Originally Posted by
chrisfwm
This is SEA-ICN-PVG. It was delayed by a day, then changed flight number to DL9891, flew all the way to Russia, then turned around back to SEA. Now trapping hundreds of Chinese nationals, whose VISAs expired upon departure.
Any insider knows what actually happened?
China issued new rules at PVG for inbound pax aircraft few days ago. Every seat must be disinfected. This means extra 3 hours for a 300-seat plane.
UA/AA/DL all fly to PVG via ICN. Normal ground time at PVG is 3 hours, but now it requires 6 hours. This would cause the crew for ICN-PVG-ICN to go over max time.
UA/AA have 2 sets of crew for ICN-PVG-ICN so few extra hours won't matter. DL only has one set. That's why if DL 287 were continued to PVG, it won't be able to fly back.
Originally Posted by
artvandalay
"A Delta Air Lines spokeswoman said on Sunday that flight 287 from Seattle to Shanghai returned to Seattle after “new procedures required at Shanghai Pudong International Airport were implemented while it was en route” to Shanghai.
“The new procedures require longer time on the ground than Delta is able to schedule there,” the spokeswoman said, adding the carrier was working to rebook customers on alternative flights."--South China Morning Post today.
No mention of "Russia."
This is a misstatement from DL, at least DL didn't prepare enough crew for PVG turnaround.
AA/UA have no issues with the new PVG COVID policy.
Originally Posted by
HkCaGu
Well, I guess, as expected, only posts that abide by “責任不在我方” (responsibility is not mine) get to remain uncensored. Conspiracy theories are a must.
Mostly DL's fault.
However, China these days often issues rules with very short notice. Sometimes draconian rules, COVID related.
Originally Posted by
moondog
I'm also quite curious about why DL cancelled the next flight on the same route. Since 287 on 12/22 didn't reach Korea, let alone China, and tmk no recent 287s have had 5 more positive Covid cases, I'm guessing DL is not in the penalty box. I predict they will be back in action pretty soon, but maybe not before the new year.
Switching topics, the "expired visas" thing is ridiculous. Let's say 10 people on the flight had 30 day entry visas. I can't imagine that more than 1 of them was stupid enough to book a flight departing at the deadline.
ETA
narvik pointed out in the parallel thread that expired green codes (not visas) was --maybe-- the issue.
This is a terrible time to cancel the flights. Almost all flights to China are full (capacity is 75% set by CAAC) until late January. Due to strict 14-21 day forced quarantine time in China, those who don't fly to China by mid January would risk spending Chinese New Year at quarantine hotel. They might as well give up the family reunion for the CNY.
Also, fares to China have skyrocketed for this month and next. We see $6,000 full one-way fare in coach, and $10,000-$18,000 in biz class to Shanghai. For many days, you can't even buy a seat under these prices. Planes are just fully booked.
I feel for those DL pax who got stuck.