Northwest Airlines Flies Around Turbulence, While Others Rough It.

Another day, another opportunity to evaluate choices made by the airlines for passenger comfort. While no one would praise Northwest for in flight amenities, that hardly matters if the plane you are on is shaking in the mountain wave air. Right now, there are a lot of reports of moderate turbulence over Colorado, and that makes it easy to evaluate the airlines. Using FlightAware, I tracked flights who regularly fly over Colorado for the most efficient route. Comparing that route to routes taken today show a lot about which airlines care the most about your comfort.

Compare the path that Northwest 1191 takes in comparison the regular routes taken. On this graphic, NWA1191 is the green line. The regular flight path is in red. The shaded area indicates turbulence activity.

Northwest takes top prize for turbulence avoidance by flying completely around the area with a wide berth. Southwest gets a close second, as they flight a bit south of the area.

Delta does alright on some flights, flying around the area, and some fly through the area.

And the losers of this challenge: United, American, US Airways, Spirit, all flew right through. While not a safety issue, it is a comfort issue. Even if Northwest charges slightly more, consider where you spend your airfare money next time you fly, and reward the airlines that go the extra mile to ensure a smooth flight and your comfort.

Using FlightAware, take a look for yourself, the information is easy to find and easy to draw conclusions from.

Written by tb_neg on January 5th, 2008 with 9 comments.
Read more articles on Incidents and Links and Turbulence and Weather.