mike1968

Most likely connections to places in Africa or Central Asia with a handful of flights per week. At this point, especially in C or F, best option is to get off plane and figure out who can get you there as money isn't an issue...and it's probably through LHR, CDG or some other convoluted routing that's better to do stateside then late in the afternoon in FRA when it's too late to get to the only other airport with a flight option

The last time I took UA to FRA from ORD (now only go on LH) there were about 5 pax in the B lounge working the side by side UA and LHR agents as the rolling UA delay meant they were going to miss THE once or twice a week flight to places like Malabo, Douala and a few others. they were well versed in their options. I imagine a flight from IAH has more than a few people going to remote corners of the world that would be screwed if a delay to FRA gets out of control (unfortunately...an odds on probability when UA is involved).

While I was going to a place with multiple daily options, the hot stove lesson I learned in FRA and not being assertive at ORD is they may share revenue but won't take responsibility for your missed connection in FRA...as they point fingers at each other...hence why I only fly there on LH metal now.

FonzieBone

I've slept since then, but:

Original departure sched for 19:10

Started boarding approx 20:00.

Luggage finally loaded 20:45.

Announcement about F pax: 21:15.

Baggage from F pax removed: 21:35

Taxi time 15-20 mins

ATC delay, finally cleared around 22:00-22:10.

Sorry, was pretty tired when I wrote the first post and neglected the delays on the apron.

Doc Savage

You'd screw over several hundred other pax?

Hey, they can sure get off the plane, can't hold 'em hostage, but that's a {lousy} move. I hope they had to pay.

TomMM

That's a reasonable explanation but I question a person's judgement who books a tight connection for a flight that only goes a few times a week. If that's what happened here, I agree with Doc.

greg99

Going beyond the scope of the thread, but sometimes it happens that you have to book a tight connection due to meetings on both sides - been there, done that, have always gotten lucky (knock on wood). It's not a matter of judgment, it's just trying to manage conflicting things that are often not within your control.

Most of the meetings to which I travel were not scheduled by me, and I have limited influence over their scheduling.

Greg

docbert

Hopefully they handled this better than the one a few months ago...

UA162, Glasgow to Newark diverted to Gander due to a cracked windscreen.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/U...900Z/EGPF/KEWR

~9 hours on the ground and now back in the air to Newark and "Estimated to Arrive 10 Hours 40 Minutes Late"

rolltribe

I wonder if they spin a roulette wheel to decide what to categorize the delay reasoning as when things like this occur. This one got a "delayed due to late aircraft arrival." I was guessing it would get a "delayed due to operational difficulties."

JOSECONLSCREW28

They did an aircraft swap in YQX.

In The 216

United 863 SFO-SYD diverted to HNL last night /this morning. Anyone have any additional details?

cesco.g

UA 53 1/2/16 ZRH-IAD, ETD 4h55 late, due to waiting for the arrival of a late inbound crew.

This is the first flight ZRH-IAD after the Christmas brake. Wondering, where this crew is flying in from?

Kmxu

It is time to close this thread. Hope that the 2016 thread will be less than 100 pages in length at this time next year (193 pages for 2015). Happy travels, especially, the long hauls.

enviroian

6528 lax to phx now. Delayed initially because we were waiting for one more flight attendant. She finally arrives, walks down the jetway, then pops back up. "There's no one on board" she says.

How can UA {mess up} this bad? The gate agent gets on the horn to tell us "sorry folks, we are waiting for the rest of the crew to drive in. They should be here within the hour"


I just flew 935 for 10.5 hours and it came in 30 minutes early. UA can't get me remotely on time the final 348 miles?

goalie

Looks like there was smoke (and possibly a small fire) on board

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...due-smoke.html

slickvik

12/27 IAH-SLP flight 4229 delayed 2 hours 10 minutes due to wind , though the wind was just as bad when we left then during the delay

12/31 MEX-IAH flight 1029 delayed 1 hour 29 minutes due to who knows what. Thankfully made it before the new year hit.

l etoile

Please note this is the 2015 thread. The thread for 2016 is here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ts-2016-a.html