BearX220

Probably 26 hours at AMS during a fierce storm. Our NW DC10 camped on the tarmac for hours awaiting a break, attempted takeoff twice and aborted both times, and finally we got bussed to the Ibis until the next morning. On the shuttle an LH crew told us a 737 of theirs had actually blown off the runway.

chgoeditor

Do you think the crews of other airlines do that to mess with customers who are flying the competition?

Years ago I had a Boxing Day flight out of TVC, which United and American served with regional jets. I was on the first flight of the day and the region was hit overnight with lake effect snow -- including white-out conditions -- but the winds were expected to shift and things were predicted to clear up in time for the 7 am departure.

Now, TVC is a tiny airport. The old terminal had 3 gates, and the agent at the ticket counter was also likely to be the gate agent or baggage handler. There were probably a whopping 40 people who worked in the terminal.

Anyway, I got to the airport and was waiting for my American flight when a United employee came on over the loudspeaker and announced, "If you're wondering why United has canceled our flight to Chicago, it's because the wind gusts are so strong that they picked up our aircraft and spun it around in circles, so we don't think there are safe flying conditions."

I'm 99% sure this announcement was made to mess with American passengers.

bklynkenny

Something like 14 hours if I remember correctly.

San Diego to JFK was put into a holding pattern due to strong thunderstorms at JFK. Diverted to Pittsburgh for additional fuel. Upon landing, the flight attendants did not have enough hours of service left to resume the trip to JFK and Delta could not find another crew to take over. Pilots had enough hours remaining. We were put up in a hotel for the night and came back aboard the same plane with the same crew the next morning.

Annalisa12

Not sure of the time exactly but had to spend a night in Honolulu courtesy of Qantas.

CMK10

Back in 2001 flying JRO-DAR-AMS. The inbound aircraft was 90 minutes out of AMS when the windshield cracked. They had to turn around and get a replacement aircraft. We left at something like 3 in the morning instead of 9 PM.

mandolino

1986:
Having to take a bus from SYD to MEL in 1986 after 12 hours waiting in SYD for MAS to make up their mind. Total 24 hours delay I guess after flying ABZ-AMS-KUL ...SYD

Baggage handlers strike in MEL - so MAS's KUL-MEL flight was diverted to SYD and there we sat.

It was a Saturday or Sunday and nobody from MAS appeared. Other airlines' passengers were luckier. Many had reps on the spot who assessed the situation and organised buses right away.

But SYD wasn't a MAS-staffed point and they weren't expecting an incoming from KUL that day it seems.

Being, it seems, one of the few with some "gumption", (and a veteran of many delayed North sea helicopters) I actually made some effort to contact MAS , pumping coins into phone boxes (younger FTers, ask your grandparents about phone booths), and finally got hold of somebody somehow.

As a first concession, I got them to authorise free meals at one of the catering outlets but they were still in a muddle about onward transport. It seemed like the few staff they had in Sydney were hiding with their heads under blankets somewhere and hoping it would all go away.

When I went back to announce to the disgruntled passengers lolling about that we could get free meals, I got dog's abuse from many who wouldn't believe that I was just another Y passenger trying to help and wasn't representing the airline.

I certainly learned something about crowd behaviour in these situations.

Naturally, when the media got wind of it, they rushed out to the airport and who did they choose to interview but the biggest most abusive idiot among the passengers who'd kept shouting me down when I was trying to explain about the free meals. He was all over the news that night.

So I also learned something about the credibility of the media!

brownie1967

In 1998, a 1 hour layover in Tashkent on a Moscow-New Delhi Aeroflot trip morphed into 26 hours spent in-transit in the departure lounge with no access to checked bags.

Not the greatest start to a holiday.

valdor

About 12 hours overnight in HKG (going to PVG). The airline staff kept telling us it was due to weather conditions but we all knew it was the pollution. We finally made it to Shanghai but had to land at Hongqiao instead (don't know why).

LAX2Anywhere

My longest could have been 3 days returning from MUC last winter, but ended up re-routing with only about 5 hour delay. This was during a major East Coast snow storm. We were scheduled to fly MUC-IAD-LAX on UA. UA notified us early the morning of departure that our MUC-IAD flight was delayed 5 hours. Since we were returning home with on a Saturday and didn't have any plans for Sunday, a 5 hour delay would have been only a minor annoyance. What UA didn't tell us until I asked was what about the IAD-LAX leg? A 5 hour delay getting into IAD would mean missing the last flight on the day to LAX. UA rep said "um ... nothing available Saturday ... or Sunday ... maybe we can get you on a flight to LAX Monday." We tried several different routings over the phone, but nothing worked out. When to the airport and were able to get rerouted MUC-CDG-LAX, avoiding all the weather problems in the eastern US.

Another not very long but interesting delay was LAX-DFW years ago. "Only" 4-5 hours if I recall. We had to wait for the Texas Rangers baseball team to finish an extra innings game in Anaheim, then make it to LAX to fly home.

stevechin

11-ish hours. Back in 2008 or 2009, I was waiting for a late evening AA connection from ORD to SNA. The flight that would've gone to SNA was delayed into ORD, so I was rebooked on an ORD to LAX flight, the last one of the day. After that plane arrived and the pax from the previous flight disembarked, I saw the cabin lights go dark and the aircraft was eventually pushed back away from the gate. I was thinking, "um..."

There was some sort of equipment issue and no replacement aircraft could be found in time, so we were booked on whatever flights they could fit us on. Some of us got on the next day's flights and AA gave us an overnight hotel stay and meal credit at the hotel. It was interesting as I went to the hotel restaurant and ran into the flight crew for the cancelled flight. We ended up talking about cancellations, this one and past experiences.

MSPeconomist

For me, 27 hours on a TATL flight that did a MX diversion to Shannon, Ireland, where we were sent to hotels overnight.

Second worst was IIRC an 11 hour MX delay at the origin for a TATL flight. PMNW got me home the same day and in FC even though I had upgraded with miles.

Third worst was due to a domestic winter storm in an airport not equipped to handle it. The flight I flew was delayed for 6 hours waiting for the inbound aircraft. I also suffered an additional 4 hours when DL's automated rebooking VIPER system booted me off my original flight when it posted a fifteen minute delay and traded my nice afternoon nonstop in FC for a crack of dawn coach flight the next morning with an eleven hour connection at an airport that was far from the normal flight path or logical connection points. So 10 hours waiting in an airport lounge that day and a middle of the night arrival.

yytleisure

Over 36 hours when a "blizzard" shut AMS and severely affected FRA. Was trying to fly AMS-FRA-Canada and told it would be at least two days to the next LH flight from AMS. Hopped on a train to FRA which made it to Arnhem and cancelled. Pieced together a bunch of regional trains, often standing room only, finally getting to FRA by nightfall after leaving before dawn. Just made the AC desk before it closed for the night but after all flights left. Told to come back in the morning. Slept on the floor being a student and finally in the morning rebooked on the first AC flight to Canada. Was so pleased with AC that day for being so flexible. Put on standby for a domestic segment home after and luckily made it, even sans status.

There was maybe 10cm snow in both cities which I found hilarious (looking back!) and hard to believe since my home averages over 300cm every year and 10cm hardly affects anything.

DavidVenuto

24 hours in PVG

WorldLux

20 hours in LCY. The cityjet flight was supposed to leave at 6pm LT. At noon little snow falls started. By the time I wanted to check-in, they already had canceled the flight. I ended up in a hotel on the other side of the dock and spend my evening listening to those damn Fokker 50 of Cityjet roaring past.

Musken

17 h delay on a Condor flight from somewhere in Germany to the Seychelles. We were in the plane, it was on its way to the runway when it pulled over and stopped. We sat there for around 3 hours for them to fix something (do not remember what it was). No food and limited drinks, even in business class. Then went back to the terminal where we were told to take bus to a nearby hotel and spend the night there. Luckily we decided against bus and rushed to the hotel by taxi instead meaning we avoided the extremely long line. It was already in the middle of the night and we travelled with a toddler. Got a few hours of sleep and then after 17 hours finally underway to the Seychelles. Arrived there in the middle of the night so only a short night meaning next day was not very good either. However, rest of holidays good, but losing one complete day out of only 7 days, was not the ideal way to start our holidays.