sfozrhfco

You can check it out yourself every day:

http://www.flightstats.com/go/Airlin...airlineCode=UA

down to 66% on-time so far today...

Thunderroad

Thanks! I hadn't realized there were so many flights per day.

aluminumdriver

I don't have time to go through all the pages, but I'll answer these two posts because they're somewhat related.

Sulley I read a report from the Chief Pilots in DC who went to a meeting with the Dulles gate agents and were read the riot act, pilots causing delays, breaking jets, etc....and then the chief pilots proceeded to tell the gate agents they were wrong on all their assumptions. They thought a pilot turning down a jet because the passenger seat wouldn't recline was a job action. Guess what, by FAA regs our rest seat has to recline. They thought we could go with all sorts of things broken, which we couldn't, and they had no idea all the problems we're having with load planning and dispatch. But the gate agents "just knew" there was a job action going on. They were wrong. In fact, the chief pilots there said point blank that there was no job action under way, and Chief pilots do NOT stand up for union pilots on a job actions btw, they are management.

I have complete sympathy for gate agents during these times, as we do for passengers disrupted and our lives disrupted.


Cosflyer, again I will say your accusation is wrong. If you heard two pilots being braggarts about something as they were drinking a beer, that does not make it a company wide job action. Some pilots just like to complain and talk how tough they are. I know of not one pilot who I've seen or heard involved in any job action. In fact our union is saying very publicly and loudly to us to not do anything that could be construed as a job action for fear the company would love to take us back to court and avoid a strike.

I go to work, do my job and go home. Maybe I've been lucky, but I've only had one cancellation in my 8 trips this and last month so it's not system wide on every flight. But I've had a lot of delays, from weather to inbound aircraft delays to maintenance problems not being fixed which caused me a lot of maximum duty days. So all the delays stink for me too, much longer days with no added pay.

So sorry about the delays and cancels, it stinks. But also understand that while passengers are affected most, close behind are the employees dealing with all the aftermath.

AD

FlyWorld

Those were just for today - when I said "to date" I meant to convey that I pulled that at 5pm PST so there are still 7 more hours left in the day.

Thunderroad

Very well put, AD.

Thanks.

halls120

I wonder if there will be some apologies forthcoming.....

FlyWorld

If you look at the daily cancellation statistics, it's clear that UA cancellation rate is much higher than either AA or DL. Both are large national networks and both are subject to all the same random and unpredictable external events that UA is subject to. There is something much worse going on at UA leading to a significantly higher cancellation rate at UA compared with any other airline. In fact, it's impossible to find any airline in the world that has as many cancellations as UA in the past few weeks and you have to go as far as Tunisa to find an airline with a worse on-time rate than UA. That may not be "every flight" but it is something to be concerned about.

cv11nyc

I'm glad we have established that 2 guys 'spilling the beans' is not indicative of a group action by 12000. Having spent too much time at hotel bars in my career, I've learned that embleshiment at the establishment is as common as salty snacks.

ualp

Doubt it.
Haters are gonna hate ... and talk bad about you behind your back.

jdvoigt

I've been trying to be patient with UAL during this whole merger transition process. The past 2 weeks have pushed me over the top, so I am done with them. 8 of my last 14 flights have either been delayed or canceled. Last week I was heading GSO-ORD-LAX with the family for vacation. Got up that morning, checked the flight status, showed delayed 2 hours. OK so far as we had a 3 1/2 hour layover in ORD. Continue to monitor, and the delayed time holds, so we head to the airport. Check in, check our 5 suitcases, head to security. I just load my stuff on the x-ray belt, and the United agent is at the security checkpoint hollering my name, telling me the flight just canceled. I walk back to the ticket counter, and after a while, get re-routed GSO-CLT_LAX on US Airways (United can't get me tp LAX until almost midnight). I was told the inbound plane went mechanical, and was coming from Dayton Ohio (there are no DAY>GSO routes, so they were obviously scrambling to find us a plane.)

Then on our return trip home last Wednesday (redeye), we are almost an hour delayed leaving LAX because they had to replace a reading light bulb five rows behind me (seriously - is it really necessary to have all the reading lights working???) We get to IAD late of course, and we have 20 minutes to get to our connection. At our arrival gate I ask the gate agent to call our departing gate and tell them we are coming (5 of us). We run to the train, get to A concourse, run to our gate and the flight is closed (still 5 minutes before departure). Gat agent said operations told him to close it even though they can see we are on the ground. BTW, no one ever called him to tell him we were on the way. I pretty much lose it at this point, and lay into the gate agent. The plane is still sitting there, boearding door still open. He calls his supervisor, and they actually re-opened the flight and let us board. This was the only bright spot.

To top it off, I had a business trip this morning, GSO-ORD-MSN. Get to GSO for 6:19am flight, all shows on time. Wait, wait, wait some more. Finally about 6:10 the gate agent gets on the speaker and says they are looking for the crew - waiting for operations to get back to them. FInally the crew shows up about 6:45 (no reason given for the delay...but it was not required crew rest). We take off at 7:15, land at ORD at 7:45, and I somehow make a 17 minute connection.

Too many problems/cancellations/delays. I travel 150 - 175 segments a year, and I have never seen it this bad. I will push my business to US Airways and Delta. Sayonara United...

Chapel Hill Guy

My goodness, forgot about aluminumdriver. Another guy who rocks. ^

ibuyyoufly

OK now this getting ridiculous. Just got a call from the dreaded UA 800 number telling me the cancelled flight is now un-cancelled and they have put me back on my original flight.

So with a strong desire to call the MP Premier line one more time today, I called and had not been moved back despite what the recording said. So I moved myself back. Here's the fear. I'm not sure they will recover all those pax already re-accommodated and the flight will get Cx'd tomorrow due to a light load.

How can all this be happening? It's like they are managing the business 24 hours at a time. They want Business customers? They've got a long way to go before I have that level of confidence.

Is this a fire drill for the airline business? I'll go with the OP who said it's like a switch was flipped on 3/3. The misery.

reddirt14

Face it - Smi$ek is running the airline into the ground. More than 50% of my flights are delayed or don't go at all. Happened today. Wilbe glad when my pre-booked flights are finished. I'm switching over to AA 100%. I can't take the non-sensese anymore. Stolen miles, broken planes, it's getting serious now. I don't want to see what's next. I would be surprised if we start seeing the FAA get involved to get a better handle on all the broken planes and making sure UA is still safe to fly.

dsquared37

I'm just wondering how you can have more cancelled arrivals than departures.

freshairborne

I hope Smisek's spooks read this forum and listen to his customers, and watch them jump ship because he's running the airline into the ground.

If he spent as much time fixing things as he does spying on the pilot forums trying to find things to drag us into court for, everybody would win.

In his world, I guess you can't be a winner unless everybody else is a loser.

Pat Patterson would roll over in his grave if he knew how United Air Lines is run these days.

FAB