IAD A Total Mess (And a question)
 

Im on 975 and have been listening to metering at the gate for 2 hours and my best guess is at least another hour til takeoff. No one is going anywhere and by the looks of the cell, you'd be crazy to want to.

My question is do I as a 1P on a PAID F ticket get a free hotel in SFO for a weather misconnect?

Here's the rule: http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/S*UAL/INVOLUNTARY_REROUTE-AMENITY

Yes, Domestic paid F does get hotel for weather, see S*UAL/INVOLUNTARY REROUTE-AMENITY
There are a few if, ands and buts -- so read the full rule

According to that, I guess he should get a hotel in SFO per:

ANY FLIGHT INTERRUPTION INCLUDING THOSE CAUSED BY WEATHER OR ATC THAT RESULTS IN GS/1K/PASSPLUS/UF/UB OR STAR GOLD (INCLUDING DOMESTIC PORTIONS OF AN INTL ITINERARY) CUSTOMERS BEING UNABLE TO REACH THEIR SCHEDULED DESTINATION BY THE LAST DEPARTURE OF THE DAY.

Assuming UF is United First.

Time for the red roof inn!

Or as they call it, "Friday."

Still here, but this F suite is probably the best place to be ;)

What's your final destination on this trip?

Goin to ONT and have been protected in the morning. Our departure (J149) has opened but IAD still seems closed plus there are numerous a/c that have been released from metering and are waiting on the taxiway. We still have not been released from metering although we are #1, but have been for close to an hour.

I told you last night that anything can happen. :D

Glad to hear it's a relatively short connection. Given the scheduled arrival into SFO, I thought you were going to say Sydney.

Hope you're not too inconvenienced.

Does that imply that weather can make the IAD A experience even worse than normal :eek: ?

Yes.

I live a little West of IAD and storms have been rolling through for the last few hours ... were pretty nasty earlier.

Now we have a medical emergency onboard. Medics are now onboard and trying to get a passenger off. Been in this comfy seat on the ground for more than 4 hous now ;)

Flight 975
Not Departed
Fri, Aug 21
Scheduled: 5:30 PM
Estimated: 9:20 PM

:eek:

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Fat chance. Now we have doors 2L and 2R open recatering. Maybe out of here by 10.

I do love those easy updates every 15 minutes like clockwork :)

just a bit better

Flight: (UA) United Airlines 975
Departure Date: Fri Aug 21, 2009
Status: Flight is Currently En Route
Delayed 240 minutes
Last change to status 3 minutes ago
Arrival Estimate: Estimated Gate Arrival at 12:05 AM


LOL, still on the ground, but, hey, it left the gate

Some more IAD fun....
933 from FRA was diverted to Richmond, VA. Got there at 8:40, scheduled to fly to IAD at 10:30.

The continuation of 933, IAD-DEN, was scheduled to leave at 9:55 p.m., it's now scheduled to go at 1:00 a.m.


Both 915 from Paris and 951 from Brussels diverted to Atlantic City and have since landed at Dulles.

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There is still rain in the area, but most of the bad storms have left

Didn't realize the runway was that long there!

Neither did I. Thought they'd have to land on the Expressway.

975 is now in flight, scheduled to arrive to SFO at 12:14 a.m., a little over four hours late.

Departed at :28 past the hour. Yahoo....

Runway 4-22 is 10000 feet. The airport also handles the NJ Air National Guard, with its fighters, and while it may not be everyone's first diversion choice, it can handle widebodies.

Any information on ATL? My sister's flight has been on the tarmac for 45 minutes now, awaiting take off to TLV.

Edited: nevermind, apparently they've just taken off.

Looking at realtime radar @ weather.com-ATL or the FAA site-ATL are the best sites
for general delay info.

For USA in general
Flight Delay Information - Air Traffic Control System Command Center

DL152 appears to be about 250 miles from ATL. ETA 5:30pm local time in TLV.

Listening to ATC at IAD, they're still vectoring inbounds around weather, but things appear to be flowing better. I'm seeing a couple of diverted departures. Unclear on that. Looks like UA933, bound for DEN, has diverted to RIC....and just returned back to IAD. Wow, weird night...

Was on UA 660 today. Did 45 minutes on the ground in DEN after push. Put in one hold after another on arrival into IAD. Pilot came on and said we'd have 3 laps in this last hold otherwise it would be RIC for us. IAD came back just in time and set the airport up for approaches on 19L/R. We headed north of the airport and the controller asked the guy in front of us if he could take a 10 knot tailwind on landing since winds were out of the north. Both our aircraft could, but the winds strengthened to 12 knots, above the limit. ATC informed us it would be another hold while the airport was reconfigured. Our pilot refused and took us to BWI.

A great day to have Channel 9 on!

A great day for Ch 9 indeed. Especially listening to Dulles Metering which appears to have no rules when it comes to pilots talking to other pilots. Some interesting transmissions:

Pilot A: XX YYYY can I get a number to a super?
Controller: I can get you the number to Command Center.
Pilot A: Sure
Controller: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Pilot A: Ya, thanks (sarcastic).
Pilot B: If that doesn't work, why don't you all 1-800-Mother Nature
Pilot C: LOL
Pilot A: Ya, I would have but the weather was 80 miles east an hour ago.
Pilot B: Boo-hoo.


Pilot A: Have I cleared Metering yet?!?!
Controller: Who are you?
Pilot A: XX YYYY
Controller: No, you're number 7.
Pilot A: I've been waiting here for nearly an hour.
[10 second pause]
Pilot B: Wow...an hour isn't that long.
Controller: Ya, really. Wahh.
Pilot A: When will the weather clear?
Controller: I didn't get my meteorologist degree.


Then the metering controller seemed to go on a 10 minute hiatus, but all the pilots are still talking!

"Where is this guy?!?!
"Took a vacation, or something".


Sitting at the Red Roof Inn, but apperntly not because of the Paid F. Agent said no, only 1K/GS. I then mumbled something and she went, "Are you Premier Exec?" I said yes and she said, "Okay, I can get you a hotel".

I left it at that :D

Bad night around IAD.

Things quieted down after 9-10, but then picked up big time around midnight. IAD ended Fri with a record for the day 2.2+ inches of rain ... areas north/west got upwards of 4 inches.

Seems the front is taking its time coming through the area and everyone in the DC metro area is under a flood watch until late Sat.

Round 2 of "Total Mess" is expected today.

This Wednesday (8/19) I had a missed connection at IAD heading to MHT due to weather. I told them I am a 1P but they said since it was due to weather, no free hotel night around Dulles. From this information, 1P=star gold, it looks like United should have paid for the hotel room. Is this really the case?

My interpretation of *G here is any >international/foreign< carrier's passenger ... would seem to make sense. Thoughts?

The continuation of UA 933 from Dulles to Denver was scheduled to depart at 9:55 p.m. It didn't actually leave until 2:46 a.m. Got into Denver at 4:14 a.m.

Wow.

*G/1P only get hotel for weather/ATC if on an international itinerary (including the domestic portion)

The weather forecast for this afternoon at IAD should make for another challenging day for the schedule.

Near 2 hour delay and feel lucky
 

I was on UA49 IAD - LAX yesterday. Scheduled departure was 12:40 p.m. We left the gate on time and made it to number 5 for departure until the atc hold came. We left 1 hour 50 minutes late and arrived at LAX at just about 4 p.m. or an hour late.

Given what happened to many others at IAD I feel lucky.

CB

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Over the course of the flight, after the flight at SFO, and at the Red Roof Inn, I probably spoke with 15 people and where they were headed. One guy was going to BUR, one to OGG and the rest were all going to either SYD or MEL. Tough.

During the summer, one should avoid all departures from around 2pm on if at all possible.

And it isn't just IAD. Bad weather at PHL or the NYC airports can F up the entire NE.

There were issues coming into DC late at night as well. My mother and father actually arrived a little early (12:37am last night/this morning) on their flight from Denver, but had to wait until roughly 3 am to get their bags. Oof.

That wasn't an "issue" at all; that's UA's IAD baggage policy at any time of day; IAD baggage handling sucks out loud, end of story.

Will