Originally Posted by
jp12687
this was not an emergency situation. The emergency was the medical emergency. Was it annoying? I’m sure. But not an emergency.
they were on a plane with food and facilities for that number of people for 16+ hours. The airport was not set up for that many people.
reports on the plane was it wasn’t freezing, bathrooms worked, food was available...
it got handled. They will comp everyone which will be cheaper than putting facilities at the airport forever waiting another 5yrs for this to happen again.
i fly this route 7-8 times a year. 16 hours is how long the flight is. I’ve had 3 hour ground delays in hkg before on top of that.
dont think uA did anything wrong here
A aircraft on the ground in minus 30 temps would be considered a emergency by every flight ops department I know of. APU’s are finicky and burn oil. They often autoshutdown. Delta recently diverted a aircraft to Shemya where the temp was 32F at the time. They pulled a aircraft and crews from revenue flights and arrived in Shemya 6 hours after the aircraft landed. Shemya is 2300 miles from SEA. YYR is 950 miles from EWR.