Hi all,

Overheard something as I was waiting in line to check my bags the other day. A couple apparently was booked on a flight from Asia --> ORD --> NYC (?) but their tickets wouldn't print. The counter reps called in an airline representative who said that their flight from ORD -> NYC was put on "hold" (but was not cancelled) due to weather - even though the flight wasn't scheduled for another 15+ hours at least. The rep pushed them toward a different route that presumably took longer because the couple didn't seem pleased.

I'm a bit of a newbie, but I've never heard of this happening. Weather changes a lot in a day, and it seems like this is something they should have sorted out once in ORD. My cynical thought is maybe they overbooked the ORD -> NYC flight and were trying to redirect the passengers? Anyone know if this is standard protocol?

Sounds like the airline was just acting proactively by trying to make arrangements in case the weather didn't cooperate but they weren't prepared to cancel the flight. It makes sense, if you're not 100% sure that a flight will be canceled then you don't want to start moving people around and messing with people's schedules, but at the same time you probably don't want to start booking more people on that same flight. I'm not sure if this is what was happening, but that's what my guess would be.

If it was overbook they would not get seat assignments but would still be allowed to check in.

on 3 occasions vce-muc-iad, and one occasion blq-fra-iad we were NOT cancelled. the plane had not been sent from usa to germany, but we ended up in germany scurrying for a place to stay and a place to eat.

do not fly through germany in the winter, if you can avoid it. they have fog, and snow, and no planes show up.

sure would have been nice if we could have spent that extra day in venice, instead of munich.