26point2orbust

Where is the extra aircraft going on Tuesday?
UA 1763 lands Tuesday morning, but the phone app doesn't show any extra SYD-LAX/SFO flight that day.

flyerbjorn

Sydney airport has a curfew from 11pm to 6am. That limits the time the planes can take off from the US.

Add other constraints, such as crew, both finding them and making sure they get enough rest in Sydney, and it might be easier just to send the other flight at night.

Passengers with connecting flights in SYD might misconnect if they arrive too late and need a second night of airport hotel.

docbert

They normally schedule the replacement flights as early as possible. This half of the year (time difference LAX/SYD of 5 hours) that means leaving around 8pm in order to arrive just after SYD's 6am curfew ends. When daylight savings flips (7 hours difference) it normally means 10+pm departures.

A few weeks back they actually went with a morning departure that got into SYD late evening (nor far before the 11pm curfew). I suspect with the new pilot hours rules that came in a few weeks ago this could be difficult to do without an extra crew. (Minimum 10 hours off/8 hours available for sleep, for a flight that CX'ed close to Midnight, but needs to leave early enough in the day to make SYD curfew - although I'm not sure how the rules work given these flights have 2 full crews)

debracey

I'm aware of the SYD curfew. I suspect the 24 hr delay is due to crew/staffing as someone else pointed out. Still seems irresponsible to add an extra 12 hrs of artificial delay. UA could have had a crew deadhead from SFO to be ready for a 10AM (or so) departure that would have put the passengers in Sydney around 9PM. That way you'd open up options for very early domestic flights (or further connections) out of Sydney. The only ones who'd be truly stuck would be those transiting SYD to other international destinations, but I suspect there aren't many in that category.

mjg59

Checkin at Melbourne this morning has been split into MEL-SYD-SFO and MEL-SYD-LAX lines in order to handle the rebooking without holding up the rest of checkin, which was nice. Although I guess they've had plenty of opportunities to practice it.

ozflier

One of the Sydney United agents told me this morning that all pax from the canx Sydney-Los Angeles flight we're accommodated on other carriers today .

kirkwoodj

Nice to hear! What a bloody mess. When's the change to 777? I know I'm on one in April...

docbert

They had originally said April 1st but it looks like that's changed a little.

863 SFO-SYD is a 777 from March 26
839 LAX-SYD is a 777 from March 29

840 SYD-LAX is a 777 from March 29
870 SYD-SFO is a 777 from March 31

Somehow those dates don't make sense to me - they seem to be short the 747 that is apparently running UA840 on the 28th...

Col Ronson

that's good, although it doesn't seem too hard to do. Multiple options on QF, NZ, VA, DL; hell even AC and HA.

Sucks more for the LAX-SYD folk as 839 is generally one of the last ones to leave; apart from QF108.

Did anyone in BF who got put on another carrier also get put into business? i have an upcoming trip at the end of the month in BF and id rather not get downgraded to Y on any carrier.

Bitterroot

First 772 from SFO departs March 27th, not March 26th. Then, the turns make sense.

docbert

You're correct. I think I started out looking at the date of the last 747, and then mid-way change to looking for the first of the 777 flights.

kirkwoodj

Cheers, thanks!

flyinbob

Is that the SYD-LAX flight 1/13? I thought that flight took off and was at least a couple of hours out of SYD when I last checked. Now it shows cancelled for the arrival into LAX this morning. Same flight?

QBK

UA 1763 (replacement flight for cancelled 839 on 1/11) landed precisely on time at 6:05am this morning, 90 minutes ago. Just wanted to close the loop! Incidentally, they tied the compensation (30K/$500 for me) to the replacement flight, not the original, and the confirmation email included a very well-written and informative apology note, explaining that the cancellation of 839 was due to a fuel leak. Well done, I think.

In the LAX UC yesterday, the guy next to me in the CS line asked to have his return flight (ex-SYD, in about a week) shifted back one day, switched to AC (he was originally on UA connecting through SFO), and preserved in biz. It took a while, but afaict the agent made it happen. Not exactly your situation, but it indicates that UA is willing to transfer J tickets to other *A carriers even when IRROPS is not directly involved.

flyinbob

I wouldn't get too excited. They switched the ORD-HKG route to a 777 a while ago and it doesn't seem to have a cx record that is much better than the 744. Again today (Thursday 1/16) it is cancelled.