goodeats21

Arrived at the gate in DAY to find my flight now delayed ~3 hours according to airport monitors. Flight not even showing up at the gate monitor at all.

Mobile app indicates on time.

Absolutely no staff at gate to find out what is going on.

Another trip with the technology/service deficient UA.



Edit:

[Edited by Moderator after OP's thread moved per request.]

Oh, staff finally meandered up to the gate and announced all flights on time. Monitor is incorrect.

Wonder how many passengers are to miss the flight now?

garykung

It depends.

If FIDS is managed by UA (like those in sUA hub), then they are sync with SHARES, which you will get exact same information as the App.

For the others (like sCO hub and others), assume the App is correct.

Wildfan88

my experience has been that the APP seems to be more up to date that monitors or the gate agent, UNLESS there is a situation where the Pilot is very active in the gate counter area.

kale73

What leads you to believe that either is correct?

mre5765

Correct.

Duke787

On Thursday night my flight showed canceled on the app (no announcement from the GA) so I walked over to the monitor at the gate and it showed canceled. So I got on the phone with the 1K line and the CSR said it didn't show as canceled to him. I told him I was staring at the screen at the gate and it showed canceled. He refreshed and "suddenly" it was canceled on his end. On top of that, the GAs didn't actually announce to those in the gate area (who may not have been paying attention or thought it was accurate) that the flight had been canceled for at least another 5 - 10 minutes (thought not entirely surprised because this was the UAX part of IAD where they operate 20 flights from one "gate"). Even better as I'm on the phone with the 1K line after it's been announced I go up to the counter (they weren't processing flight changes b/c it was a multi-departure gate) to find out about bags and the GA wasn't even aware the flight had been canceled.

Moral of the story is YMMV and your best bet is to check all of the different options since the technology powering each seems to be different and doesn't seem to sync up in any sort of logical / efficient way.

drewguy

I had opposite experience on UAX flight with MX issues a couple months ago. App was all over the place, and seemed to reflect information that we weren't given even on a time delay (e.g., we were told departure of 12:20 was now 2:20, then 3:20, but app said 1:45).

flavorflav

Yes.

astroflyer

I think the app is almost always likely to be more correct. Many airports have an extra set of systems that the data have to go through to get to the airport monitors. The app is synced directly with UA's computers.

And it's not uncommon to find out a flight has been canceled from the system before the GA's announce anything. It pays to be plugged in.

PV_Premier

+1 on all accounts. i regularly find out about delays/cxl from mobile.bomb 5 or 10 mins before anything comes from gate agent

mgcsinc

IMO, the best thing you can do is to get an EF subscription and look at the FLIFO that's on there.

AGSF

I like Flight Track Pro for the iPhone. More often than not its information delay information for United it spot on. I was recently at PHL and it popped up with a delay for my United flight a full hour before departure. The app/ gate board/ airport display didn't update until 5-10 minutes before the flight.

river_rower

Last year I was in IAD RCC and checking my app for a UX departure for MIA and the app indicated that the flight was delayed due to inbound airraft arrival by about 30 minutes. I checked the "Where's this flight coming from" and sure enough the inbound flight was "indicated" to be on final approach. So I meandered down the concourse taking my time when I hear my name on the loudspeaker to board immediately. I ran to the gate and was the last one on, they closed the door behind me.

So in this case the app was wrong, way wrong.

On the other hand, in SYD last year the monitor in the Koru Club indicated on time departure but I could see the equipment parked across the tarmac with absolutely no activity whatsoever. I asked the desk agent waht was going on, she said everything was fine, then I pointed out our 744 sleeping peacefully on the shores of Botany Bay.

Shortly thereafter a buzz developed in the club, so I checked online, and sure enough it showed cancelled, MX, even though the board and the agents were still uninformed.

So it goes both ways.

goodeats21

Comedy of errors for this departure.

When they finally got the flight up on the gate monitor, it was still messed up. It showed "On Time", but with a posted departure time 2 hours late.



It would not have been such a big deal except for the non-existent contract staff. (The joy of a UAX station). No attempt to be proactive and notify customers of the information error. Even heard PA announcements asking for UA staff to report to the gate for Customer Assistance. Line at the counter....no one happy.

Holiday weekend, which meant a lot of infrequent travelers that were not nearly savvy enough to manage the mis-information. Not a great day for UA's reputation.

frankmu

^ My go-to app when traveling.