What is a"Delayed due to flight preparation"
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2014
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What is a"Delayed due to flight preparation"
My friends UA flight today from SEA to EWR is delayed for over 5 hourss due to an earlier flight "Delayed for 4 hours due to flight preparation"
What is this?
Im sure it isnt as simple as "We forgot to prepare the food for the flight" or finding an employee who can explain "Placing the small metal flap in to the buckle."?
But seriously...what is this?
What is this?
Im sure it isnt as simple as "We forgot to prepare the food for the flight" or finding an employee who can explain "Placing the small metal flap in to the buckle."?
But seriously...what is this?
#2
Join Date: Feb 2001
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once had a pilot explain what that meant in our situation: The plane had some maintenance done during the night-long layover, and while that was long completed MX had not signed of the work and he was consequently waiting for the paperwork to be finished. That delay then showed up with the above term...
Greetings - Dirk
Greetings - Dirk
#5
Join Date: Mar 2001
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It also seems to be used for an aborted departure - e.g., returned to gate due to flight plan changes (for refueling/defueling or replanning) or removal of passenger.
#8
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Delay reasons used to be more straight forward. They seem to be more vague and utilize terms that catch-all for most situations.
Recently, I was on a plane that had a mechanical problem. A part in the engine had to be replaced. Captain did an excellent job explaining it while we waited. Understandable. However, in correspondence with 1Kvoice later on, they claimed "the issue was a broken part on the engine that was caused by environmental conditions"...which was outside of their control. Again, I get it, thats what would happen in a hail storm. But this was LAX and dont try to escape an issue by waiting until after the fact to determine another reason.
Recently, I was on a plane that had a mechanical problem. A part in the engine had to be replaced. Captain did an excellent job explaining it while we waited. Understandable. However, in correspondence with 1Kvoice later on, they claimed "the issue was a broken part on the engine that was caused by environmental conditions"...which was outside of their control. Again, I get it, thats what would happen in a hail storm. But this was LAX and dont try to escape an issue by waiting until after the fact to determine another reason.
#9
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As a follow up: Well my friend told me that the pilot explained their 5 hour delay was due to a “crew issue” from a previous flight….. can you be any more vague??
Anyway everyone on the plane was given a web address to click on later with a makeup offer for the big inconvenience….last night when she clicked onto it was offered either 5,000 UA miles or $100 credit toward future travel. She took the $100.
Anyway everyone on the plane was given a web address to click on later with a makeup offer for the big inconvenience….last night when she clicked onto it was offered either 5,000 UA miles or $100 credit toward future travel. She took the $100.
#10
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A while ago one of the UA employees posted that there are actually a lot (perhaps 100s) of delay reason codes that are each mapped to a handful of customer facing reasons. I could see such mapping being done by the marketing department with less interest on providing accurate information and more interest on providing understandable information that will generate the fewest questions.
#11
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A while ago one of the UA employees posted that there are actually a lot (perhaps 100s) of delay reason codes that are each mapped to a handful of customer facing reasons. I could see such mapping being done by the marketing department with less interest on providing accurate information and more interest on providing understandable information that will generate the fewest questions.
It's even more complicated than that. Say there's a 20-minute crew issue, followed by a 4.5 hour mechanical, then a 10 minute delay because the water had to be topped off after that long mechanical.
A "reasonable person" would say that was a mechanical delay, but UA might display it as preparation because that was the last thing that happened to it.
#12
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 179
once had a pilot explain what that meant in our situation: The plane had some maintenance done during the night-long layover, and while that was long completed MX had not signed of the work and he was consequently waiting for the paperwork to be finished. That delay then showed up with the above term...
Greetings - Dirk
Greetings - Dirk
#13
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Washington, DC
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Maybe I'm misremembering, but I had this a month ago in PEK when another United flight had to be cancelled shortly before boarding. All the passengers on the PEK-EWR cancelled flight got dumped over to the PEK-IAD flight (actually not "all", but that's a separate issue). It meant they needed to add catering and get the bags from one plane to the other, and sort out seating.
#14
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Join Date: Aug 2015
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It's even more complicated than that. Say there's a 20-minute crew issue, followed by a 4.5 hour mechanical, then a 10 minute delay because the water had to be topped off after that long mechanical.
A "reasonable person" would say that was a mechanical delay, but UA might display it as preparation because that was the last thing that happened to it.
A "reasonable person" would say that was a mechanical delay, but UA might display it as preparation because that was the last thing that happened to it.