lehms

My Family of 5 traveling yesterday. Push back on time. After push back slight leak noticed in galley. Return to Gate. 45 m later they fix the leak and we push back again. Get to the runway bigger leak. Back to gate. Maintenance returns. After another delay we push back. 3 hour and 15 m after orig departure time.


No one allowed off the plane. No food/ water handed out during delay.

And the kicker is once on the air they had only loaded 12 sandwiches for coach passengers. So 95% of passengers were out of options if they didn't plan ahead especially after they didn't allow anyone to deplane during the delay


We were on award tickets. People were fuming.

Does this violate the 3 hour rule? Any thoughts?

clacko

that's unfortunate!..... 3hr 15min is more than 3 hr.....i don't think that pax get any of the fine money, but elites are often given some rdm for delay situations....i doubt that i would take the time to figure out where to report the delay....but perhaps you can....good luck..

jcmitchell21

I'd raise a stink.

videomaker

That's an interesting question, because even though the plane returned to the gate twice, the 3-hour rule begins when passengers were no longer permitted to deplane. That's even if the plane is at the gate with the doors open.

I'm curious how they kept anyone from getting off if they wanted to, assuming the door was open (twice) while maintenance was working on the problem.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Sounds like it did. In my past experiences, the pilot has made an announcement that people may get off to go get food but should return immediately to the gate area for an announcement on boarding. The pilot made it perfectly clear that anyone not at the gate when reboarding was announced would be left behind.

However one point to the OP, how long were the waits at the gate while maintainence was onboard. If a short period of time than I can understand not allowing paxs to deplane.

cynicAAl

I'm guessing they made an announcement that people weren't allowed off the plane ?

lehms

The waits were lengthy but the flight attendants( who were very surly) kept insisting that it was a short delay and no one could get off.

This was a packed plane with many kids onboard. It wasn't handled well

gemac

Flatulence? Could work.

FA: "Ladies and Gentlemen, we've had a change of plans. Everybody off the plane. Follow me!".

Tries

is a leak in galley not to be considered as a mechanical issue with all consequences?

lehms

Would you/should I write a letter to customer service?

NotDuncan

Yes/Yes

sluggoaafa

No. Plane originally left on-time, however returned to gate due to mx. Not knowing how long mx would take, everyone was asked to remain on-board, item was 'fixed'. Now, the plane pushes back again, yet the problem comes up again. Again, not knowing if it would be a quick fix or lengthy, allowing pax to deplane, but the fix would be taken care of in 10 minutes, let's say, then you have to wait for all the pax who got off the plane get back to the plane and reboard.

Sounds like it was a rolling delay. It's unfortunate, however the plane was catered for it's original flt/departure (with the '12 sandwiches') so the 95% of pax wouldn't have gotten anything on the original departure.

It is a shame that the FAs didn't use the provisioning of Granola Bars to satisfy the needs, but it would be good to write to AA.COM/Customerrelations to let them know of your disappointment in how things were handled.

nrr

Also contact the DOT, and let them decide if the 3 hour rule was violated.

JDiver

They didn't have the Right Person on board, or they would have been able to have granola bars (and maybe loaves and fishes) for all.

Well, I wonder what the OP would read like if... (just imagining, of course)

A 6 hour delay and a question

"They made us deplane the second time we returned to the gate, and even remove all our carryons and personal items. Once the mechanical issue was cleared the crew went overtime so we had to wait over two hours for a new crew. The children were very cranky, the shops didn't have enough water and food for everyone and ran out of change; they should have comped it all anyway because it was their fault."

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Ultimately it is the Captain that needs to communicate to paxs and make decisions. It sounds like he/she did a very poor job. The Captain is dependent upon what others tell him. So if Maintanence says this should take 30-45 minutes to fix, no he is not going to want to allow paxs to deplane. But it might end up taking 90 minutes. But he/she should have been communicating all along with paxs.