US Airways Dividend Miles - US Flt 857 PHL to Montego Bay passengers corralled at FLL

My Aunt was supposed to be in Jamaica at 10am, but the flight landed in FLL.
They are getting various reports but it was bad radar.
After sitting on the Tarmac they got corralled into a four gate area
If they leave they can't board the flight. It's 4pm now.
The sheriffs office has now been called. It's not pretty

Anyone with info on this.
Anyone know how to contact the PHL news?
They barely got food vouchers and claiming no compensation.

Not being there I can't provide info and dont want to misinform

Help appreciated

at least they are off the plane!

Probably corralled because they would have to re-clear immigration, then re-clear security to get back underway. That process could take longer than the anticipated delay.

It would be easier if there was a transit area at the airport, but if they deplaned at a domestic terminal, people who wanted to could just walk out the door bypassing immigration, which is a no-no, hence the corralling.

Flightaware shows it still on the ground.

If its a Jamaican radar/ATC issue, no compensation due.

Hope she gets there soon

Probably corralled because they would have to re-clear immigration, then re-clear security to get back underway. That process could take longer than the anticipated delay.

It would be easier if there was a transit area at the airport, but if they deplaned at a domestic terminal, people who wanted to could just walk out the door bypassing immigration, which is a no-no, hence the corralling.

The US does not have departure control. So a flight from PHL to MBJ that lands in FLL should be a domestic flight. There is no immigration issue. Perhaps a duty free issue for customs fro those who bought things in PHL, but that is it.

The US does not have departure control. So a flight from PHL to MBJ that lands in FLL should be a domestic flight. There is no immigration issue. Perhaps a duty free issue for customs fro those who bought things in PHL, but that is it.

There's no departure immigration, although US-VISIT exit procedures for foreign nationals may have something to do with this (handing in your I-94 and boarding the flight out of the US is considered by DHS to have left the country.

At least they are in the air now.

I'm wondering if the gate agents simply wanted to maintain some crowd control so that the flight could board and depart quickly once they got word to do so? If the agents didn't corral the passengers, they might find that half of them would scatter and not be available to board quickly.

In talking to my aunt, the radar on the plane was bad. They landed in FLL, but they didn't have a part there. I don't know why they didn't land in MIA or go back to CLT.

They sent another plane that was supposed to arrive about 3pm, but didn't arrive til 5pm. That makes it about an 8hour+ delay. I haven't heard back from my aunt since she's there til Saturday.

I presume a letter to USAir CService is in order, but sounds like alot of chaos, since they called out the local police and then some. Anybody here anything else?

I do understand that only certain aircraft can go over water and that once the plane leave US soil its international... just doesn't sound like things were handled or communicated very well.....

Flightaware shows it still on the ground.

If its a Jamaican radar/ATC issue, no compensation due.

Hope she gets there soon

The US does not have departure control. So a flight from PHL to MBJ that lands in FLL should be a domestic flight. There is no immigration issue. Perhaps a duty free issue for customs fro those who bought things in PHL, but that is it.

But "just a duty free issue" is breaking federal law and I highly doubt you are going to find someone at US or ICE that is going to bend that rule because it "seems right". Remember that you can't even walk through the terminal with your duty free purchases in shared international/domestic terminals (which the vast majority of US terminals are).

The nanosecond that door closes the plane is international.

I do understand that only certain aircraft can go over water and that once the plane leave US soil its international... .

But flights from, say, the Northeast to Florida - or flights to Alaska and Hawaii, routinely enter international airspace and still land as a domestic flight.

Corralling people for eight hours with limited info or explanation doesn't make alot of sense either. I think if people had explained about OW aircraft and catered some drinks and sandwiches, they probably wouldn't have had to call in the cops.....

Over promising and under delivering certainly won't make for a good day. Not to mention I can't believe US has a very big crew at FLL to handle these issues.

I love the OP's quote that "they barely got food vouchers". How do you "barely" get food vouchers -- sounds like US did the right thing and gave the passengers food vouchers.

I do understand that only certain aircraft can go over water and that once the plane leave US soil its international... just doesn't sound like things were handled or communicated very well.....

You understand quite incorrectly. Any plane may go over water, but only those specially equiped may go over a certain distance from land.

Moreover, 1000s of domestic flights leave US airspace everyday: at least 1/2 the traffic at DTW flies over Canada. Most flights from BOS-SEA, BOS-ORD, etc over Canada. Indeed just a few days ago, a UA filght on BOS-SAN flew north of YOW in order to avoid weather; it then had to make an emergency landing (engine fire) at YYZ. Occasionally IAH-HNL overflies Mexico as do some flights in/out of SAN, but this is rare given that Mexico charges a tax to overfly its space.

In talking to my aunt, the radar on the plane was bad. They landed in FLL, but they didn't have a part there. I don't know why they didn't land in MIA or go back to CLT.



Not sure why you are second guessing the Captain's choice to divert to FLL. Maybe she or he wanted to get on the ground at closest airfield.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AWE857/history/20120721/1155Z/KPHL/KFLL

Perhaps it was simply easier to go to a less busy airport. Maybe dispatch preferred it because of lower landing fees at FLL than at MIA or because of crew or aircraft availability. Again, what does it matter? The aircraft landed safely.