goalie

Excrpt that is not always the case as there are numerous posts (including myself) and a couple of threads* showing that there never was an aircraft swap and only when it became blatantly obvious that there would be a delay, would United actually post the delay

*apoligies for not posting reference links but searching on my phone is not "function friendly"

JVPhoto

To many to name at ORD 1/8 but what impacted me.
6pm ORD-LGA we tried to run from B18 to C29 since it was showing 8:45 and it was 8:15 but the doors had been closed for a while and it finally left at 10:30ish.

We were protected in the 8:00 which was then 10:30 and since its been rolling back and back and now instead of flying to LGA it's going to EWR and they'll shuttle people who want LGA. Expecting a 3:45am arrival so I'm just going to car service it.

COSPILOT

I end up going to the gate just in case they make a swap, but that rarely happens lately, at least for me. I guess what drives me nuts is sitting at the gate for a 7:30 pm departure, still no plane, yet the app and monitors wait until lets say 7:40 and then show a departure time of 7:55, still unrealistic with no plane at the gate. The delayed departure times have become a bad joke IMO.

Added info: the inbound arrival time of the flight I was speaking of was also well off the mark. Based on location, I could see that it was going to be at least 25-30 minutes later than what UA was showing. If UA systems can't see reality, how can they accurately predict anything afterwards without being wrong? This isn't a one off, as I have seen this a few times.

Kacee

I find it to be reliable a very high percentage of the time.

The fact that UA will occasionally swap out a delayed aircraft does not render this function unreliable.

In fact, it has been my experience that to the extent there's a swap, it usually doesn't occur until after there's already been a substantial delay. I had two swaps ex-SFO last year (in 114K miles), and in both instances the flights departed more than three hours late.

The days when UA had lots of spare aircraft sitting around its hubs are long gone.

SFO777

Eight hours on board today from DEN-ORD including 90 minutes on the ground at ORD waiting for a gate.

Quimbydog

I was on that flight. It was worse than that. They had us de-iced twice, told us there was a ground stop at ORD, then three hours later canceled the flight telling us that ORD was shut down, although when I looked on the far ground stop website it said the ground stop was UAL only. Then we pulled into a gate and they couldn't work the jet bridge for an hour, then we had to wait for a tow to another gate. Not a fun day. I am sitting in the Club now waiting for my new flight to ORD.

fgirard

UA6465, SLC-LAX, delayed 3:37 due to maintenance
UA6450, LAX-RNO, delayed 2:46 due to late inbound aircraft (inbound is SLC-LAX)
UA6336, RNO-SFO, delayed 2:31 due to late inbound aircraft (inbound is LAX-RNO)
UA5336, SFO-ONT, delayed 2:11 due to late inbound aircraft (inbound is RNO-SFO)

yet, the flight I'm on is UA5305, ONT-SFO and that is supposed to leave at 2:51, even though the aircraft that is going to make up the flight is not due into ONT until 4:12, yet UA is still saying that the flight is "on schedule"

When I called UA, the agent refused to put us on the nonstop AS ONT-SEA because it wasn't showing a delay, even though there is no possible way that the inbound could arrive for a 2:51pm departure.

Far From Home

UA1207 PDX-EWR on 1/8 - does anyone know what's behind the 12-hour delay on that one?

The flight status says "late inbound aircraft" but the inbound aircraft was only 5 minutes late, and that was on the night of 1/7 (more than 9 hours before 1207's scheduled departure).

Stranger

Yesterday (Jan 8). First, UA1633 is cancelled, apparently mechanical. Text message at 4 or 5 am. Suggests a web page with rebooking optins. somehow, all options are in economy while my ticket is in first. So I just go back to bed and decide to go to the airport early.

Hard to sleep but eventually I do sleep a bit. Get up and check. Now an e-mail says I am rebooked through Chicago, actually I should get home earlier. Good. Except, when trying to check in, it gives me an error. Go to the airport, same thing at the kiosk. Eventually, agent helps. BTW I am not impressed with UA priority check in. Long wait if you need an agent still.

Flight 1612 leaves on time. At ORD, about 90 minutes wait for a gate. Wating for the plane at the gate, that needs deicing. I have nearly two hours so let's not worry too much. Connection, UA5598, is on time. Still, I make it, and a couple more people still board later than me.

After wich, we had to wait for three hours for deicing. Arrived home a good three hours late. Everyone took it in good spirits.

So yes, there was light snow at ORD. But still, it seems to me the United deicing capability at ORD is quite inadequate. Otherwise there would not have been such a major disruption.

I usually keep my business with AC. However United was cheaper in first than the cheapest upgradeable AC economy ticket. We like to complain about AC, but I cannot say I was impressed with United...

UA-NYC

Keep HUACA until you find a better/smarter agent

fgirard

Unfortunately this is now my other interactions with agents have went:

Agent #2: I see that the inbound is delayed, but your flight isn't delayed so I can't touch it
Agent #3: We no longer re-book passengers on other carriers when delayed. (When I pointed out that the original delay was due to maintenance, she said that "the maintenance delay was up in Salt Lake City, and the subsequent delays are because of weather and air traffic control.")
Agent #4: We don't put people on AS.

Either I'm drawing the short end of the stick when it comes to agents, or UA has decreed that passengers are to not be re-booked until all other options are gone and the only thing that is left is an extended delay (leading to a mis-connect), cancellation or trip-in-vain.

Kacee

Just when you thought UA couldn't get any more flyer-unfriendly.

Can you rebook ex-LAX?

fgirard

Nyet, because the original ONT-SFO still isn't showing as delayed, even though the inbound is still expected in at 4:12 and my flight was supposed to depart at 2:51. In fact, the last agent that I spoke with also gave me an interesting tidbit, "because of a new directive, we have to exhaust all options on UA first, then we can put you on another carrier--although you're lucky because the original delay is due to maintenance, because if it wasn't we are not supposed to put you on a different carrier." When I asked about the new delay reason of "operational difficulties within our route network," she said "it was supposed to indicate something within our (UA's) control, but management doesn't not want us to use that to put passengers on other carriers."

ETA: The latest agent booked me on an AS ONT-SEA that left at 11:10am, and it's 11:39am

wto605

This is exactly why I try and avoid OAL re-routes over the phone, in addition to much less willingness to do so phone agents can royally mess up such rebookings. For UA reaccommodation I've done as well/better than I expect over the phone, but OAL (and, even more so, other modes of transport) options it seems gate/customer service agents just have more leeway/know how.

fgirard

The UA agent got the later AS flight, but when I go to look up the reservation, it indicates that "no electronic ticket can be found", and the AS agent is on the phone with UA to get the ticket endorsed again.