Originally Posted by
legalalien
So...I just got a word from a friend who happened to be on the flight! She said that about 2.5 hrs into the flight, the captain announced there was a problem with communication equipment. They could still talk to US-based ATC, but it was going to be an issue in South America, so they had to turn back landing around 4am. Finally left about 1:30pm today after a ground delay at IAD caused by a thunderstorm. United offered hotels to passengers, but some decided to hang out in the terminal and wait for LH lounge to open instead of dealing with shuttles and TSA.
legalalien, thanks for this information. I watch this flight every day and there are a lot of problems (a lot more than one might normally expect), but that communications issue is a new one for me. I guess it's good that they learned about it soon enough. Too bad they couldn't touch down along the route w/o having to turn back.
Now that 861 has left at 1:30 PM, the return (860) is now scheduled for departure at 02:15 AM in GRU. I've had to do a few of those middle-of-the-night departures from GRU -- and they weren't a lot of fun.
Thanks again for taking the time to post the question and the update.