zjacoby

My friend who was flying on El Al from TLV to LAX and then had a 9 hour layover in LAX was told the original aircraft was "stolen". Due to the stolen aircraft his flight was delayed a few hours. 1st, what does this actually entail. Would rule 240 be in effect during this? What could be done to get him out of LAX earlier.

Thanks!

Nevada1K

As WN flies only 737 aircraft, it is relatively easy for them to swap aircraft if a plane has a mechanical or other problem -- if the aircraft being used for a 2:00pm flight has a problem, they might substitute ("steal") the aircraft scheduled for a lightly booked 3:00pm flight and use it for the 2:00pm, and later substitute a different aircraft for the 3:00pm flight. Depending upon the nature of the problem on the original aircraft, if it's minor and they simply need to replace a part that takes 45 minutes labor, they may very well be able to repair the plane and have it back in service for the 3:00pm flight.

I had this happen to me a couple of months ago at LAX; the plane was closed up and ready for pushback when a problem was discovered. They ended up offloading us and sending us to another gate where they had "stolen" a plane which had been scheduled for a different destination.

As for your friend -- in irregular ops like this, in my experience WN will do everything possible to accommodate inconvenienced pax on other WN flighjts (they do not interline)... and if you are traveling someplace that involves a connection, they will look at reroute possibilities to get you to your destination. However, if you are only taking a single leg flight, you will typically be booked on the next available flight to your destination.

tusphotog

Well, stealing a plane is a lot like stealing a car. Hop in when nobody is looking, remove the Club, fiddle around under the dash, connect some wires and presto, your plane is now hot wired. To take off, go real fast then pull up.

Couldn't resist. Sorry.

To make this useful: Rule 240 doesn't work on WN since they don't interline with anyone. As for getting out sooner, if your friend had been going to SJC, for example, he could have asked to go on the next flight to OAK or SFO. Or, if you're nice to the GA, sometimes they'll route you through LAS. I've done this the past when my flight has really late: TUS-LAS-LAX instead of TUS-LAX.

nsx

Yes, it's just like they show on TV. I saw this once on an episode of Airplane, so I'm sure it happens a lot on Southwest.