Originally Posted by
sinoflyer
Around 10 years ago, during the mad cow scare in Britain, I was on a SYD-LAX 744 loaded with a couple tons of Australian beef in the belly (of the plane
). I think the last 2 or 3 rows of lower deck C were reseated. During boarding, those seats had the tray tables out so as to make it clear that no one was to sit in them....
Sounds like the usual non-op 747 cabin on UA and w&b only being the justification/excuse for the mess.
Originally Posted by
jcg20
I was on an int'l 777 DEN-ORD in October of 2001 that had a w/b issue. While stopped on a taxiway (why it was identified then, I have no idea), the captain came back and asked some F passengers to move to C. As people started milling around, a guy flies out of Y demanding to know what's going on, throwing a general fit. I'm in the main section of C, watching 2 large male FA's start to crack their knuckles.
FA's get him seated, we immediately turn around for a gate, and get the guy and his bags off the plane and into the hands of armed men. Caused a 2hr delay.
Great handling of the situation by UA
.
I think the guy did the right thing, I would not want to fly with a pilot either who notices unbalance at such a late stage.
During those two hours they could at least process the compensation for the F pax who were moved to C. That is after they convinced a sup that balancing a plane is not exempt as force majeure....