uastarflyer

And that the CFO thinks many of them are over-entitled.

OskiBear

This whole thing sort of doesn't make a lot of sense.

This is PVG, not some strange outpost without any other flights from UA or other airlines.

I guess we'll never know, but it would be helpful to understand the logic behind the decisions. Was it one of those cascading situations where each time they thought it was solved, something else happened which made the delay longer?

Or was it simply an intent on their part to not rebook passengers?

If it's the former, I can have a little sympathy (within reason) but if it was the latter, that's simply inexcusable.

With UA's network in Asia plus *A network, 200 people should have been easily rerouted back to the US. Any sort of random rerouting is probably better than 3 days of back-and-forth to the airport to find out the flight is cancelled/delayed once again.

BillyBaloney

Here's the scoop:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/united-pass...9#.UARPHpE-GZS

jasp25

This happened in Shanghai so I'm not surprised by that... If people don't know how to cue up orderly, I won't be surprised if things like this happen.

TonyBurr

Probably Jeff just putting the "entitled Elite" in their place. This is a disgrace and should be a huge embarrassment to UA.

flyinghigh77

omg. what is going on with united. so much bad press. that airline is really going down the drain. i am happy that i just recently switched all my spending over to delta.

SFOFastAir

This article seem to include many of the facts of this incident that many posters here have been speculating freely about.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...passenger.html

Quick summary:

Issue with the engine...

plane goes INOP on Wednesday...
due to parts they wee not able to get it fixed until Friday...
They were not able to leave Friday due to the crew timing out because of a boarding issue...that boarding issue was caused by the passengers refusing to go to the correct gate by the way....
flew out Saturday

"United acknowledged the difficult situation and refunded the cost of their tickets and offered passengers $1,000 off a future flight, according to Rahsaan Johnson, a spokesman for the airline. He added the airline found spots on other flights for 50 of Flight 87’s original 275 passengers but was unable to accommodate the rest."

DrDesmo

Sounds like my SYD trip.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...17-3-18-a.html

On the plus side, I'm in C on the upper deck of the 747 both ways when I try this adventure again ^

Cheers,
Adam

zigzagg900

I smell a class action lawsuit

jasp25

This is so hilarious!

"They [airport officials] grabbed him by the tie, and they pulled him physically across the counter and started slapping him."

Started slapping him!!!!!! LMAO hahahahaahaha

http://consumerist.com/2012/07/3-day-delay-for-united-flight-results-in-brawl-with-airport-employees.html

Boraxo

Hard to believe they could not task a few ICC drones to handle by phone. More likely the loads were high they did not want to pay to put people on carrier - so better to let the passengers sit it out if they think they can fix it.

Exactly. I know UA doesn't have ETOPS planes sitting idle but I am sure they could have found one to fly over and back (plus a crew) if the airline had been willing to incur the cost. Even a smaller plane would work and they could rebook the remainder. Or alternatively re-book on Air China or elsewhere. But more likely UA thought the problem could be solved quickly and later learned that it couldn't.

ULMFlyer

Maybe this has something to do with local regulations. I've also seen that happen when GIG-IAD was cancelled last year. Even though I called and asked to be rebooked to IAH, the agents at the airport were rebooking pax on whatever was available, including AA and DL.

gailwynand

There was a case a couple of months ago (I think at SHA but maybe PVG) where pax actually forced their way onto the tarmac in an attempt to get onto a delayed flight.

Pretty sure those people got away with a slap on the wrist too, in the US they would all be in Gitmo by now.

iahphx

Yeah, I read this story with interest as I fly this route regularly. As frequent int'l travellers know, things usually don't go wrong with int'l flights (fewer delays than on domestic flights) but when they do go wrong, truly horrible things can sometimes happen.

That said, the facts here don't make sense. In 3 days, UA could only route 50 pax on alternative flights to the USA? Are flights that busy now? I do remember full summer flights from China, but there must be 100 daily alternatives between PVG and NYC (going east or west -- I've seen the numerous Star routings when looking for award seats). Obviously, another black eye for UA with this incident.

ualp

"willing to incur the cost"

And THERE you have it!
As they say, if you're wondering WHY, Follow the Dollar.
It's usually the answer to many conundrums.