Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > United Airlines | MileagePlus
Reload this Page >

17 Nov 2016 UA issues ground-stop at DEN due to de-icing equipment issues

Community
Wiki Posts
Search

17 Nov 2016 UA issues ground-stop at DEN due to de-icing equipment issues

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Nov 17, 2016, 7:48 pm
  #1  
Moderator Hilton Honors, Travel News, West, The Suggestion Box, Smoking Lounge & DiningBuzz
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Programs: Honors Diamond, Hertz Presidents Circle, National Exec Elite
Posts: 36,026
17 Nov 2016 UA issues ground-stop at DEN due to de-icing equipment issues

https://twitter.com/CBSDenver/status/799437258440855552
cblaisd is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2016, 8:08 pm
  #2  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Houston
Programs: UA Plat, Marriott Gold
Posts: 12,692
Big surprise winter arrived. No one could have forseen that. Don't bother testing the deice gear.
mduell is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2016, 8:09 pm
  #3  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Denver
Posts: 451
Smisek strikes again. This is what outsourcing gets you.

It's not issues with the equipment. It's inexperience and a lack of manpower. The funny thing is that outsourcing the deicing work has actually cost them more money because of stuff like this, and the fact that they waste so much glycol, it's ridiculous.
DENviaLAX is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2016, 8:11 pm
  #4  
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Programs: 6 year GS, now 2MM Jeff-ugee, *wood LTPlt, SkyPeso PLT
Posts: 6,526
Just got messed over by this. Switched to an earlier SEA-SFO flight, and then immediately got a "delay" notice. However, the flight showed as "in flight" so I figured it was "in flight" Then showed another longer delay, and a longer trip DEN-SEA than I would expect, which was odd, but I figured it was "in flight" perhaps got moved around weather.

By the time I realized the 411 I was getting from UA was the typical garbage, I was ed.

If the flight is sitting on the ground in DEN, it would be nice if they did not show it as "in flight".... GRRR...

p.s. and now as I try to track my flight the APP says "United Data Services are unavailable" ...
spin88 is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2016, 8:11 pm
  #5  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: DREAD Gold; UA 1.035MM; Bonvoy Au-197; PCC Elite+; CCC Elite+; MSC C-12; CWC Au-197; WoH Dis
Posts: 52,135
Originally Posted by mduell
Big surprise winter arrived. No one could have forseen that.
Based on yesterday's 80 degree weather, can you blame them?
mahasamatman is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2016, 8:17 pm
  #6  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: ORF, RIC
Programs: UA LT 1K, 3 MM; Marriott Titanium; IHG Platinum
Posts: 6,956
Originally Posted by mahasamatman
Based on yesterday's 80 degree weather, can you blame them?
Weather forecast is very good for winter storm. United should be blamed.
Kmxu is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2016, 8:22 pm
  #7  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: out my front door 60 min prior to IAH flight until they increased the check in time to 45 min
Programs: CO Platinum or UA 1K for so long, now almost 2MM
Posts: 322
No, they have the Weather Channel like everybody else. Wife on UA4491 cancelled after hours of screwing around. I will be furious if they call this "weather-related" when in fact it is "equipment-related".
arisaa is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2016, 8:32 pm
  #8  
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Programs: 6 year GS, now 2MM Jeff-ugee, *wood LTPlt, SkyPeso PLT
Posts: 6,526
Originally Posted by arisaa
No, they have the Weather Channel like everybody else. Wife on UA4491 cancelled after hours of screwing around. I will be furious if they call this "weather-related" when in fact it is "equipment-related".
Well the GA in Seattle, who just turned away 40 of us trying to get on the earlier flight, do to our late arriving AC from DEN, admitted it was a "major deicing problem" in Denver.

So, having not flown United in many months I get a trafecta (1) bad information, (2) impacted by outsourcing/cost cutting, and (3) so far as I can see no effort at service recovery.

I get a delay on DL or VX and they are out with a cart of snacks/drinks, and GAs. Three hour delay at SEA on this flight and nothing, not even a GA, just a rolling delay on the monitor at the unmanned gate...
spin88 is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2016, 8:54 pm
  #9  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: ORD
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 16,901
Who pays the bill for this, UA or the contracted de-icer?

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Nov 17, 2016 at 9:23 pm Reason: language
milepig is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2016, 8:59 pm
  #10  
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Programs: 6 year GS, now 2MM Jeff-ugee, *wood LTPlt, SkyPeso PLT
Posts: 6,526
Originally Posted by milepig
Who pays the bill for this, UA or the contracted de-icer?
In this case the passengers, in time and frustration. I wonder if I billed them for my time at my usual hourly rate would they would pay....

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Nov 17, 2016 at 9:25 pm Reason: Quote updated to reflect Moderator edit
spin88 is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2016, 9:01 pm
  #11  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Houston
Programs: UA Plat, Marriott Gold
Posts: 12,692
Originally Posted by mahasamatman
Based on yesterday's 80 degree weather, can you blame them?
Mid November in Denver. Winter is still 2 months away, right?
mduell is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2016, 9:44 pm
  #12  
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Benicia CA
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold 75K, AA 3.8MM, UA 1.1MM, enjoying the retired life
Posts: 31,849
Meanwhile, from the local ABC station:

Delta, Frontier and Southwest Airlines reported no problems in their deicing procedures.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...ason-in-denver
tom911 is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2016, 9:52 pm
  #13  
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Sydney, NSW Australia
Posts: 895
Originally Posted by arisaa
No, they have the Weather Channel like everybody else. Wife on UA4491 cancelled after hours of screwing around. I will be furious if they call this "weather-related" when in fact it is "equipment-related".
Two flights DEN-ASE tonight are delayed until tomorrow morning but the delay is being listed as aircraft maintenance on the app.

Weather arrived yesterday in ASE with the midday flight circling ASE several times before diverting/returning to DEN. The afternoon flight got in 45 minutes late, the evening flight circled numerous times and the last flight of the night did not even attempt to fly. The last two flights of the day park overnight at the ASE Aerodrome to provide the aeroplanes for first two flights of the morning out of ASE so Skywest attempted to get them both up to ASE this morning - have a look at the first attempt:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/S...527Z/KDEN/KDEN
The second one did not even leave the gate.

Last edited by Aspen; Nov 17, 2016 at 9:58 pm
Aspen is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2016, 10:22 pm
  #14  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Programs: WN, AA, UA, DL
Posts: 1,313
Originally Posted by spin88
Well the GA in Seattle, who just turned away 40 of us trying to get on the earlier flight, do to our late arriving AC from DEN, admitted it was a "major deicing problem" in Denver.

So, having not flown United in many months I get a trafecta (1) bad information, (2) impacted by outsourcing/cost cutting, and (3) so far as I can see no effort at service recovery.

I get a delay on DL or VX and they are out with a cart of snacks/drinks, and GAs. Three hour delay at SEA on this flight and nothing, not even a GA, just a rolling delay on the monitor at the unmanned gate...
Seat maps show evidence that UA moved everyone they could onto the ontime flight 1862, which is your claimed original flight. Obviously someone was there to do that.

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Nov 18, 2016 at 4:58 am Reason: unneeded personal comment deleted
minnyfly is offline  
Old Nov 17, 2016, 11:34 pm
  #15  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Colorado
Programs: UA 1k 1.75 MM
Posts: 199
Unbelievably poor performance by United and their subcontractor. This storm was in the forecast all week. This storm was not a surprise, and it was not a particularly big or severe storm for Denver.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2016/11/1...elayed-at-dia/

We were supposed to make our way to LAX through DEN starting from COS today at 1:52 PM on UA5730 which eventually arrived at the gate in DEN 7 hours 41 minutes late tonight. We punted at around 6:00 PM and re-booked for Friday AM on UA5517, which then cancelled out later this evening. We're driving to Denver tomorrow. The storm has mostly passed now. Hopefully United can operate out of DEN tomorrow in clear weather.
MysteryTour is online now  


Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.