I observed something very disturbing on Friday.

My ORD-PHX was delayed by a mechanical. It arrived PHX about an hour late. The captain went out of his way of getting connecting gate information (read over the PA) and even moved the gate (from the "high A" to "low A") so the ONT, LAS, etc. can try to catch the flights that are in the same concourse.

I was terminating in PHX and in First. I got off really early and decided to observe what happened. I asked the greeting gate agent about if any connecting flights had been held. He said he didn't know and look at the monitor.

The ONT flight was right next to it. The door had already closed (it was just at departure time). I told the gate agents that there are a few on the ORD flight for ONT. They basically said too bad, they were not holding the flight. I asked them what is the policy and the answer was "sometimes we do, sometimes we don't".

So, people were coming off the ORD flight, told by the ONT agents to go to service center. A few mintues later, the same people were coming back because the service center told them the flight was still there and they should try to catch it. The gate agent would not do anything. The plane was still sitting there.

Obviously HP messed up. I have observed this kind of thing before. The PHX hub operation is not working too well on this front. I walked by the service center, there were probably around 20 people on the line from my flight. I think the LAS flight also closed without people from my flight and the first few flights on Saturday are already oversold.

Given it is a long weekend, caused by mechanical and there were 3+ hours to prepare for it, I would have expected that they make SOME effort to connect as many people as possible or, at least, have an agent who is prepared with the information at the gate. I know it is possilbe that the luggage might not make it if they hold the flights. However, it seems to me it would still be cheaper and better for HP to get the people out of PHX.

I think the gate agents might be evaluated on their ability to close the gate on time or early. So, it is really a company policy/procedural issue.

Anyone had similar experiences? Post your comments and experiences here and I will write the Executive's Office and ask them to read this.

May 21 SFO-PHX-DCA

First segment late leaving SFO, "weather"
Arriving PHX about the same time second segment was set to leave.
Pilot and FA spent time providing PAX with gate/departure details.

On arrival at PHX the announcement included listing the half-dozen flight connections that would be missed.

The PHX-DCA flight was two gates over and still open.
Got aboard but my F seat was resold (you know, those $150 upgrades).
Got her C seat (at least it was an aisle)

Was surprised that the checked luggage arrived with me.

Still working on some compensation for losing my F seat. The PHX GA said at first that "we were not going to wait" and carried me as a missed connection. There were two of us from the SFO-PHX segment.

Mike

I observed something very disturbing on Friday.

My ORD-PHX was delayed by a mechanical. It arrived PHX about an hour late. The captain went out of his way of getting connecting gate information (read over the PA) and even moved the gate (from the "high A" to "low A") so the ONT, LAS, etc. can try to catch the flights that are in the same concourse.

I was terminating in PHX and in First. I got off really early and decided to observe what happened. I asked the greeting gate agent about if any connecting flights had been held. He said he didn't know and look at the monitor.

The ONT flight was right next to it. The door had already closed (it was just at departure time). I told the gate agents that there are a few on the ORD flight for ONT. They basically said too bad, they were not holding the flight. I asked them what is the policy and the answer was "sometimes we do, sometimes we don't".

So, people were coming off the ORD flight, told by the ONT agents to go to service center. A few mintues later, the same people were coming back because the service center told them the flight was still there and they should try to catch it. The gate agent would not do anything. The plane was still sitting there.

Obviously HP messed up. I have observed this kind of thing before. The PHX hub operation is not working too well on this front. I walked by the service center, there were probably around 20 people on the line from my flight. I think the LAS flight also closed without people from my flight and the first few flights on Saturday are already oversold.

Given it is a long weekend, caused by mechanical and there were 3+ hours to prepare for it, I would have expected that they make SOME effort to connect as many people as possible or, at least, have an agent who is prepared with the information at the gate. I know it is possilbe that the luggage might not make it if they hold the flights. However, it seems to me it would still be cheaper and better for HP to get the people out of PHX.

I think the gate agents might be evaluated on their ability to close the gate on time or early. So, it is really a company policy/procedural issue.

Anyone had similar experiences? Post your comments and experiences here and I will write the Executive's Office and ask them to read this.

BTW, all airlines do this. It is very frustrating but our demand for gov't-collected on-time statistics caused this problem. Flights were routinely held before airlines were dinged on the gov't on-time stats. Now that we have "accountability", we end up staying overnight for NO good reason.

Though maybe it was some kind of tiff on the HP side, US Airways East isnt any better.
May 24th, 2006 Bush was coming thru PHL 3 or 4 times that day. We were going ORD-PHL-LAS-PSP. We had to sit on the ground at ORD for 1hr because PHL ATC didnt allow any traffic. We were supposed to arrive in PHL 7:16PM instead we arrived into PHL at 9:29PM, while our connection to LAS was supposed to leave 8 PM, but left 9:27PM. After already being delayed for almost 1hr30 min, they would not hold that plane for 2 more minutes. 2 minutes. Thats right 2 minutes, they would not hold the last PHL-LAS plane for 2 more minutes! 120 seconds, 2 minutes! Seriously. They had to rebook us the next day, loosing three seats that could have been otherwise possibly sold to walk up passengers, they had to pay a portion of our hotel room-79$, and now they will be dealing with complaints, and possibly another report to the D.O.T? Will they now see that holding the plane for 2 minutes wasnt such a bad idea, compared to what they had to deal w/ and will deal w/ now? Theyve ruined our 72hr vacation by over 14 hours! Anyhow, I will still be loyal to US, will without any fear connect via PHL. In the end I have to have a positive outlook at the situation or it would have been much worse.

king, yer pretty selfish in your demands.

Ever realize that there could have also been passengers on that flight connecting to other HP/US flights in LAS????

Though maybe it was some kind of tiff on the HP side, US Airways East isnt any better.
May 24th, 2006 Bush was coming thru PHL 3 or 4 times that day. We were going ORD-PHL-LAS-PSP. We had to sit on the ground at ORD for 1hr because PHL ATC didnt allow any traffic. We were supposed to arrive in PHL 7:16PM instead we arrived into PHL at 9:29PM, while our connection to LAS was supposed to leave 8 PM, but left 9:27PM. After already being delayed for almost 1hr30 min, they would not hold that plane for 2 more minutes. 2 minutes. Thats right 2 minutes, they would not hold the last PHL-LAS plane for 2 more minutes! 120 seconds, 2 minutes! Seriously. They had to rebook us the next day, loosing three seats that could have been otherwise possibly sold to walk up passengers, they had to pay a portion of our hotel room-79$, and now they will be dealing with complaints, and possibly another report to the D.O.T? Will they now see that holding the plane for 2 minutes wasnt such a bad idea, compared to what they had to deal w/ and will deal w/ now? Theyve ruined our 72hr vacation by over 14 hours! Anyhow, I will still be loyal to US, will without any fear connect via PHL. In the end I have to have a positive outlook at the situation or it would have been much worse.

Not many times the door or flight is still open at 9:27pm... I would think it closed by 9:20-9:22.. so they had the manifest done, etc... and they were ready to go... It is a slippery slope... when do you hold an already delayed flight.. tough stuff..

I had the same issue, took a US Airways from Philly to PHX connecting with America West to SNA. There was 9 of us on the the flight connecting to SNA. The flight attendants made every effort to get us off the plane quickly as we were one hour late arriving. When we exiting the plane, the US Airways rep said he had hotel arrangements for us. We still had 20 minutes to make the flight. After 5 minutes we all decided to run to the next terminal to catch the America West flight. Guess what America West was waiting for us. We were so pissed at the US Airways gate. They should have had the courtesy to call the gate and arrange for the electric cart to get us over there.

I observed something very disturbing on Friday.

My ORD-PHX was delayed by a mechanical. It arrived PHX about an hour late. The captain went out of his way of getting connecting gate information (read over the PA) and even moved the gate (from the "high A" to "low A") so the ONT, LAS, etc. can try to catch the flights that are in the same concourse.

I was terminating in PHX and in First. I got off really early and decided to observe what happened. I asked the greeting gate agent about if any connecting flights had been held. He said he didn't know and look at the monitor.

The ONT flight was right next to it. The door had already closed (it was just at departure time). I told the gate agents that there are a few on the ORD flight for ONT. They basically said too bad, they were not holding the flight. I asked them what is the policy and the answer was "sometimes we do, sometimes we don't".

So, people were coming off the ORD flight, told by the ONT agents to go to service center. A few mintues later, the same people were coming back because the service center told them the flight was still there and they should try to catch it. The gate agent would not do anything. The plane was still sitting there.

Obviously HP messed up. I have observed this kind of thing before. The PHX hub operation is not working too well on this front. I walked by the service center, there were probably around 20 people on the line from my flight. I think the LAS flight also closed without people from my flight and the first few flights on Saturday are already oversold.

Given it is a long weekend, caused by mechanical and there were 3+ hours to prepare for it, I would have expected that they make SOME effort to connect as many people as possible or, at least, have an agent who is prepared with the information at the gate. I know it is possilbe that the luggage might not make it if they hold the flights. However, it seems to me it would still be cheaper and better for HP to get the people out of PHX.

I think the gate agents might be evaluated on their ability to close the gate on time or early. So, it is really a company policy/procedural issue.

Anyone had similar experiences? Post your comments and experiences here and I will write the Executive's Office and ask them to read this.

I was just on a PHL-HPN flight that stood by for almost 10 minutes for connecting pax that never showed up.

After 10 minutes, the GA came aboard and said they weren't coming after all and we were off.

Of course, it was the last flight of the day to HPN and just a little Dash-8, so it wasn't a whole bunch of people impacted.

Besides, we landed on time (instead of early, to be fair), so I can't complain.

I had the same issue, took a US Airways from Philly to PHX connecting with America West to SNA. There was 9 of us on the the flight connecting to SNA. The flight attendants made every effort to get us off the plane quickly as we were one hour late arriving. When we exiting the plane, the US Airways rep said he had hotel arrangements for us. We still had 20 minutes to make the flight. After 5 minutes we all decided to run to the next terminal to catch the America West flight. Guess what America West was waiting for us. We were so pissed at the US Airways gate. They should have had the courtesy to call the gate and arrange for the electric cart to get us over there.

Had this EXACT same thing happen to me and a fellow employee on Delta at the Denver airport. Took the chance and found the connecting flight waiting for us. I could have ripped the head off of the agent! I guess they assign the most inexperienced employees to this job. That's the nicest description I can think of right now.

Though maybe it was some kind of tiff on the HP side, US Airways East isnt any better.
May 24th, 2006 Bush was coming thru PHL 3 or 4 times that day. We were going ORD-PHL-LAS-PSP. We had to sit on the ground at ORD for 1hr because PHL ATC didnt allow any traffic. We were supposed to arrive in PHL 7:16PM instead we arrived into PHL at 9:29PM, while our connection to LAS was supposed to leave 8 PM, but left 9:27PM. After already being delayed for almost 1hr30 min, they would not hold that plane for 2 more minutes. 2 minutes. Thats right 2 minutes, they would not hold the last PHL-LAS plane for 2 more minutes! 120 seconds, 2 minutes! Seriously. They had to rebook us the next day, loosing three seats that could have been otherwise possibly sold to walk up passengers, they had to pay a portion of our hotel room-79$, and now they will be dealing with complaints, and possibly another report to the D.O.T? Will they now see that holding the plane for 2 minutes wasnt such a bad idea, compared to what they had to deal w/ and will deal w/ now? Theyve ruined our 72hr vacation by over 14 hours! Anyhow, I will still be loyal to US, will without any fear connect via PHL. In the end I have to have a positive outlook at the situation or it would have been much worse.

I would have sent Bush the extra expenses because he caused the delay. Let see as a good Democrat I would

1. Order the best room at the Four Seasons Troon North if I'm greedy asked to be booked for a couple of nights and use the ticekt towards my next flight having Bush pick up the rest for FC even if it cots a couple grand.
2.R/T Limo to and from Hotel
3. Get a flight late the next day just to eat meals at the FS
4. The cost of a lost FC seat +a guaranteed FC seat on the next flight even if it's a full fare ticket to do so.
5. And of course a spa treatment at the FS

All billed to Laura and George Bush Jr.
White House


Sorry Republicans lol

I am just having fun with a situation turn frustration into the best vacation within a vacation.

Anyone else want to add to the list above what you would bill George?