United Flight EWR to TLV 12 hr flight turned into 30
Jun 26, 2014, 4:33 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Israel
Posts: 8
United Flight EWR to TLV 12 hr flight turned into 30
I am scheduled to fly United back to the US and I have to tell you I dont have a good feeling about this. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Ne...5#.U6v0hvmSzLM
The United Airlines flight from Newark to Tel Aviv was set to leave early in the week. Usually a non-stop flight, passengers expected to get to their destinations after about 12 hours, but instead were in transit for about 30. Airline personnel refused to let them disembark for hours, passengers said, “making us feel like hostages, without food or water,” according to one witness.
Even before the incident with the pilot, there were many problems with the flight, passengers reported, including broken lavatories, poor air circulation, and engine issues. The flight, which had actually been set to leave the day before, was canceled because of the poor condition of the plane, and passengers were either sent home or given hotel rooms for the night.
But the “nightmare,” as one passenger described it, continued. “We were waiting for a long time, and finally the staff came out and told us that the pilot had refused to turn the engines on because he did not want to fly to Tel Aviv.” It wasn't clear if his motivation was political or financial, passengers said. Security personnel forcibly removed the pilot from the cockpit, and it was several hours before the airline could find a replacement pilot.
I have already paid for my tickets but if I could I would reconsider.
The United Airlines flight from Newark to Tel Aviv was set to leave early in the week. Usually a non-stop flight, passengers expected to get to their destinations after about 12 hours, but instead were in transit for about 30. Airline personnel refused to let them disembark for hours, passengers said, “making us feel like hostages, without food or water,” according to one witness.
Even before the incident with the pilot, there were many problems with the flight, passengers reported, including broken lavatories, poor air circulation, and engine issues. The flight, which had actually been set to leave the day before, was canceled because of the poor condition of the plane, and passengers were either sent home or given hotel rooms for the night.
But the “nightmare,” as one passenger described it, continued. “We were waiting for a long time, and finally the staff came out and told us that the pilot had refused to turn the engines on because he did not want to fly to Tel Aviv.” It wasn't clear if his motivation was political or financial, passengers said. Security personnel forcibly removed the pilot from the cockpit, and it was several hours before the airline could find a replacement pilot.
I have already paid for my tickets but if I could I would reconsider.
Jun 26, 2014, 7:56 am
#3
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: NYC
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Posts: 5,682
Cue the ranters...check
Cue the UApologists .....check
200 posts later, discover the facts don't match the story.
500 posts later, thread dies finally.
What does 30 hours 'in transit' mean anyway? (Rhetorical)
Cue the UApologists .....check
200 posts later, discover the facts don't match the story.
500 posts later, thread dies finally.
What does 30 hours 'in transit' mean anyway? (Rhetorical)
Jun 26, 2014, 8:00 am
#5
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Jun 26, 2014, 8:25 am
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Indeed. Hope the mods catch this before we get to 200 posts. It is a shame what happened, but this really is a delayed/cancelled flight - like many others.
Jun 26, 2014, 12:20 pm
#7
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Pilot Forcibly Removed from Cockpit for Refusing to Fly to Israel
I was emailed an interesting article about a UA flight from Newark to TLV delayed for a variety of reasons, amongst them being that the pilot refused to fly the plane to Israel and was forcibly removed from the cockpit at EWR. I've read other reports which claimed the pilot was arrested as well. An article discussing the situation can be found here: http://www.pilotnewsmag.com/airlines...ng-fly-israel/
Perhaps this thread belongs more on the UA forum but since many of us discuss airlines other than EL AL on routes to/from Israel and since UA is a major player in the USA-Israel market, I thought people here would like to know about this incident.
If, as the article claims, the pilot refused to fly to TLV because the crew timed out, then why was he forcibly removed from the cockpit? If you google this topic you will get wide varying reports as to what happened, some of them being quite troubling.
My colleague emailed UA's head of public relations as well as the CEO's office asking for clarification as to the exact reasons why this pilot refused to fly to TLV and what action the airline is specifically taking. If the pilots refusal was based in political/nationalistic/religious reasoning then I fully expect United to take serious action to ensure such a situation does not occur again.
Perhaps this thread belongs more on the UA forum but since many of us discuss airlines other than EL AL on routes to/from Israel and since UA is a major player in the USA-Israel market, I thought people here would like to know about this incident.
If, as the article claims, the pilot refused to fly to TLV because the crew timed out, then why was he forcibly removed from the cockpit? If you google this topic you will get wide varying reports as to what happened, some of them being quite troubling.
My colleague emailed UA's head of public relations as well as the CEO's office asking for clarification as to the exact reasons why this pilot refused to fly to TLV and what action the airline is specifically taking. If the pilots refusal was based in political/nationalistic/religious reasoning then I fully expect United to take serious action to ensure such a situation does not occur again.
Jun 26, 2014, 4:57 pm
#8
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Surely the pilot would know where he was scheduled to fly to before entering the cockpit. Unless he was planning to effectively hijack the plane, in which case he should have kept mum until airborne. Something doesn't quite add up.
Jun 26, 2014, 7:01 pm
#9
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Location: NYC Area
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Does anyone know for certain what really happened?
Jun 26, 2014, 7:26 pm
#10
Join Date: Aug 2011
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My colleague emailed UA's head of public relations as well as the CEO's office asking for clarification as to the exact reasons why this pilot refused to fly to TLV and what action the airline is specifically taking. If the pilots refusal was based in political/nationalistic/religious reasoning then I fully expect United to take serious action to ensure such a situation does not occur again.
Jun 26, 2014, 7:51 pm
#12
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If this was the way the original article was trying to portray it, you would think it would have made the news in the US. Google search turns up only Israeli press covering it.
Jun 26, 2014, 7:52 pm
#13
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I find that hard to believe as arrests made by the Port Authority Police would be a matter of public record and media would have access to them. Why no mention of charges and booking facility if it really happened?
One article said the pilot was accompanied off the aircraft by two uniformed officers, but this might have been for his safety-- he could very well have asked for police officers to accompany him off the plane and a passenger wrongly decided that he was being arrested.
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/06/26...-israel-video/
One article said the pilot was accompanied off the aircraft by two uniformed officers, but this might have been for his safety-- he could very well have asked for police officers to accompany him off the plane and a passenger wrongly decided that he was being arrested.
United said that “the pilot was not removed from the cockpit,” despite the cellphone clip showing the pilot walking down the aisle accompanied by two uniformed policemen.
According to one passenger, it was unclear if the pilot’s refusal to spin up the jet engines stemmed from a possible labor dispute or unwillingness to fly to Israel.
Claiming that the flight “was originally affected by adverse weather and then an ongoing maintenance delay necessitated our decision to replace the plane and crew,” United said they “provided meal vouchers to assist customers.”
“The aircraft was then swapped for another and as a result of the ongoing delay the flight crew exceeded their legally permitted duty hours.”
According to one passenger, it was unclear if the pilot’s refusal to spin up the jet engines stemmed from a possible labor dispute or unwillingness to fly to Israel.
Claiming that the flight “was originally affected by adverse weather and then an ongoing maintenance delay necessitated our decision to replace the plane and crew,” United said they “provided meal vouchers to assist customers.”
“The aircraft was then swapped for another and as a result of the ongoing delay the flight crew exceeded their legally permitted duty hours.”
Jun 26, 2014, 7:56 pm
#14
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 4,771
