Hi, I've been a frequent viewer of this great board but just now have a good reason to get involved. I'm interested in learning about the flight diversion procedure for the airlines.

I hope this is the right place for this question!

I recentely had an experience where our flight was diverted from the intended destination (Monterey, CA) to Fresno, CA. This isn't that far away 3 hours +/- but the thing is there are three closer international airports that service this airline (US Airways). I am curious why they would choose Fresno over other airports that are much closer.

I have looked into the FAA alternate rules and it seems to discuss only that the alternate airports must meet the weather requiremetns. I know our original flight was diverted from Monterey due to fog but I am positive there was no fog or weather problem in San Jose.

My gut feeling is that US Airways flew us to Fresno because it was easier for THEM, and not for their customers.

Is there any way to figure out why they took us to Fresno?

Thanks so much!

JH

I can't point you to a resource that will definitely tell you why you detoured to Fresno. But I can suggest some reasons why an airline would divert to one airport over another:
1. The closest open airport was overwhelmed with other diversions.
2. The airline doesn't have regular operations at the closest airport.
3. The closest airport doesn't have a runway that's big enough to handle the plane.
4. The closest airport doesn't have sufficient takeoff and landing slots to accommodate all of the diverted airplanes.
5. The airplane went to the airport that it was closest to, not the airport closest to its destination.
6. The airline anticipated that diverted passengers would have to be put on alternative flights to the original destination (vs. reboarding the diverted airplane and continuing their flight). The airline chose the airport that would have a sufficient number of seats available on alternative flights.

When it comes to an alternate airport, dispatch selects one based primarily on safety, not whether passengers are close to their destination. Perhaps the airspace could've been too crowded or there could have been bad weather in the middle.

Thanks for the responses. All of your points make sense perfectly however, none apply. This is the reason I was so curious. In response:
1. There were 3 closer airports, I doubt there were many diversions this night. We were diverted from a very small coastal airport due to fog.
2. They do, at all three closer airports
3. This was a small plane, all 3 other airports are large international
4. This could be it, although it is hard to belive all 3 couldn't accomodate one small aircraft
5. This is absoultely not the case
6. If this was the case they would certainly have chosen chosen one of the other three larger airports

You can see why I am trying to get to the bottom of this. My gut instinct tells me it was more convenient for THEM, not us. If I do discover this to be true I won't travel (nor will my company) with them anymore.

Wiirachay, thanks too for your point. However, there were three large international airports closer than the small non-int airport they took us to. There was no bad weather inland. Even SFO (coastal) flights were landing this night.

Given your rebuttal to 2., I'm not quite sure how you can still think that the choice of diversion airport was because it was convenient for the airline. From experience, a diversion to an airport where you have no service or presence is far more difficult than diverting to an airport where you do. Trust me, it would have been far more convenient to divert to an airport with a presence so I would bet money on there having been a good reason to divert to Fresno.

If you were in a very small plane perhaps the 3 closer airports can't easily accommodate your type of plane. If they don't have appropriate gates and the airport isn't set up to normally allow passengers to deplane on the tarmac that could be a reason.

they may not have had to ferry the plane from the alternate airport.

the alternate airport may be the standard used for that airline, and is set up to accept and handle extra incoming.

the alternate may have had proper crew facilities.

for a couple asides. northern italy has a lot of fog problems in winter. psa is the alternate airport.

once when lhr was fogged in, we were diverted to cdg. cdg had no facilities to handle the issue. we sat on the plane for 6 or 7 hrs until the fog back at hr lifted.( that was a few years back, we were on twa)

Slawecki - when LHR has problems, diversions get sprayed all over the place - Cardiff, MAN, GLA, EDI. Earlier this year, 3 or 4 BA intercontinental flights even got diverted to PIK - a tin hut in the middle of nowhere used almost exclusively (for pax flights) by Ryanair... I would have loved to have seen some of the faces! (And yes, that is schadenfreude, but I have spent a night at TLH when I was supposed to be in LAS after a tech-based diversion, so I feel entitled!).

If you were on USAirways, you were most likely on a Regional Jet from Phoenix, as that is the only destination that US flies to from MRY. Checking the schedule, you were most likely coming in around 10 pm, unless the flight was late. The closest airport would have been SJC, but US does not fly RJs into SJC and indeed may not have had the equipment available. I also do not see any US RJs flying into SFO. That would only leave OAK, and I think it is a tossup as to which airport is closer to MRY, OAK or FAT.

You don't say, but I'm guessing you were bussed to MRY. It could be that it was quicker for the airline to get buses available out of FAT than OAK. The other issue that we don't know about is gate availability. Many aircraft park overnight at the gate, and it could have been that there were no US gates available at SJC, OAK, or SFO that late at night.