krentzie

I always was under the impression when I saw this on a flight status, something was probably seriously wrong with the plane. But seeing it now everyday made me realize otherwise.

Last week my IAH-EWR was delayed an hour due to aircraft maintenance... Reason why.... Overhead bin above 3B in F wouldnt close right. Had to wait for the hinge to arrive.

Last month my LAX-EWR was delayed 45 mins due to maintenance.. Reason why... Sink in bathroom in F wouldnt shut off. Had to wait for plumber.

So thought it would be interesting to see what the actual reason was your last flight was delayed due to maintenance.

ajGoes

I'd say a problem that the airline feels justifies delaying a flight counts as "serious".

Still, it will be interesting to see what problems counted as "serious enough."

nyr2299

last week I had an APU charger fried the backup battery... kinda important I guess.

I had one where the engines had an issue starting. Captain didnt go into detail. Had another where the AC regulator was broken, that was only an hour. Another one was a 747 was struck by lightning while on the ground and put it out of commission completely (they changed planes).

But my personal favorite was the manual release for the Captains chair. They had to climb into the wheel bay and change out the whole thing. Plane was 7 hours delayed for that one.

channa

It doesn't matter if it's serious or not. If it can't be deferred, it has to be fixed. Can't really fly with an overhead bin, so either they fix it, or get it taped shut.

I'm glad you knew what the issues were. I had one last week where we took a 1-hour delay for a "mechanical issue" and all the captain said was that we are cleared to go and after talking to the Company, we are confident the plane is safe to fly.

He didn't say what the issue was, and I observed an off-duty pilot go to the cockpit to confer with the pilots up there. The aircraft had been assigned to a flight nearly 24 hours earlier at a hub and had been swapped after not being able to be repaired for 7 hours.

That didn't really instill a lot of confidence.

emcampbe

Maintenance is maintenance. Whether an engine is down or a tray table won't stay in the locked position, the plane can't take off. FAA regs - and things that seem minor (like an overhead door not latching shut) can, believe it or not, be bigger safety issues than one might imagine. Imagine that door opens on take off and stuff falls and hits the passenger below. Is that worth it?

I once was on an E45, though it was a while ago so don't remember he exact details, and the tray table was down in my seat in the single seat side, and I couldn't get it to shut properly. I was able to do something to jimmy it to stay up, though it wasn't that stable, and I moved to an empty seat in the other side of that row. Technically, I know I should've let the FA know, but really didn't want to get the flight canceled or blow my connection, or that of the other 40+ on board, over something I considered fairly minor, especially since I was able to do something to get it temporarily fixed, and where they likely could get it fixed much quicker at a hub vs. the outstation I was departing from. So I let the FA know once we had taken off, knowing at that point, that they could report it to get it foxed once we landed.

snowed

My last delay was caused by a broken printer in the cockpit.

physioprof

One hour delay at EWR to replace broken co-pilot's seat.

eng3

I've been on a RJ flight where the bin wouldnt close right. After they "fixed it", I boarded and found the bin with duct tape all over it and a sign saying "out of order". Then being scolded by the FA that I brought my larger bag (that doesnt fit below my seat but does fit in the bin).

On a EWR-HNL, after leaving the gate, we got an engine indication. The pilot said "we're going to try changing out the computer/control module and hope that it works. Everyone cross your fingers". "Cross your fingers" or "hope that it works" isnt really what I like to hear right before a 10hr flight.

On another flight, I recall being delayed because they had to replace a light bulb in the cockpit. they said it was their only source of illumination. They have backups for everything on the plane, but not the light??

aacharya

An hour delay (deplaning and almost switch of planes) due to some switch not working - but since we were flying to IAD, not HNL/overwater, we were allowed to reboard and fly. If memory serves, it was a 763.

Often1

There is one of these threads every month or so. They are all the same and hopefully they'll sooner or later be merged.

Maintenance cancellations & delays are based on binary decisions, not what somebody thinks is important. There is the engine dropping off the wing and there is also the OH bin which can't be closed.

If the bin can't be closed, it has to be repaired. If it is simply not operational, it can be closed and sealed. All it takes is some fool who dragged a steamer trunk onboard on the preceding flight and loused up the mechanism.

Would be great if this stuff didn't happen, but it does. And when it does, the repair is mandatory if it's mandatory and not if it's not (for the contemplated trip).

Cargojon

I had a 5 hour delay on an E170 due to a "door seal". I figured that was kind of important.

ErgoTraveler

Last week, MKE - IAH. Apparent (not sure) bird strike dented wing "panel". Had to replace "panel", 4 hours of rolling 30 minute updates... While appreciative of the updates, I would have better liked a 2 hour update or so, then more information... With the AC overnighting in MKE, I wonder if the exiting crew did a complete walkthrough upon landing, would have been nice to note that prior, to let people work the issue overnight, rather after the new crew boarded AC.

HelloItsMe

Really? There's no work-around for something like this? The first thing that comes to my mind is to leave that bin empty and get the plane in the air.

emcampbe

Maybe there is. There is the duct taping it closed and making it inop, I suppose. And then an opposing thread on here complaining that the overhead for them was inop and they had to gate check their bag, and what kind of comp should they get. Can't win either way these days, unfortunately.

krentzie

Thats exactly what they ended up doing last week. They couldnt get the bin to close even with the new hinge so they just ended up duct taping it across.. Pretty funny but it did keep it .... all the way to EWR.