Originally Posted by SEA1K4EVR
I don't understand that either. The typical excuse for not holding flights is that they don't want to delay down-line flights and cause further delays in the system... but UA sends 2 747's to SYD at about the same time and only 1 is needed to continue on to MEL.. so why not hold it a few minutes or an hour (to get the bags transferred) for that many pax??? Absolutely ridiculous. Is there a short time frame because of crew legality issues on such a long flight? I wouldn't think so because of the multiple flight crews on board.
Bingo! The crew has a maximum duty day (duty day begins when they checkin 1:45 minutes before the flight). Because of the long flight, it is very easy for them to go illegal. If any time is wasted, the flight will be delayed until the morning.
But that still doesn't excuse the lack of Customer Service in LAX.