Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > United Airlines | MileagePlus
Reload this Page >

KC Chiefs' equipment container not unload properly from UA flight

KC Chiefs' equipment container not unload properly from UA flight

Old Dec 8, 2019, 3:13 pm
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2011
Programs: Delta PM, Hyatt Plat-ist, Bonvoyyyyyyed, Hilton $15 Daily F&B Receiver, Food Lion MVP
Posts: 1,203
KC Chiefs' equipment container not unload properly from UA flight

The Kansas City Chiefs' UA charter yesterday (https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...800Z/KMCI/KPVD) apparently didn't have all of its cargo fully unloaded before continuing on to EWR about an hour after landing, meaning the much of the Chiefs' equipment was in Jersey instead of Foxboro.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/p...qiP/story.html

Looks like the error was only discovered today and UA flew the container on a regular commercial flight to BOS (https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...740Z/KEWR/KBOS - based on the fact that the equipment arrived at Gillette about 2:50pm). Looks like the EWR-PVD flights weren't properly timed to get the cargo up, and the regional jets couldn't load a cargo container anyway.

I wonder why the charter even ferried to EWR unless catering simply wasn't available at PVD, which would surprise me.
ekozie is offline  
Old Dec 8, 2019, 4:03 pm
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Rochester, MN
Programs: UA Silver, Hilton HHonors Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 1,823
Apparently the Chiefs weren't phased, as they are taking it to NE right now.
Hawkeyefan is offline  
Old Dec 8, 2019, 5:45 pm
  #3  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Programs: Hertz PC
Posts: 657
United about caused NFL team to forfeit

Must of been some Patriot fans on United's Boston ground crew. They left equipment on plane and ended up in EWR.

Chief's equipment personal didnt know till Sunday morning equipment didnt arrive at stadium. Arrived 2 hours before gametime.

Personally think it's on Chiefs for not having someone escort equipment.
bhunt is offline  
Old Dec 8, 2019, 5:53 pm
  #4  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Morris County, NJ
Programs: UA 1K/*G, Avis Pres, Marriott Plat
Posts: 2,296
The Chiefs said it was their fault, they forgot to unload. Didn't see any blame placed on United in the news ...
dmurphynj is offline  
Old Dec 8, 2019, 6:30 pm
  #5  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: DREAD Gold; UA 1.035MM; Bonvoy Au-197; PCC Elite+; CCC Elite+; MSC C-12; CWC Au-197; WoH Dis
Posts: 52,110
Originally Posted by Hawkeyefan
Apparently the Chiefs weren't phased, as they are taking it to NE right now.
Done and done. Go Chiefs!
msglsmo likes this.
mahasamatman is offline  
Old Dec 8, 2019, 6:44 pm
  #6  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: KEWR
Programs: Marriott Platinum
Posts: 790
I fly a lot of the Chiefs NFL charters on the 764. Its not United that offloads their equipment but rather their own staff.

I know its fun to pile on United here for anything remotely odd or funny but this one isnt on the airline.
clubord is offline  
Old Dec 8, 2019, 6:51 pm
  #7  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Pacific Northwest
Programs: UA Gold 1MM, AS 75k, AA Plat, Bonvoyed Gold, Honors Dia, Hyatt Explorer, IHG Plat, ...
Posts: 16,632
Originally Posted by clubord
I fly a lot of the Chiefs NFL charters on the 764. It’s not United that offloads their equipment but rather their own staff.
Is it common that customers (off-)load their own containers on charters? I would have thought UA would want to do that since it’s their multi million dollar aircraft.

I know it’s fun to pile on United here for anything remotely odd or funny but this one isn’t on the airline.
True on the first part. But... shouldn’t UA also know what is on the aircraft for the next flight? No trust but verify? Weight and balance and all that...
notquiteaff is online now  
Old Dec 8, 2019, 7:04 pm
  #8  
 
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 12
Wow. The ramp had better be getting paid off by the Patriots, because very little else would explain how they bugled this up that badly.

So either the ramp got distracted close to the end of offloading and forgot about the last cans.
Perhaps someone thought that they didnt need what was in the last cans and purposely left them on board. At this point, proper oversight (Chiefs equipment MGMT, Charter Ops, Ramp lead etc) should have caught that the numbers of what was offloading wasnt adding up.

The more serious problem lies in when the plane leaves to go to Newark. Did no one - the Ramp, the Chiefs, United - notice or were curious as to why there were hundreds of pounds in cans still loaded on to the aircraft? I hate to wonder if these cans were marked as scanned off the ac and the plane flew with a thousand pound load error to Newark...?

Many things went wrong for this to happen. Also very interested in the chiefs acting as their own ramp operation for their plane if not United ramp crews? Perhaps part of the problem here.

Also a note - The 737 the bags eventually went to Boston in cannot accept the LD2 cans (or any can for that matter) they were originally loaded into on the 764, so the bags must have been taken out of the cans and placed into the 737 bulk bin.
WidgetPlanes is offline  
Old Dec 8, 2019, 7:47 pm
  #9  
Moderator: Smoking Lounge; FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: Lifetime (for now) Gold MM, HH Gold, Giving Tootsie Pops to UA employees, & a retired hockey goalie
Posts: 28,867
Baggage-Gate? 😉🏈
msglsmo and Hawkeyefan like this.
goalie is offline  
Old Dec 8, 2019, 7:50 pm
  #10  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: KEWR
Programs: Marriott Platinum
Posts: 790
The teams equipment (electronics/medical/etc.) is stored in custom storage boxes and the player equipment in oversized duffle bags. There are no large cans used like what most are accustomed to seeing on a regular passenger flights.

I should probably clarify a previous statement I made upthread. The United staff does help offload the bags to the extent they are needed but it is ultimately the team employees that remove the equipment and load the large moving trucks that go directly from the airport to the field.

Last edited by clubord; Dec 8, 2019 at 7:59 pm
clubord is offline  
Old Dec 8, 2019, 7:51 pm
  #11  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 261
Originally Posted by notquiteaff
Is it common that customers (off-)load their own containers on charters? I would have thought UA would want to do that since its their multi million dollar aircraft.



True on the first part. But... shouldnt UA also know what is on the aircraft for the next flight? No trust but verify? Weight and balance and all that...
Yes it is common for sports teams to have a professional logistics company move their things. Old dominion is a common company who does it. The airline almost never touches their equipment.
BB2220 is offline  
Old Dec 8, 2019, 8:02 pm
  #12  
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Shared Troll
Programs: The Marina. Comic Relief. UA 1K and 1MM. MacBook Pro.
Posts: 1,913
KC actually promoted their former groundskeeper and put him in charge of cargo ops. He was featured in this commercial:

SFO_Runner is offline  
Old Dec 8, 2019, 11:54 pm
  #13  
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: united
Posts: 1,636
Originally Posted by SFO_Runner
KC actually promoted their former groundskeeper and put him in charge of cargo ops. He was featured in this commercial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmgice3ieZ4
The Chiefs' groundskeeper was George Toma, who was working at old KC Municipal Stadium when Lamar Hunt discovered him there. He was so good at the job he became groundskeeper for the Super Bowl.
dilanesp is offline  
Old Dec 9, 2019, 7:43 am
  #14  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Honolulu Harbor
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 14,925
Originally Posted by clubord
I fly a lot of the Chiefs NFL charters on the 764. Its not United that offloads their equipment but rather their own staff....
You don't seriously believe it's Chiefs employees in UA holds offloading equipment do you?

If I pick up my bag off the tarmac or off a cart, I am not offloading my bag.

UA failed in offloading equipment and I guess Chiefs staff trust the offloaders and don't have a checklist to insure they have everything.

Chiefs beat Patriots, which is fine with me. Maybe the football pressure measuring device was the missing equipment and Chiefs won anyway.
IAH-OIL-TRASH is offline  
Old Dec 9, 2019, 8:54 am
  #15  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: KEWR
Programs: Marriott Platinum
Posts: 790
Originally Posted by IAH-OIL-TRASH
You don't seriously believe it's Chiefs employees in UA holds offloading equipment do you?

If I pick up my bag off the tarmac or off a cart, I am not offloading my bag.

UA failed in offloading equipment and I guess Chiefs staff trust the offloaders and don't have a checklist to insure they have everything.

Chiefs beat Patriots, which is fine with me. Maybe the football pressure measuring device was the missing equipment and Chiefs won anyway.
Now we are getting into ridiculous minutia.

It is the UA employees assisting the Chiefs employees offloading the bags of which the Chiefs employees ARE the ones physically loading and organizing the box trucks full of their equipment which go to/from the airport to the stadium. The NFL teams are the ones that provide United with the cargo manifest. Charters do not go through the traditional UAL channels that occur during a Part 121 passenger flight and thus cargo is the team's responsibility. They are the ones that track it not United.

I bid to fly these NFL charters and probably work 15-20 every season. Usually the Titans, Chiefs, Browns, or 49ers and have a pretty good grasp on how these things work.

Thanks for the input though, would be happy to clarify any additional details to the extent I can in regards to how our charters work.
aindfan, wrp96, fezzington and 3 others like this.

Last edited by clubord; Dec 9, 2019 at 9:05 am
clubord is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.