Collierkr

While inconvenient, NEVER arrive at the airport late regardless of communications of delays unless you want to risk missing out. PLanes swaps and schedule changes do occur.

zrs70

The only time UA (then CO) told me that there would be no reason to arrive on time was when leaving TLV many years ago. The inbound aircraft was 7 hours behind schedule, and there was no aircraft swap available.

threeoh

This is basically meaningless if your flight is departing from a hub.

raccah

Why good sir, please explain. Are you saying they were not required to send us this information??

jsloan

Airplane assignments get swapped all the time, especially at a hub. For all you know, they intended to operate your flight with a replacement aircraft and crew, but then circumstances prevented it.

If they notify people about a delay, and then they end up being able to do a swap and get the flight out on time, now they have to deal with a bunch of passengers who adjusted their plans based upon the schedule update and now missed their flight.

Kacee

It is absolutely a strong indicator you're going to have a significant delay, even if there's a swap. If they had a swap that would result in an on time departure, they would make it and flight status would update accordingly.

IMO UA's failure to update delay status when it's clear there's going to be a significant delay due to a late inbound is a glaring weakness in their otherwise stellar sharing of flight information.

threeoh

Obviously if they know the flight will be delayed they should notify passengers as soon as possible. In my experience, they do.

If they didn't, it could be because they made a mistake / were careless. Absent more specific info, I think it's way more likely they were searching for another plane to operate that flight. Airframes get reshuffled at hubs all the time. It's even possible the inbound that was meant to operate your flight came in from a different airport and was on time, but got assigned to a different flight at the last moment (or went MX) and you got stuck with the delayed plane from EWR as a replacement. Or they expected a plane to come out of maintenance and it wasn't ready. Or any number of other things.

My last UA flight ex-ORD, for example, had it's airframe swapped 3 times in the 12 hours before departure, switching between inbounds from SFO and LAX. They were able to post a delay about 2 hours before departure time, right as I was leaving for the airport, so I was able to leave a little later, which was nice. Final swap was an hour before delayed departure and involved a gate change.

Basically, the concept of "our plane never left XXX" doesn't make much sense when leaving from a hub because "our plane" is a fluid concept. Sometimes that materializes as a delay, as in your case, and sometimes the flight leaves on time and most passengers have no idea that "their plane" was late and ops made a switcheroo.

Kacee

That is not my experience at all. I can recall multiple instances in the past six months where my inbound is scheduled to arrive well after my flight's scheduled departure, which nonetheless shows as "on time." This is not only annoying, it can make rebooking impossible, because many CSRs won't help you until the delay has actually been posted.

Again, overall UA does an excellent job sharing flight status info (better than anyone else) but this is one point where they could definitely improve.

threeoh

This is absolutely not my experience for domestic flights from hubs. Maybe my experience is atypical. I agree it increases the likelihood of a delay -- if I have something time sensitive on the other end I start thinking through my game plan -- but not enough that I would leave for the airport late or switch my reservation around. I take it as an indication that I should check the status again right before leaving for the airport and make sure I have a magazine to read. And often what looks like it will be a 5 hours delay or whatever turns into a 1 hour delay. Or it stays a 5 hour delay, as in OP's case.

Anyhow, United does give you the opportunity to see "where is this aircraft coming from?" info very easily right in the app, so if you find this a useful indicator they do share that info with you.

ETA:

I guess my question is: how many times in the past six months has it shown your inbound as delayed and then your flight leaves on time (or less delayed than the inbound)?

Maybe United should have a "may be delayed" flag that they put on flights where weather or inbound or crew or whatever means the flight may be delayed but they're unwilling to post a sure delay. Then CSRs could rebook you but everyone still shows up at the airport at the right time. Right now they can either post a delay or not -- not very nuanced.

Kacee

And as already mentioned, most CSRs won't rebook unless the delay has actually posted.
On time, none. "Less delayed," yes I've had that where they've swapped. But still delayed, and 100% predictable.

Maybe they should just update when the delay is obvious rather than promote the fiction that all is fine.

joe_miami

Obvious to whom? Sounds like you've just had bad luck when it comes to on-time swaps.

raccah

WOW, lots of knowledge here - Bravo to you guys! In the end, for me, I was unhappy as they failed to notify us within a respectable time, which for most people is 2 hours before liftoff. Anything less than that is essentially telling people they do not respect them, again IMHO. I get this is a complex problem, but from the end user's vire of life, it is unacceptable. It caused all of us to sit in an airport rather than our homes. Thanks for the knowledge though!!! Sorry, if I am simplifying it into what I see, I get it I do not see your issues and complexities, I see just how it affects us all.

jsloan

I think you'll find the same level of disrespect from most major airlines, then. Delays are only posted well in advance when they're entirely unavoidable (e.g., at an international outstation -- if the flight into Chengdu is late, the return is going to be late also). You'd likely see the same treatment flying between domestic hubs on Delta or American.

WineCountryUA

Staying home could be a mistake if UA swaps aircraft and ends up departing before the original aircraft arrives. While agreeing the lack of delay information is frustrating and not respectful of my time, I do want UA to work on finding earlier opportunities to depart.

Kacee

When it's 30 minutes to scheduled departure, and your inbound is still in the air, it's pretty obvious you've got a delay coming.

While I understand there are times that Ops is leaving its options open, there are other times the delay is 100% going to happen, and yet they fail to update. That's the situation where UA should do better.
DL is worse in my experience. No experience with AA, but I'd be really surprised if they're better. At least UA gives you the info to (sort of) figure it out for yourself.