bocastephen

Ultimately they substituted another aircraft, but why wasn't this the plan from the beginning if the maintenance work was not going to be finished well before it's next plan departure?

Yes, I acknowledged that everything worked out in the end, but why put customers and staff through this instead of just swapping another aircraft if the intended aircraft needs significant maintenance work?

mduell

Was the other aircraft available at that time?

nerdbirdsjc

Da*ned if UA does, and da*ned if UA doesn't.

It's basically peak travel season systemwide, and swapping a single 747 dedicated to longhaul requires several days of aircraft and crew juggling to make the substitution work, such that a 747 swap cannot often be immediately "confirmed" even if that's known from the outset of the problem to be the best operational decision. Realizing this, United did something most longhaul carriers do not and will not do -- advise days ahead of time that a mx delay may occur, enabling the customers who would be most impacted by that potential mx delay to move to other flight options while those options still existed.

UA-NYC

Might want to read back through his posts.

First agent couldn't see the possible delay, and wouldn't reroute him. Vast majority of pax would have stopped there and ended up dissatisfied with the interaction.

Only FTers and the like think to keep HUACA.

bmwe92fan

Exactly - this was likely a mistake in / by the UA system - but glad it worked out well for OP - I'm betting the vast majority of pax never knew anything happened at all....

PV_Premier

seems like the delay was posted, then the search for a new ship began. i understand the propensity to panic around here, but with 4 days notice it may have been a bit preemptive.

all's well that ends well in this case.

BelmontRef

I asked a United friend to take a quick look. The conclusion, assuming the right flight since the OP never said the date (or I missed it), was the delay was posted to the flight of the wrong date. Was supposed to be a current date flight and instead, the date must have been mistyped. It was caught later and corrected back to on-time.

As for the plane change, completely unrelated. Plane assignments four days out are far from final and as the aircraft routers manage the closer-in flights to assure planes get to needed maintenance, assignments change frequently, particularly at a maintenance base like SFO.

mherdeg

Cool, so someone made a typo in the flight management system and an observant pax got a free change onto a nonstop flight?

bocastephen

This is interesting as agent #1 was insisting the delay was for yesterday and couldn't understand how it was possible to post a delay 4 days in advance and told me it was a computer glitch as your friend described - however, she told me to check again after midnight and consider the delay valid if it was still there and then request a change at that time, which I did.

The second agent looked up the flight and called someone then confirmed it was the inbound from FRA going in for scheduled maintenance which she suspected as did I, might go longer than planned and thus put my connection at risk so she did the change.

My point in getting frustrated wasn't as much the notification, as sending it out so far in advance to indicate their [act] wasn't together and sending passengers like me (I'm sure everyone on that flight got the same email) into a tizzy wondering what was going on.

I would think better schedule analysis would have taken place if they knew this ship had x hours of maintenance scheduled and either labor or parts requirements would not leave it ready by flight time, and thus find another aircraft - and if not possible, accept the delay is real, post it in the system properly, and prepare to accommodate customers with alternative options.

Two different agents reached two different conclusions, and ironically it was the first agent's speculation that was correct.

Regardless, I am satisfied with the outcome, just not so keen on the journey getting to the outcome.



Yeah, that's exactly what we did - laid in wait for a one-in-a-million processing error so we could pounce on a free flight change.

mherdeg

I'm just describing what reportedly happened. It's not clear that this was all positive in your case — yes, you got a nonstop, but you earn fewer miles and you lose out on the upper deck.

Of course I don't think people stalk their reservations waiting to pounce on UA processing errors, except maybe during schedule changes.

embarcadero1

The OP had to make several calls, monitor flight plans, learn the on-time performance of specific flights and reach out to United with a plan after they offered none.

How on earth does any of this amount to an "industry best practice"?

When flying United, one must gird for battle. That's what the OP did and his experience shows why this is required. It's a sad statement about United.

DBCme

What does a delay warning look like? It was an email? Could this have been forwarded to UA CS in hopes of rebooking given their system didn't show any issues?

bocastephen

Here is what we received:

Confirmation number: xxxxxxx
United flight UA837 on August xx is delayed due to aircraft maintenance.
Now departs: 12:50 p.m. on August xx, San Francisco, CA (SFO)
Now arrives: 3:15 p.m. on August xx at Tokyo, Japan (NRT - Narita)

Please be at the gate for boarding prior to the original scheduled departure time of 11:40 a.m., as the departure time could be revised again.

San Francisco runway construction advisory:
Runway construction is in progress at San Francisco (SFO). United and other airlines that serve SFO have worked closely with the FAA and the airport authority to minimize disruptions related to this important construction project, but delays are possible.

Information is subject to change. For up-to-the-minute flight status information, go to united.com, use the United mobile app or check flight information screens at the airport.

Sorry, I misunderstood the context of your post.

Personally, I preferred the upper deck on the 747 and rest time at the ANA Lounge to shower and relax (although we were not looking forward to the 4hr in ANA coach) - we might be on the nonstop now, but sitting in the middle section of J, which I consider a less desirable position, albeit more desirable than spending a night in SFO and perhaps looking at the riding the next day in coach, or losing more hair over worrying about original flight and connection.

UA-NYC

OP can always ask for ORC

DBCme

Thanks for clarifying. Wasn't sure if it was one of those warning messages along the lines of "flow control" and your flight may be impacted. In this case, they actually made a schedule change. Strange UA reps wouldn't see that.