Originally Posted by
Tchiowa
Back when UA still went to BKK I arrived on a late flight from SFO. There were a significant number of people on the flight connecting to BKK. They held the plane for us. Probably because it would have cost them a ton to put us all up overnight waiting for the next flight.
^ One of the advantages when United still served BKK. It was worthwhile to hold their own flight when one of their major feeder trunks was delayed.
I think we all have anecdotal stories about United holding a flight for connecting passengers. As for the original question, I imagine it is a matrix of inputs to reach the hold/no-hold decision.
Many knowledgeable posters have indicated it is a decision made by OPS, so it is not agent discretion. Number of connecting passengers, impact on downline ops if the plane is late at destination, crew scheduling / risk of timing out later...I am sure it is complex.