Originally Posted by
SFO_FT
And that's a perfect example of where UA just can't be trusted for business travel. Two scheduled 747 flights are supposed to depart SFO at 1~130pm: 1 to HNL and 1 to HKG. As a result of mechanical problems, both flights are going to depart late: one by 60 min and one by 170 minutes. Most carriers would seek to minimize the disruption on the premium-heavy flight while pushing the longer delay to the leisure flight.
Checked what all 744s are doing today,
There should be 4 other 744 frames on the ground at SFO this afternoon not scheduled to fly until tomorrow(at least):
N118UA(arrived from ICN in the morning)
N122UA(arrived from TPE in the morning)
N117UA(arrived from NRT around 2pm)
N197UA(in SFO since 24th)
Operation must have their own reason (presume various MX) not to use these frames for HKG or HNL flights, which would minimize the delay. I assume similarly they have their own reason making HKG flight delayed further instead of HNL flight, given both delays would not affect their down-line flight.
ps, looks like their hands are really tied today, as of this afternoon,
out of 20 744s
MX: 1 in XMN, 4 in SFO(mentioned above)
4 flying between ORD and NRT/PVG
5 on the way to Asia (PEK, TPE, HKG, ICN, NRT)
3 just spent the night in Asia for morning departure(PEK, TPE, HKG)
2 flying military charters
1 flying heavy domestic ORD, then HNL