transportbiz

Indeed seats MAY be lost, but to threaten customers this is absurd. They would and should be accommodated on other flights as any other IRROPS situation. Also, to suggest they'd lose their connecting flights? It would seem to me, the airline did that anyway with an 8 hour tarmac wait.

So, if I get off the plane, rent a car, and get myself to DEN in time for my schedule connecting flight, I'd lose it? Doesn't seem at all reasonable to me.

jjmoore

Nowhere else for them to go unfortunately. If COS couldn't handle them, there is even less likelihood that ASE, EGE, GJT would have been any better.

NewportGuy

This.

Plus since when can a F/A or even a pilot, and from a contract carrier no less, make such threats? It is like a cop saying what someone will be charged with. It is up to the D.A to decide that, not a street cop. Pilots and F/As have no say in how tickets work or don't work.

Garten

I don't really understand all of this talk of "threats". I do think it is likely that UA's policy is that you voluntarily disembark from a flight that has not been canceled then the rest of your reservation no longer is reserved for you. That doesn't mean you couldn't make alternate IRROPS arrangements with UA, including getting back on your later flights. But it is not clear to me that the flight crew did anything more than state that basic policy.

cosflyer

before moving to dubai, COS was my "home" airport and i have been diverted in their quite a few times over the years going back to 1997 when i was connecting thru den, one thing i can tell you is when UAL was there they would let you off the aircraft but once you were off you were on your own to get to where you were going, it was great for me being "home" and others that could get to denver but i can not remember when they would tell everyone that their connecting flights would be cancelled as well, they would or should have been rebooked on the next flight out of denver to their final destination or on the next flight out of COS that had a UAX flight going out to ord,lax or iah that had a seat available on it, since skywest took over i don't believe they can handle the number of flights diverting in as before when UA had their folks in there, this is not the first time a shuttle/republic has had issues when diverting into other rocky mountain cities, they seem to shut down and bury their head when others like skywest can fuel and go.

Dom Bologna

What are suggestions for someone to do if you are stuck in the seat across from the bathroom in a situation like this?

If you de-plane and UA refuses free rebooking, what are the options?

Will the standard credit card travel insurance (e.g. Chase Sapphire) cover you in this situation?

Thanks.

cosflyer

DOM,
i would rather be proactive and rebook myself instead of dealing face to face with a ua/uax or a contracted employee, i was on a uax flight last summer from stl-ord and we ended up diverting to peoria, on landing i called the 1k desk and they could see that we had in fact diverted and ended up rebooking me to the last flight of the day from ord to lhr with no change fee instead of waiting for to deboard later and standing in line..i feel bad for the 2-3x a year traveller that may not have the knowledge to immediately get on the phone and rebook versus waitng to see a rep to get rebooked. i can not imagine ua not rebook you to another flight when mother nature or ua has screwed up your travel plans.

cmculp

And here we go again....today's 219 is now 2 hours delayed due to a mechanical (antenna issue) with no warm and fuzzy that it's going. You can't get from ORD to the west coast today.... different bird from the 13th.

Dom Bologna

Thanks. Over 2/3 of my flights are non-stop DTW/FNT-DCA/BWI. And although I've never had any major problems on those or any of my other flights, I'd like to be prepared for an emergency.

transportbiz

To many "your reservation/connections will be lost" will mean you can't fly to your destination. Not everyone is as aware of policy as we are. Making assumptions that everyone is as versed as we are on policies is presumptive, and lacks understanding.

jjmoore

I would think that these kinds of things could be resolved quickly by calling UA directly from that flight... organizing the arrangement (to disembark and drive to Denver Int'l, and to continue the journey from there)... I just can't see UA negating a reservation for irrops.

Garten

I'm not assuming anything. We have no recording of what was actually said on the plane. What seems most likely is that the flight crew simply stated UA's general policy. As was said above, they aren't really in a position to make further speculation or suggestion about what will or won't happen. It would clearly not be their place to say, UA will "probably" do this or that.

You could call UA reservations directly from the plane on your cell.

goodeats21

My United tale of woe today, courtesy of craptastic United Express reliability...

Early AM flight cancelled - Mechanical
rebooked to
Afternoon flight cancelled - "weather in our system"
rebooked to
Evening flight (so far) showing delayed "due to operational difficulties"
(I bet this turns into a rolling delay hell - Waiting to see the next chapter in the saga...)

I would LOVE to see a comprehensive United "on time" stat for their entire system (UA & UAX together).

phltraveler

From Newsday:

.

Pretty tame and more of a hassle than anything else. In the air the captain told everyone to be seated and that we needed to turn around but it not to worry, once we landed the captain explained that air traffic control reported that someone (apparently another aircraft) saw fluid coming out of the left wing during takeoff, and they couldn't be sure if it was water or some other fluid.

Landed normally and safely, taxi to gate. Initially told to stay on the aircraft, then told we had the option to leave, and then everybody had to get off. Fire trucks came up to the aircraft after we were deplaned but left shortly thereafter. The plane remained at gate for several hours; UA struggled to accommodate passengers on other flights (LGA terminal C does not have a big service desk post-security and the plane was mostly full). Would be curious to know if it actually was water or not, we never got an answer.

Plane was a Boeing 738 tail N24202.

Far From Home

FWIW, frame N76062 is a 764. I was scheduled on UA73 on 4/8, the first day it went MX. Never did hear what the problem was.