Originally Posted by
goodeats21
Great info. The first thing that popped into my mind was different route would impact that judgment call as well.
Would weather, routing, or other flight-specific conditions also impact the decision to refuse the plane for one flight but accept it for another?
Absolutely! Last aircraft refusal I had many years ago had to do with a weather radar deferral.
We were not going to take a B752 from SFO or LAX (don't remember) back to EWR in the summertime with widely scattered thunderstorms popping up enroute from the Midwest through Eastern PA. We swapped aircraft with the pilots going to DEN and they took our airplane. WX forecast was clear from CA to CO with no storms forecasted, so no need for a radar on that flight.
The late aircraft swap caused both flights to push slightly late; I'm sure some PAX were questioning why one pilot accepts a plane and another won't. But like most things in this industry, there are reasons the airlines do what they do.