Call for release versus ground delay programs

Autothrust Blue

Autothrust Blue

“If you jump on my shift, that’s just rude, man.”
Yesterday, we got bitten pretty firmly by a call-for-release program to LAX. We were blocked out and at the end of the runway before Palm Springs Tower informed us of our 'flow window', and wound up waiting nearly 40 minutes to get underway. Had this information been given to me ahead of time, we would likely have held off boarding and lounged around in the terminal instead of at the end of 31L. (I probably should have asked - whatever.)

San Francisco, on the other hand, will just hand out a ground delay (or stop, even) and tell you to expect an update sometime soon today tomorrow. While I don't like being late either way, at least SFO is fairly definite and up front about just how long you're going to be hanging around in Medford and will provide this information in advance, prior to taxi-out. I guess what I'm wondering is why LAX doesn't do ground delay programs like San Flowcisco does. It seems that, while annoying, a GDP is more definite, and call-for-release is the complete opposite.
 
Again can't speak for the US but I'm sure it's similar.

Affected airport calls the traffic management unit, either at a center or at a national facility in our case, then it is distributed to all centers and towers.

That time frame varies obviously, but is pretty quick.

Probably all depends when the tower got the info on your destination/route.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
Yesterday, we got bitten pretty firmly by a call-for-release program to LAX. We were blocked out and at the end of the runway before Palm Springs Tower informed us of our 'flow window', and wound up waiting nearly 40 minutes to get underway. Had this information been given to me ahead of time, we would likely have held off boarding and lounged around in the terminal instead of at the end of 31L. (I probably should have asked - whatever.)

San Francisco, on the other hand, will just hand out a ground delay (or stop, even) and tell you to expect an update sometime soon today tomorrow. While I don't like being late either way, at least SFO is fairly definite and up front about just how long you're going to be hanging around in Medford and will provide this information in advance, prior to taxi-out. I guess what I'm wondering is why LAX doesn't do ground delay programs like San Flowcisco does. It seems that, while annoying, a GDP is more definite, and call-for-release is the complete opposite.
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Playing the, "Let's just sit in the terminal for the next 2 hours" can bite you in the butt in Newark.

Commonly, we'll be in a ground stop for Newark. The call back time will be in 30 minutes. Most of the time, if you're sitting at the end of the runway when the ground stop is lifted, you'll be released right away. If you're NOT there, expect a wheels up time an hour from the end of the ground stop.

The same thing goes with call for release programs. Sure, the release time might say X, but I've seen controllers release us 20 minutes on either side of that time.
 
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