canuck_in_pa

The plane diverted to Allentown due to a mechanical. The pax are being loaded on a bus to Newark right now.

The return, 655, is cancelled too.

spartacus

With EWR traffic they will probably get home sooner.

Cargojon

Do they get an extra segment credit for the bud ride?

otralot

did the bus have IFE

MikeMpls

Why did they cancel NW 655? Will the bus not have to return to Allentown?

RobOnLI

By the time the bus ever got to EWR you'd be looking at rush hour traffic to get out of EWR/NYC Metro. Worse congestion than a EWR runway at 5:00pm on a Thursday afternoon

I was booked on NW655 today (EWR-DTW). Frustrating as I was looking from my mobile phone as I drove over from Long Island. Knowing the inbound aircraft was 656 I pulled up the status of that and I saw at 2p that it was diverting to ABE (it was still in the air). So I call the elite line and the agent informed that she has no knowledge of what aircraft will be used for NW655. Since NW655 was still showing on-time she couldn't do anything for me.

When I finally got to Term B at EWR the plane was showing 20 minutes late. I laughed and said to myself there was no chance in hell of that happening. Even with a 75 mile flight (ABE-EWR), you basically have to get sequenced into the EWR landing pattern before take off which means the plane was gonna sit for awhile - assuming they could fix it. Then, who wants to get onto a plane that just went mechanical and diverted during a very short flight between DTW & EWR? I'd have probably gotten on but I could see some people requesting a flight change.

NW655 finally cancelled at 350p. A call to the elite line got things squared away for me. I wound up on CO2287 EWR-MEM and then NW953 MEM-SEA. The CO jungle jet was leaving in 45 minutes so I had to hoof it over to Term A and re-clear security with "SSSS" on my BP. Thankfully I asked the NW agent to cross it off, which she did and she wrote "Reroute NWA". The TSA guy was confused by this but asked a supervisor and they let me through without the anal cavity search.

I wound up landing in SEA 20 minutes behind my originally scheduled DTW-SEA flight (which btw was 40 minutes late). So I flew more miles and got in earlier. Cool!

-RM

Stripe

The important question is whether you got upgraded on the MEM-SEA flight. I have generally been pretty lucky in getting an F seat on alternate flights during irrops.

RobOnLI

Of course! As a plat elite already booked into "R" for the entire journey home I asked the agent to find me first class seats. He was very helpful. Unfortunately I had a Barbie Jet flight to MEM on CO but then booked straight into "F" for MEM-SEA. Sorry to any elites on the MEM-SEA flight but IRROPS trump battlefields (Of course, I say that because I'm in that situation but I hate it when I'm at the top of the list for a battlefield and I lose it to someone booked into F at the last second because of IRROPS).

My only other option was NW EWR-MSP-SEA but EWR-MSP didn't have F available and it got into SEA two hours later. I'm fine w/ the Barbie Jet for two hours in this situation.

My NW flight should post tomrw and I'm guessing it posts as "F/F". CO will probably post a few days later and should show "Y/Y".

-RM

Stripe

The Class Paid on the NW flight should show your original class paid (so no 150% EQMs) but the CO flight may show "Y/Y" (unless they rebooked it as a NW code share and didn't reticket that portion).

In any case, EWR-MEM-SEA gets you about 400 EQMs more than EWR-DTW-SEA.

MarqFlyer

Not necessarily true. I have been rebooked into a better-earning fare class many times, and usually (might even be always, can't recall) get the EQMs from that higher class.^

rtarbuck

Same here but I think they have closed that loophole as it ain't working that way anymore.

RobOnLI

Sorry but not true. When you are re-routed due to an involuntary action (such as your plane being cancelled) and the airline issues it as a new e-ticket, you will receive all miles and bonuses for your new fare class. In my case that was "F" for MEM-SEA and it posted as "F/F" as I suspected. CO will also post as "Y/Y" in a day or two.

What doesn't work, and the loophole that NW has closed with regards to receiving bonuses, is if you somehow wind up in a different fare class for the flight you were supposed to be on or for a different flight between the same cities that does not result in a ticket re-issue. For example, last week I was on SEA-MSP which cancelled as I was checking in. They put me on the earlier flight which was delayed and booked me right into "R". I still have no idea how they did it but the flight posted as "H/R" because H was what I had paid for the original flight and no new e-ticket was issued. I've also had rebooks go straight into "P" or "F" but the ticket didn't need to be re-issued which meant no bonus for me.

NW also closed the loophole where if you used FlyNow and said you wanted an upgrade when you were checking in for the new flights they would post as "R/R" resulting in 50% EQM bonus. That's been closed for awhile now as well.

-RM