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Cause of AS 38 Fight Delay 04/25?

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Old Apr 26, 2018, 1:05 pm
  #1  
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Cause of AS 38 Fight Delay 04/25?

AS 38 SEA to FLL departed an hour late yesterday (OK, 0:59 late). Plane was not at gate at time of departure but was instead in hangar according to announcements. Further announcements (passengers not kept well informed) were two or three times we don't know what's up, and then statement that plane had been towed "almost" to gate and SeaTac ATC ordered plane to return to hangar because there was too much ground traffic yesterday morning at SeaTac. What gives? AS can't get the plane to the gate for an on-time departure? Is this AS's fault or Air Traffic Control's fault or PPP (P!ss Poor Plannning)? Would you expect some compensation from AS? There were no claims of mechanical problems, weather was as good as it can ever get in Seattle in April (or May or July for that matter).
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Old Apr 26, 2018, 1:13 pm
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Ask Customer Care and see what you'll get for arriving 33 minutes later than scheduled to FLL. Keep us posted.

I probably wouldn't get too chafed in my briefs over what ends up being a 30ish minute delay on the day AS did the cutover for eliminating the last traces of VX as a separate airline from the face of the earth (April 25th was that day), but you do you.

Things happen at airports. SEA's worse than it was even just a couple of years ago because DL's ramped up flights even more (in percentage terms) than AS has. More flights, same size airport = easier to get knocked off of schedule due to ATC holds (it's not like they can whip up another runway or taxiway if there are too many planes running around). The operations at SEA went pretty smoothly overall (you're the first thread complaining, and I checked delays yesterday, they were pretty "(excrement happens)" routine instead of the meltdown that happened when UA took over CO in 2012).
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Old Apr 26, 2018, 1:30 pm
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Results from EF:

Code:
SCHEDULE     ACTUAL     DELAY/CANCEL   ARRIVAL          
CITY  ARRV  DEPT   ARRV  DEPT   CODES          GATE            
SEA   ORIG  810A         909A                                  
FLL   511P  TERM   544P                        C6              
 
3SEA/ETD0930A 1.20L DUE LATE ARRIVAL  *1110
4SEA/OUT0909A  0.59L  OFF0924A *1125
2FLL/ON 0539P IN 0544P 0.33L  *1647
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Old Apr 26, 2018, 2:08 pm
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ok, that's interesting ... FR24 gives the tail number, and looking up N486AS we find it came in half an hour early from PHX on Tues evening
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Old Apr 26, 2018, 2:17 pm
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Yesterday things weren't as smooth as a normal day, and I think a lot of that has to do with the influx of 60 planes into the AS system and doing things differently. Even on my SEA/JNU flight yesterday, we sat at the gate for 30 minutes after door close on dispatch and Central Load Planning to get our operational #s for the pilots.

Hopefully these lil bumps smooth out and Alaska gets back on an exceptional track.
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Old Apr 26, 2018, 4:34 pm
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And SEA is exceptionally busy these days. So, the fact that is was delayed getting out of the hanger was probably true...
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Old Apr 26, 2018, 7:35 pm
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They were using 34R for departures yesterday which during the busy times can backup the taxiway that passes right by the hangars. It can be like a fish streaming up river when you have departures lined up and arrivals trying to get the A, B, and S gates.
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Old Apr 26, 2018, 9:32 pm
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Originally Posted by jrl767
ok, that's interesting ... FR24 gives the tail number, and looking up N486AS we find it came in half an hour early from PHX on Tues evening
Tail swap to the hangar plane when the original was delayed or "late arrival" at the gate from the hangar plane?
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Old Apr 26, 2018, 11:34 pm
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Originally Posted by jrl767
ok, that's interesting ... FR24 gives the tail number, and looking up N486AS we find it came in half an hour early from PHX on Tues evening
To put a finer point on what RustyKettle said just above me, 486AS is the plane that OPERATED the flight; it is not, necessarily, the plane that was INTENDED to operate the flight.

At the end of the day, since when do people start expecting compensation for a half-hour delay?
I mean, over at United a year or two ago, a half hour delay was pretty much considered an EARLY ARRIVAL!
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Old Apr 27, 2018, 7:27 am
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15 min delay is considered on time so 30 min is only slightly late.
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Old Apr 27, 2018, 9:45 am
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I bet it had something to do with the VX merger too. I was supposed to be on AS 1749 SFO-SEA yesterday, was luckily able to get on the 1.5 hour earlier 1747. Now I'm not sure exact cause, but 1749 left 5 hours late. It was a beautiful day in both the Bay Area & Seattle, so not sure for the delay.
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Old Apr 27, 2018, 11:47 am
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Originally Posted by Don Draper
I bet it had something to do with the VX merger too. I was supposed to be on AS 1749 SFO-SEA yesterday, was luckily able to get on the 1.5 hour earlier 1747. Now I'm not sure exact cause, but 1749 left 5 hours late. It was a beautiful day in both the Bay Area & Seattle, so not sure for the delay.
EF shows late arrival for the reason but N848VA (from FlightRadar24) shows on time from previous flight that arrived after AS1749 was scheduled to depart so tail swapped from something. I thought FlightRadar24 or a similar showed swaps in the flight log but I can't find it on the mobile version.

Last edited by rustykettel; Apr 27, 2018 at 1:43 pm
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Old Apr 27, 2018, 1:23 pm
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This is a job well done by AS. Swapping air frames. causing a delay of <1 hour on departure and making up 1/2 of that enroute, is good work. Too bad ground congestion got in the way, but there is a limit to how many aircraft can move at any minute. Not only does AS not control that, but the reality is that either there are some controls or the whole place becomes a parking lot and nothing moves.

This is much ado about less than nothing.
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Old Apr 27, 2018, 9:26 pm
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This merger was a disaster for on time departures. My BOS-LAX flight left late due to weather and arrived 15 min early. Forget this cruddy airline.
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Old Apr 27, 2018, 9:43 pm
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Originally Posted by CDKing
This merger was a disaster for on time departures. My BOS-LAX flight left late due to weather and arrived 15 min early. Forget this cruddy airline.
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