Originally Posted by
pete4abw
I was just curious why they did not divert to JAX which was the ultimate termination of 724. In my mind, they could have landed there, then gone to FLL. Of course, that would have stranded any fares waiting in FLL trying to get to JAX. Tough decisions all. FLL was a zoo when we arrived. I imagine just as many people were inconvenienced trying to leave as trying to arrive.
That's a logical question, but diverting to JAX would have taken more fuel than diverting to MCO, which means the flight probably would have had to divert to JAX immediately versus spending the 20 minutes holding awaiting improvement in FLL's weather and taking advantage of it if it got better.
Had the flight diverted to JAX (assuming the JAX weather was good enough to use as an alternate--as per other FAA regs), the passengers destined for there could have certainly deplaned, but after refueling the flight would have re-launched JAX-FLL. It then would still have operated (albeit delayed) FLL-JAX, both to get those passengers to JAX, and then to have the aircraft in position for its next flight JAX-XYZ, either that same day, or the next day.
Believe me when I say that my idea of a quiet shift is no delay-causing weather, no ATC stops/delays, everything running on-time as scheduled, and no misconnected/stranded Customers, but Mother Nature quite often has different ideas...
Cheers...