Last one was actually right before covid in March of 2020.

No, they are being paid. They are paid to do a job, some of which is at the gate.

that’s a simplification. Flight pay is from doors close to doors open and is much higher than duty pay.

This happened to me in SLC once with Delta. I had a 767-300 take me from LAX to SLC. The plane that was supposed to take me to MCI went tech and the flight was cancelled. I was routed on the same 763 to DEN where I changed to a UA 737-500 to head to MCI. What a trip.

I also flew from DTW to GRR on a DC-9-50 with Delta. A return later the same day put me back on that same plane, which then headed to MCI. Jokingly, the crew accused me of stalking them. I will never forget the registration number on the aircraft: N671MC.

I had flown every single one of Ethiopian Airlines' 787-8s except ET-ATI. In the last 2 weeks, I have had that exact aircraft on 3 consecutive flights including a random connection with last minute aircraft substitution. And I was assigned the exact same seat on all 3 flights as well. Go figure.

I have had that at least once, more or less. Even had the same FA crew on both flights. The more or less is because I was doing a MR and the flight was an out and back. So it turned around and returned to its base. I cannot remember if I had the same seat but one FA recognized me when I got back on and asked about my return. I thought about making up a fanciful story that I was transporting a million dollars worth of diamonds to a jeweler but just admitted making a MR. It was also at the end of the year so I was burning expiring drink coupons and ordering doubles time when the FA passed through the cabin during the service. I did admit to the person next to me who was a bit concerned when the forth bottle came that I was not drinking them just using the soon to expire coupons.

I had this exact scenario in Sep 2007 with a Delta 757 (N677DL, ATL-ONT-ATL)

also had the same DL 757 N681DL on both legs of my MCO-LAX-SEA connection in Jan 1994

going waaaaaaay back, on an Allegheny Airlines (USAir/US Airways predecessor) “Liberty Fare” trip in Jan 1976, I took a BAC 1-11 JFK-ALB and a DHC-6 Twin Otter ALB-SYR before continuing SYR-ROC-PIT and PIT-BAL … both the later flights were the same jet as the first flight (N1126J)

if I dig thru my log I’m sure I can find a dozen or so other occurrences

as promised (threatened, lol) -- turns out the number is actually closer to *three* dozen

• 1972 Mohawk "Weekends Unlimited" -- FH-227B N7815M DCA-ELM-ITH followed by ITH-LGA
• Dec 1975 the same Allegheny "Liberty Fare" -- deHaviland Heron N84FB CLE-MFD-CLE (direct turn, just to get the entire AL fleet)
• Apr 1983 United 737 N9008U DEN-MCI followed by MCI-ORD (probably my first deliberate "MR")
• Apr 1984 United 72S N7462U BWI-RIC-BWI direct turn (accumulating segments)
• Mar 1985 TWA L-1011 N11004 LAX-SAN direct turn (cheaper to fly LAX-SAN and SAN-LAX-SFO than LAX-SFO, but also a pretty simple MR)
• Jul 1988 United 72S N7463U SEA-SFO followed by SFO-LAX (accumulating miles/segments)
• Sep 1992 Delta 767 N107DL SEA-DFW followed by DFW-ATL (accumulating miles/segments)
• Dec 2005 Delta 737 N375DL CVG-ORD-CVG direct turn (accumulating miles/segments)
• Jul 2006 Alaska (Horizon) DH4 N406QX LAX-BOI followed by BOI-SEA
• Sep 2007 Continental Express Beech 1900 N835CA IAD-CLE followed by CLE-DTW
• Sep 2007 Continental Express ERJ-145 N34111 EWR-MCI followed by MCI-CLE (MR)
• Sep 2007 Continental 738 N76254 CLE-FLL direct turn (MR)
• Sep 2008 Northwest Saab 340 N415XJ MSP-MQT followed by MQT-DTW
• Aug 2012 Delta 757 N618DL DCA-DTW followed by DTW-SLC (MR)
• Aug 2013 Alaska (Horizon) DH4 N426QX STS-PDX followed by PDX-SEA
• Dec 2013 Delta (SkyWest) CR7 N631SK SEA-LAX followed by LAX-OAK-LAX (MR)
• Dec 2013 Delta (SkyWest) CR7 N608SK SJC-LAX followed by LAX-SEA (MR)
• Oct 2014 Delta 738 N3735D DTW-SEA followed by SEA-ANC (MR)
• Dec 2014 Delta (Compass) ERJ-175 N608CZ SEA-GEG direct turn (MR)
• May 2015 Delta 739 N831DN MSY-ATL followed by ATL-SEA
• Aug 2015 Alaska (Horizon) DH4 N423QX SEA-PDX followed by PDX-EUG
• Feb 2017 Alaska 739 N461AS SEA-LAX followed by LAX-BWI
• Mar 2017 Alaska 739 N306S BWI-SAN (inaugural flight) followed by SAN-SEA
• Jul 2017 Kenmore Air deHaviland Beaver N900KA LKE-YWH-LKE direct turn
• Aug 2017 Alaska (Horizon) DH4 N414QX LAX-SUN followed by SUN-SEA
• Apr 2018 Alaska 739 N413AS PDX-MCO followed by MCO-SAN (MR)
• Apr 2018 Alaska (SkyWest) E75 N178SY DCA-DAL followed by DAL-SEA
• Mar 2019 Alaska (Horizon) E75 N630QX PAE-LAS-PAE direct turn (inaugural flight)
• May 2021 Alaska 739 N247AK SEA-CVG-SEA direct turn (inaugural flight)
• Jun 2022 Alaska 7M9 N920AK SEA-CLE-SEA direct turn (inaugural flight)
• Oct 2022 Alaska 738 N565AS SEA-SJC-SEA direct turn
• Jan 2023 Alaska (Horizon) DH4 N421QX direct turn (retirement flight)
• Feb 2023 American Eagle E75 N104HQ DCA-BOS-DCA direct turn
• Aug 2024 Southern Airways Express Cessna 208B Caravan N809SA IAD-MGW-IAD direct turn

​​​​​
also numerous instances of return flights a few days later on the same equipment:

• Oct/Nov 1983 United 747 N4732U ORD-HNL and HNL-LAX
• Apr 1984 SkyWest Swearingen Metro N5336M LAX-SMX and SMX-LAX
• Nov 1985 TWA 767 N603TW LAX-IAD and IAD-LAX
• Sep 1985 PSA MD-80 N925PS SFO-SEA and SEA-LAX
• Jan 1986 American Eagle (Chaparral Airways) Gulfstream 1C N245CA, DFW-ABI and ABI-DFW
• Feb 1987 TWA L-1011 N31009 JFK-BOS and BOS-JFK (overnight turn for miles/segments)
• Aug 2007 Alaska 738 N566AS DCA-LAX and LAX-DCA
• Dec 2008 Northwest 753 N582NW MSP-SEA and SEA-MSP
• Oct 2014 Delta A319 N318NB IAD-ATL and ATL-IAD
• Dec 2015 American Eagle CR7 N511AE CLT-IAD and DCA-MHT
• Feb 2024 Alaska 739 N474AS SEA-IAD and IAD-SEA
• May 2024 Loganair ATR-42 G-LMSB ABZ-KOI and KOI-ABZ

I’ve had this happen a couple of times in fairly recent memory (last three years)

FAI-ANC-PDX on AS
PDX-SLC-SAT on DL

There might be a few other examples that are slipping my mind. In general I would say it’s likely to happen from time to time to any frequent flier.

Edit: found another one from 2021, PDX-SEA-FAI on AS

Last few ones i can recall straight out would be:

DPS - KUL - MAA on Malaysian Airlines - July 2023
MAA - CMB - SIN on SriLankan Airlines - Multiple times over 2024

Cut and paste from a post I made regarding my situation in 2017:

Very frustrating scenario this morning, but I do not blame Delta.
My flight from LAN to DTW was delayed to due dense fog at DTW. Originally scheduled to depart LAN at 5:35am, it was announced there was a delay until 8:00. Passengers boarded around 7:40, then we had to de-ice, then sat for about 45 minutes. Captain announced that we could not leave because of the continued dense fog situation at DTW, so we went back to the gate and deplaned.
It was then announced the fog problem was gone, and most everyone then boarded again. Flight ended up leaving a little around 10:30, and arrived at DTW at 10:56.
The very unusual thing for me was that it was the exact same plane that was scheduled to go to RDU from DTW, which meant that flight also was continuously delayed for the same amount of time as the LAN-DTW flight.
The flight from DTW to RDU consisted of two passengers, me included. The other person had originated in LAN also.
I fly semi frequently, but I have never experienced both situations of the same plane going to the final destination and only two passengers on the plane.
Luckily, I did not have any critical meetings that morning, and I could reschedule for the afternoon.
Just thought I'd share.

LAX - DTW - XXX. Northwest. Same aircraft on both segments. When I got to my final destination, my bag was still in Detroit. They took it off the plane in Detroit and didn't reload it.

Now that's just rude. Sheesh!

I believe that this has happened to me twice times, from a smaller number of flights than the typical flyertalker. But, I'm not going to list the flights as I'm not 100% sure. It's not the kind of thing I've been taking notice of.

The only time I'm absolutely sure this sort of thing happened to me is Auckland, New Zealand, through Istanbul, Turkey, to ... pretty sure it was Manchester in the UK. We actually stayed on the plane for an hour or more. I remember walking to the open door of the plane so that I could look out and see Turkey. Which I didn't visit until decades later. Turkey looked like a runway covered in snow. (Might not have been an actual runway I was looking at.) But, this doesn't qualify as we didn't get to a gate.

I think that maybe it happened to me on Scoot Airlines in Bangkok in a flight which was London through Bangkok to Singapore. But, even though it was only a couple of years ago I'm struggling to remember if we were taken off the plane or not. I think we stayed on. Maybe.

Now that I know this is a point of interest on Flyertalk I'll take more interest.

Only one on British Airways that happened to me.

On Delta recently, a 737-900ER was to be used on my flight, originating from a Delta hub. The pilot was sick so they delayed the flight to the next morning. They moved the plane to a different gate but used the plane originally planned for the flight.