I wonder if all you people moaning about delays would be happy if " Sorry folks, the aircraft has a technical problem, but if a majority agree, then we will fly to JFK/ATL/PHL/SFO anyway".
Of course not, that would be ridiculous. When you buy a ticket on an airline everyone expects safety to be a given, no matter how cheap the fare is.
Most of the "moaning" you refer to on here relates to one airline - American Airlines - the largest airline in the world by revenue and passengers carried, and also one of the most profitable. An airline which promotes itself as a business focused airline offering a global network, hundreds of aircraft, frequent flyer schemes, lounges - and an airline which charges accordingly with some spectacularly high fares as well as the usual off-season deals. We're not talking about some fly-by-night two aircraft operation running on a shoestring and offering 50 quid return fares to the Med.
So when choosing an airline like AA you would think customers are entitled to expect both safety AND some semblance of reliability/on time performance. I have no doubt AA passes all the tests on the first count. But in recent years it has failed miserably on the second - at least as far as its MAN services are concerned, with numerous flights delayed or cancelled every month for whatever reason. It has become notorious among airport staff for poor timekeeping and indifferent service recovery when flights are cancelled (just chuck 'em on the shuttle via LHR - problem solved).
Most customers understand and accept that sh1t happens occasionally even to the biggest and best airlines in the world. But on AA at MAN reliability has become a lottery. This isn't just here say either - for example the facts for the daily Chicago and JFK flights just for the last month are :-
AA54 ORD - 8 flights delayed over an hour, and 3 flights cancelled outright
AA210 JFK - 10 flights delayed over an hour, and 4 flights cancelled outright
That's over a third of flights on both routes badly disrupted (almost half of JFK flights). Yes we know ORD and JFK are congested hubs and prone to delays, but other airlines seem to manage without badly disrupting over a third of their flights. The ancient equipment AA continue to fly on the routes probably doesn't help either - although the brief flirtation with the 787 on AA54 last summer turned out to be an even bigger operational nightmare than the 767/757s used most of the time.
Don't you think customers have a right to complain when they consistently receive such a poor service ? I suspect many have already voted with their feet and moved to the competition.