I have been reading the interesting posts so far, and I have to share this one. It is probably the only really bad one I have ever experienced.

I flew late last year from HNL-LAX on United. The #4 engine on the 747-200 was not functioning properly, so the flight crew and maintenance tried to fix it at the gate. The gate agents announced it would be a 6 hour delay.

About 35 minutes later, the gate agents announced that the mechanic had made a "miracle fix", and we should be underway in an hour. They ran the engine up for a certain amount of time, and then the mechanics and flight crew discussed, and then ran it up and then disucussed the results again. They repeated this for about an hour.

Finally, the gate agents told everyone that the Captain and the Chief mechanic were arguing about the results of the fix. Finally, after 2 hours of disucssion, the gate agents publicly announced that the Captain of the aircraft deemed the aircraft unflyable and walked away from the aircraft. The gate agents then made a statement, "We need another flight crew that is willing to fly this aircraft, and they won't be arriving for another 6 hours. We will reboard at that time."

The gate agents stated that 747 pilots have attitude problems, and that they "think they know it all". They don't want to think anyone else is right. That is why they ran into this problem with the crew.

I have to say, I have great comfort in a captain that knows it all, especially about his/her aircraft. I know that the FAA regs, state that the pilot-in-command is solely responsible for determining whether or not an aircraft is safe for flight. Last time I checked, I don't think that the gate agent's possess that responsibility.

Then, the gate agents said, "This aircraft is completely safe, and there is absolutely nothing to worry about." I laughed when they said that, because the pilot who did not feel the aircraft is safe, just walked away from the plane.

I think he knows better than anyone.

The flight made it safely to LAX. However, I definitely switched flights and took the red-eye for more a worry-free flight (afterall, I was still on vacation mode).