barabuski

Hi all,

I googled to no avail, so I come to you all with a few questions about a weird AS experience I had yesterday. A strange situation that was handled oddly..

I was scheduled on AS 923 last night from SFO-SEA, departing at 915PM. At approximately 230, I received a text message:

AlaskaAir:Flight 923 will now be operating out of Oakland. Shuttle provided.
See an Alaska representative for details. Reply STOP to cancel.

There was no accompanying e-mail or phone call, and no additional details in the app or when I checked my res online. What did this mean? Especially in the moment, I felt "shuttle provided" is extremely vague. Does this mean I could just go to OAK and take my flight, or did I need to show up at SFO to avoid my seat being cancelled? If there was a shuttle, what kind was it; and, when would I need to show up for it?

Obviously, the correct thing to do here is to call for more information. So I called the MVPG line and talked to two folks for clarification (actually 3, but the first gentlemen was rather rude so I just HUCA).

I asked them if they knew anything about the change, what the shuttle meant and what I could do. The first said they didn't know much, other than it was a runway closure at SFO and not a mechanical issue. They said they would call me back with more info (they didn't, though it could be because I talked to the next rep).

The second rep told me it would be fine for me to just go to OAK, and I could take my flight without showing up at SFO first. I asked her if that flight was leaving on time, and she said yes, it should board and leave at the same time. I then asked her what the deal with the shuttle from SFO was, and she said it would be charter buses from SFO to OAK and they should leave at the same time the flight would normally depart... which makes absolutely no sense unless these are teleporting buses.

I ended up finishing my business up early to switch to the earlier flight to avoid this madness (upgraded FC to back of the plane middle...), but it looks like their flight was delayed only 20 minutes. Given that it's an hour+ drive from SFO to Oak, what happened here? I'm mostly curious, though I will say that communication from AS should be MUCH better here. I was flexible, but giving a 7 hour notice of an hour+ airport detour with virtually no information is pretty bad.

They also mentioned that they could NOT reimburse any additional expenses from transportation to OAK if I didn't take the shuttle (which makes sense, but not when the shuttle was extremely vague).

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Mostly wondering how this ended up working out for the other pax, and if it's AS standard protocol.

Chugach

Expert Flyer says it was due to SFO ATC.

Kieron

I've had that happen twice out of SFO – once for weather, once after the Asiana crash, though both times they sent us to SJC instead. AS staff in the SFO terminal landside directed us onto charter buses down to SJC. One time the flight kept its same number but departed about :75 behind original schedule from the other airport, the other time I was rebooked onto a regularly scheduled SJC-SEA flight leaving at nearly the same time as my original flight, perhaps simply because I'd reached SFO earlier and they could shuttle a busload of us to SJC in time to make it.

LIH Prem

The real question .. did anybody get miles for taking the bus?

The UA bus segment between SJC and SFO used to award 500 miles.

ctporter

I had that happen to me once before, I just went to the ticket counter and they called for a guy in a van to come get me and take me over to OAK. Not sure what they did with all the rest of the passengers! I was the only one on the van. This was well before I was more than an MVP, and I had never flown in or out of OAK.

barabuski

Interesting. I thought it was weird they didn't send an e-mail or call.. if someone missed it, that could be very frustrating. I was almost curious enough to just show up at SFO and see what would happen with this whole situation.

The flight is showing as only leaving twenty minutes late.. and it's easily an hour+ from SFO to OAK driving. Just wondering how the people who showed up at SFO on time ended up getting to oakland.. magic teleportation? Even if they had a shuttle and left "close door" boarding time, that timing doesn't add up to me.

The first (the rude one) AS agent I talked to said they were going to fly people over

EDIT: also, logically, it would make sense to inform pax in the text if they did indeed need to arrive earlier than normal to catch a bus/shuttle. Very vague text IMO.

rustykettel

Which is turn was probably due to http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/san-f...-9-2017-a.html

ETA:

Finkface

Yeah, and much to my dismay, I have a VX flight out of SFO next Saturday, one of the days when the runway closure is in effect.

ucdtim17

They often do planned diversions to OAK or SJC on stormy days when delays are 3+ hours at SFO. Now it's for the runway closures. Last time it happened to me they diverted to SJC, so I called up and changed my flight to OAK, which is where I preferred to fly out of anyways.

sltlyamusd

They divert to OAK to avoid 3+ hour atc delays at SFO. They figure it is better to operate out of Oakland on time (or close) than to delay pax for 3 hours at sfo, which then causes missed connections and downstream delays

czpdx

That would explain why I saw an OAK-PSP flight last night on the boards as I was checking in for OAK-PDX. Had a regular 3-digit flight number.

jsguyrus

I was watching the SFO delays yesterday and they held at 4:20 delay all day and night. A quick look at the arrivals and departure board showed lots of cancelled flights and huge delays. About the only thing operating on time was international arrivals. FAA showed it was due to runway construction.

notquiteaff

High speed ferry across the bay?

ucdtim17

Or restarted Hovercraft service

notquiteaff

I didn't know there ever was such a service. Awesome!

Maybe AS could buy some used Boeing 929 hydrofoils and operate a shuttle. Could then still retain the "Proudly All Boeing" label

http://www.boeing.com/history/produc...hydrofoil.page