United crew gets an indication you're in
the proximity of another aircraft, respond immediately, and it gave
them the command to descend, and they did, and they
did with such a rapid movement that there were two
(05:48):
passengers that were injured in the process. Now, again, remember
the seat belt sign I'm told was on, so either
they were up walking around, should not add or did
not have their seat belt on. But the crew took
immediate evasive action as they are trained to do, and
those were the only injuries. And that TACAS system was
born out of a need for us to have the
(06:08):
technology that would help us because we were having decades
ago airplanes that were colliding in air on clear days
and they shouldn't shouldn't been happening. So as a result,
they said, there's got to be a way for us
to adapt some technology that will assist us. The TACAS
system was born. And anytime pilots here that you know, command,
(06:30):
they don't sit around going oh, well where is this
airport of the airplane. No, they just respond immediately as they're
trained to do.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
The passengers I'm assuming are okay. They the hospital.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I guarantee you they're going to sue though, Yeah, you know,
I'm gonna see you. Well, wait a minute, the seatbelt
time was on and that kind of means that's where
you were supposed to be. And yeah, we don't know
the specifics, but what I do know is we're going
to learn from this, and if it was an air
traffic control or pilot air we're going to learn from
it make aviation safer and absence a few bumps and bruises,
nobody getting killed. So anytime we can make aviation safer
(07:03):
as a result of something like this, I'm glad we can,
because the safer makes it for all of us, the
better it is.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Buckle up, Buttercup, that's what we have to say to
you on the plane. All right, real quick, some changes coming.
Southwest Airlines, let's talk about that.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
They're changing their Atlanta base. They're trimming some flights and
about three hundred people are going to be impacted. Pilot's
mechanics flight to Tennis customer service. A week ago, they
sent out a note to the employees, we're about to
make some changes. Bear with us and we apologize, but
they're necessary changes. And what happens with a lot of
(07:36):
airlines is they see they've got an operation that's just
not making a lot of money. Now, the flights may
be full, and that confuses passengers because an airline will
say we're no longer going to fly from this point
to that point, and people reach out to me saying, Jay,
that plane's filled every single day. How in the world
can they not be making money? Well, it depends on
the competition, and if the competition in a market and
(07:58):
the city pair is tight and it's very competitive, the
profit per passengers minimal, and an entire flight might generate
hundreds of dollars of profit or a few thousand dollars
in profit. So for a lot of people, they're shocked
at how little profit airlines can make on some of
these flights. And the thought is, look, if I can
take that airplane that's filled, that goes maybe from Atlanta
(08:21):
to Austin, and I can take it and fly it
from Denver to another city and on a seventy percent
load factor make as much money as we made one
hundred percent going out of Atlanta. Shoot, let's do it
because it's going to allow us to have the situation
where we can make more money as a result.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Again, the voice of J.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Ratliftjratlift dot com is his aviation and travel expert Jay
Safe Travels. As you head to your house in Savannah,
we pray that it's not floating and there's no damage
and we'll talk again next week, Sir, Jratlift dot com.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
R A T L a f F. J Ratlift dot com.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
When you go to this website, you might see something
abound day Trading, but that's just a trade fund company.
But you can't contact him about aviation and travel questions
or is it contact me. We'll bring it up next
Thursday when we talk to Jay Ratliffe j Ratliffe dot com.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
R A T l I F.
We welcome in mister J. Ratliffe, aviation and travel expert,
not just for this show, but all of iHeartMedia knows
that he's the guy.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
He's the guru. Jay Ratliff walcome back, sir, Good morning
and happy Thursday and to you as well, sir.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Let's dive into a couple of topics. You know, first,
I want to it's beautiful outside here in Colorado, record heat.
What is it like traveling day? Be ahead of the
airport right now? Is it a good day to travel?
Speaker 3 (00:23):
You mean with that little storm coming up the Gulf
Coast through Florida.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, it's a beautiful day in Colorado. Jay telling you.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
It's a beautiful day there, you picked the right spot
to be. It's yeah, because I mean Atlanta's getting hammered
and we had the flight to canceled at the Tampa
airport up through Florida. And then you know, as this
storm continues to go north, it's going to give us
a lot of issues. And I mean, you've got Atlanta,
we've got Charlotte, You've got towards the northeast later today Philadelphia,
(00:50):
New York, d C. And as this storm continues to
kind of blast through the Midwest. It's going to create
all kinds of flight delays and cancelations that. Oh yeah,
Atlanta one, if not the busiest airport in the world.
So it's I'm just glad it's happening in September, slower
travel month than maybe you say, a month ago, when
you know every flight was filled.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
So the recovery of this is you know, Florida's getting
the brunt of this thing today. Really, it's going to
affect us Today's Thursday. I mean, this could really screw
things up moving northward through Saturday Sunday. How long will
this effects of this last.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Well, you know, it's going to depend on the speed
of the storm. And one of the things airlines do,
even though they absolutely suck when it comes to customer service,
when we have an irregular event due to a weather situation,
I've got to give airlines high marks. They've got a
weather department that works with flight control and scheduling, where they,
in essence find out which airports are going to be
(01:47):
impacted at what point, and they make sure that those
aircraft are nowhere near those high wind events. Because one
of the things that we're always worried about in the industry,
and I dealt with this for decades, is you're always
worried about aircraft days image. So when you've got a
high weather event like this, where you've got winds that
are going to be higher than usual, the thought is, okay,
(02:07):
if a piece of ground equipment that's supposed to be
locked comes undone and starts rolling across the ramp the warriors,
it's going to strike an aircraft. And now that airplane's
in the mechanics hangar being looked at repaired instead of
being a revenue producer for us. So they're very good
about making sure all those airplanes are staged or relocated
(02:29):
outside the impacted areas, and then as quickly as that
storm goes through, they get those airplanes back in there
so they can resume service as quickly as possible. Now,
the recovery part of this is going to be aided
by the fact that, again we're in the month of September,
one of the slower travel months of the year. So
instead of every flight being filled overfilled, we've got plenty
of room and the agents are going to work well
(02:51):
to get people accommodated. Plus there's a lot of people
that take advantage of the weather waiver where the airline said, look,
if you don't want to travel this week and you
want to go next week, next month, no problem, we'll
let you do it. And we'll let you do it
apps in a change fee to try to again better
accommodate passengers.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
All right, So the bottom line is, if you're not
if you have travel planned, especially heading towards the east
coast Florida on up the Eastern seaboard, you might want
to check your flight plans, make sure that you're get
your text messages set up, and just be alert.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
You have to make sure the airlines have a way
of getting a hold of you. Absolutely, And look, just
because you're sitting there with that beautiful weather going to
the west coast, look, it doesn't mean your flight couldn't
be affected. Because if your aircraft is being routed through
any of these areas that are being impacted by the storm,
you know you're denver to you know California flight could
be impacted as well. So again, just as long as
(03:47):
the airlines have got a way to get a hold
of you, don't cut it close. Getting to the airport
should be in pretty good shape.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Your house in Savannah Okay, is it in the eye
of the storm.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, it has been. We're in Ohio today and plans
are Lord willing to head in that direction. And well,
actually after you and I talked, because this is a
priority today. So within the hour, we're going to point
that Chevy Silverado south and plow through that weather and
get there. And as long as it's not floating down
the river out towards the Atlantic, I'll be okay.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
All right, I don't want to float. Floating house is
usually bad.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
So I mean, if we got a little water this
or that, it can be fixed as long as everybody's okay.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
All right, let's talk United Airlines. Of a lot of
folks in Colorado perk their ere up to United, one
of the hubs for United Airlines. A couple of passengers
got injured. How they do that? You got to keep
the seat belt.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Buckled, you do.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
But this is an interesting story because we've got a
flight from Newark, I think, to San Francisco and they're
in the final stages of the flight when the crew
is just flying along and all of a sudden, seat
belt sign is on, So everybody should be locked in
and secured. The traffic collision avoidance system sounds. Now, when
you travel a lot, there's a lot of times that
we board and we hear these sounds, these really interesting
(05:02):
sounds coming from the cockpit. One of them might be
pull up, pull up, And what the crew is doing
is testing the TCAST system. And it's designed so that
if you have two aircraft that are nearing the same airspace,
the system is designed to send a message to one
crew to pull up and ascend and the other one
to descend immediately. It's kind of a I don't call
(05:25):
it a last ditch safety tool, but kind of is
because the airplane shouldn't be close enough for this thing
to sound. But that's exactly what happened, where all of
a sudden, the United crew gets an indication you're in
the proximity of another aircraft, respond immediately, and it gave
them the command to descend, and they did, and they
did with such a rapid movement that there were two
(05:48):
passengers that were injured in the process. Now, again, remember
the seat belt sign I'm told was on, so either
they were up walking around, should not add or did
not have their seat belt on. But the crew took
immediate evasive action as they are trained to do, and
those were the only injuries. And that TACAS system was
born out of a need for us to have the
(06:08):
technology that would help us because we were having decades
ago airplanes that were colliding in air on clear days
and they shouldn't shouldn't been happening. So as a result,
they said, there's got to be a way for us
to adapt some technology that will assist us. The TACAS
system was born. And anytime pilots here that you know, command,
(06:30):
they don't sit around going oh, well where is this
airport of the airplane. No, they just respond immediately as they're
trained to do.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
The passengers I'm assuming are okay. They the hospital.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I guarantee you they're going to sue though, Yeah, you know,
I'm gonna see you. Well, wait a minute, the seatbelt
time was on and that kind of means that's where
you were supposed to be. And yeah, we don't know
the specifics, but what I do know is we're going
to learn from this, and if it was an air
traffic control or pilot air we're going to learn from
it make aviation safer and absence a few bumps and bruises,
nobody getting killed. So anytime we can make aviation safer
(07:03):
as a result of something like this, I'm glad we can,
because the safer makes it for all of us, the
better it is.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Buckle up, Buttercup, that's what we have to say to
you on the plane. All right, real quick, some changes coming.
Southwest Airlines, let's talk about that.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
They're changing their Atlanta base. They're trimming some flights and
about three hundred people are going to be impacted. Pilot's
mechanics flight to Tennis customer service. A week ago, they
sent out a note to the employees, we're about to
make some changes. Bear with us and we apologize, but
they're necessary changes. And what happens with a lot of
(07:36):
airlines is they see they've got an operation that's just
not making a lot of money. Now, the flights may
be full, and that confuses passengers because an airline will
say we're no longer going to fly from this point
to that point, and people reach out to me saying, Jay,
that plane's filled every single day. How in the world
can they not be making money? Well, it depends on
the competition, and if the competition in a market and
(07:58):
the city pair is tight and it's very competitive, the
profit per passengers minimal, and an entire flight might generate
hundreds of dollars of profit or a few thousand dollars
in profit. So for a lot of people, they're shocked
at how little profit airlines can make on some of
these flights. And the thought is, look, if I can
take that airplane that's filled, that goes maybe from Atlanta
(08:21):
to Austin, and I can take it and fly it
from Denver to another city and on a seventy percent
load factor make as much money as we made one
hundred percent going out of Atlanta. Shoot, let's do it
because it's going to allow us to have the situation
where we can make more money as a result.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Again, the voice of J.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Ratliftjratlift dot com is his aviation and travel expert Jay
Safe Travels. As you head to your house in Savannah,
we pray that it's not floating and there's no damage
and we'll talk again next week, Sir, Jratlift dot com.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
R A T L a f F. J Ratlift dot com.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
When you go to this website, you might see something
abound day Trading, but that's just a trade fund company.
But you can't contact him about aviation and travel questions
or is it contact me. We'll bring it up next
Thursday when we talk to Jay Ratliffe j Ratliffe dot com.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
R A T l I F.
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