Originally Posted by blueman2
(Post 24969867)
+1. I was wondering if I was the only one who hears how incredibly tone deaf UA's PR department is.
It's not like IRROPs are anything new to UA, or they've never landed in Goose Bay before or they're strapped for resources. And the summer is just getting started. |
Originally Posted by txp
(Post 24970238)
It looks that all passengers were cleared into Canada so that means they were all free to go wherever. However, since they were told that a replacement aircraft would arrive in the morning, somehow nobody thought of going into town on their own. They did not have to get on the school bus after customs. They could have called the local hotels to see if anything was available.
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Originally Posted by BearX220
(Post 24968153)
You're seeing an immature but not uncommon view of the job of external communications: ignore / evade bad news, embrace little bits of cheer. It's typical at a lot of poorly run companies. They resent explaining themselves to customers and think bad news will evaporate by itself. In fact it metastasizes and drives their brand into the ground, but you can never convince them of that. This is a hallmark of companies that run on internal fear and anger. At United you will hear not a word about a cancel / delay / diversion leader board as long as your arm, not a syllable of response to livid customers venting to the Daily Mail, but there will be a cheery dispatch about an extra olive coming soon to first class salads. It's ridiculous and irrational but there you have it.
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This is the kind of episode that really bothers me with United. They too often do not own their problems and act like they bear no responsibility in the matter. They seem to forget they are transporting people, with biological needs and reasons to travel that may not accommodate United's lengthy delays.
What if you are travelling with an infant and need more diapers or food? Can you count on United to have your back and behave in a reasonable, humane manner? I don't think so and this is why UA is not for novice fliers and also why I never recommend UA to anyone any more. Not only are their operations unreliable but so are their recovery attempts. Don't flame me but this is what I miss most about the old UA. They really tried harder to recover when something went wrong. The new UA is more similar to the old CO and assumes everyone will just have to shut up and put up with whatever they offer. Smisek epitomized this attitude when he publicly spoke against legislation to limit the number of hours you can sit on a plane without moving. Basically he said if CO (at the time) decided to keep passengers on a plane on the tarmac at EWR for 4-5 hours then that is the way it should be because CO is in the best position to make a decision on the matter. Treating people like they are boxed freight. And this attitude unfortunately prevails to this day at the new UA. |
I still find it amazing that UA could not find another plane and crew anywhere in the system. Bear in mind that they have a TATL JV with AC (and LH) and it would have been the easiest thing in the world to pick up the telephone to AC to ask them....but I suspect nobody thought of that.
Again, a slow reaction would have been understandable if they were also coping with meltdowns due to weather somewhere else, but not much was going on that night, so where were the duty staff whose job it it to handle IRROPS? |
Originally Posted by uanj
(Post 24971525)
Don't flame me but this is what I miss most about the old UA. They really tried harder to recover when something went wrong. The new UA is more similar to the old CO and assumes everyone will just have to shut up and put up with whatever they offer. Smisek epitomized this attitude when he publicly spoke against legislation to limit the number of hours you can sit on a plane without moving. Basically he said if CO (at the time) decided to keep passengers on a plane on the tarmac at EWR for 4-5 hours then that is the way it should be because CO is in the best position to make a decision on the matter. Treating people like they are boxed freight. And this attitude unfortunately prevails to this day at the new UA.
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Originally Posted by physioprof
(Post 24966212)
It does sound absolutely horrible to be stuck in an army barracks and not allowed to even leave on your own to go to the town (assuming that was the case).
or if the plane crashed. or if it did a crash landing on a glacier in the middle of nowhere and half the plane suffered causalities. this situation certainly sucks and UA certainly inconvenienced pax and probably did a poor recovery and i can understand for the anxious how this can be stressful but this is not "absolutely horrible". i'm certain the people in the barracks can wander around outside, get air, use their cellphones, not worry that around the corner someone may shoot them because of what god they worship etc etc etc. maybe flyertalk is not for me. yeah they're missing their wedding or work and UA certainly owes these people something but come on......fwp. |
Not trying to be a Pollyanna but....
None of us are route planners. I'm sure UA was in touch with LHR and would've continued direct if it made sense ... Or not. Honestly, were that me, I'd have preferred the return to EWR before continuing to LHR. With my travel patterns, if I were a day or so late getting to LHR, it's likely be a trip in vain, so I'd rather just go home. Now, in an ideal world, they would've polled the passengers, asked 'who wants to continue and who wants to go back?' and flew two planes in - one to EWR and one to LHR. Might've been able to sub a pair of 752's instead of a 763 this way. We know LHR has among the most restrictive set of landing slots and rules, so I'm sure that plays into this somehow as well. Lots of armchair route planning possible - some of which will be right, some of which won't. But the simple fact is that none of us are armed with all the info the ops center people had; things are ALWAYS a lot more complex than they seem. |
Originally Posted by NewportGuy
(Post 24970843)
And did they have their luggage? Not just carry on, but for those like me who check most items, did they have access?
Just catching up with this thread now, it's good to see no one here is defending UA. What struck me is UA telling the passengers there would be a plane to LHR in the morning and then basically cutting off communication. Poor communication has been the hallmark of this company over the last few years. |
Originally Posted by uanj
(Post 24971525)
The new UA is more similar to the old CO and assumes everyone will just have to shut up and put up with whatever they offer... Treating people like they are boxed freight.
Originally Posted by JBord
(Post 24972008)
What struck me is UA telling the passengers there would be a plane to LHR in the morning and then basically cutting off communication.
The weather might have been nice in Goose Bay but that's the factor that would have made this a real trip from hell. The arrogance is as astounding as the silence itself. If this had happened to a VS flight there's a chance Richard Branson himself would have been aboard a fast-dispatched rescue aircraft: first out the door and down the steps, hugging old ladies on the ramp, distributing free-trip chits personally, apologizing for media, etc. Think of it. Such action wouldn't cross Smisek's mind, in part because I doubt the RCAF on site could guarantee his physical safety if the passengers spotted him. |
What struck me was how the crew took absolutely NO responsibility for the passengers at all. What happened to the captain being responsible for his passengers? They all ran off to the hotel like a bunch of cowards. Why couldn't even one crew member stay behind and help passengers? Another case of "not my job, man"? :rolleyes:
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Originally Posted by dmurphynj
(Post 24971991)
But the simple fact is that none of us are armed with all the info the ops center people had; things are ALWAYS a lot more complex than they seem.
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Well, now next time any of our travel goes awry we'll [hopefully] be able to say: "At least I'm not in a barracks at Goose Bay."
This really is a benchmark for failing at IROPS. The whole thing reeks of on-the-fly contingency planning. You'd think an airline of UA's scale would have recovery plans in place to work from.* ( * especially given their operational familiarity with certain eastern Canada airports ;) ) |
UA failure
The cut, cut, and more cuts can explain what happened in this event. There were not enough spare aircraft, spare crews and spare funds to do a better job. The top of the UA management should take personal responsibility for this failure. Apologize for it and promise to do a better job next time.
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