Delta’s nonstop flights to Paris can be très tardy

On the surface, Delta Airlines operates two regularly scheduled seasonal nonstop flights between Pittsburgh International Airport and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, labeled as DL96 and DL97. The reality is that this service is provided by the same plane shuttling back and forth between the two airports. The result is that the timetable of these flights is more akin to a charter than a major commercial airline.

A Pittsburgh resident since 1970, I am of French origin and like to visit France on a regular basis. Having endured for many years the multi-airport and multiflight way of getting between Pittsburgh and Paris, I am fully aware of the tremendous advantage that a nonstop flight provides.

But as a sort of hobby, I started checking its timeliness on a daily basis by using the Delta website and checking each day for actual times of departure and arrival.

Since May 25, when it started service for the season, Flight DL96 has arrived two hours or more late in Paris four times, the worst being on July 12, when it landed almost eight hours late after leaving Pittsburgh at 3:05 a.m. instead of the scheduled 7:34 p.m.

Flight DL97 from Paris has done only a little better, arriving in Pittsburgh two hours or more late only three times, the worst being a delay of five and half hours, also on July 12.

Once, on July 10, this flight even had to be diverted to Cleveland because the marginal range of the Boeing 757 used by Delta on this route would not allow for the holding time due to thunderstorms in the Pittsburgh area.

While this kind of scheduling might be (barely) tolerable for relatively carefree tourists, it is unacceptable to the business community. Delta Airlines could certainly do better. JEAN-LUC GLORIEUX North Side