UA958 Jun 12 '15: MX @ ORD, Diverts to YYR for 2nd MX, Pax Housed @ Military Barracks
 

UA 958 (ORD-LHR 6/12) returned to gate in ORD for maintenance, then diverted to Goose Bay Canada also for maintenance, with no ETA to LHR.

Not sure I'd want to get back on that plane. :eek:

And....it's canceled. I'm sure it was great good times looking for a bed in Goose Bay at 2 AM...

What are the odds pax even got out of the airport? Doubt they had immigration there at 2 a.m.

They need to either get the 767-300 away from EWR or have a spare or two based there.

Any FT'ers on this flight? I'd be fascinated to hear what the experience was like in Goose Bay!

The "Daily Hate" aka Daily Mail is your friend with this somewhat hyberbolic "exclusive"

I've heard it referred to as "The Daily Fail".

You've got to love the photo of the ten foot deep snow drifts, despite it now being June.

Still, sounds like a pretty miserable experience.

Were the "barracks" on the airport property so they didn't have to clear immigration? Assuming somehow the FAs/crew did to get to the hotel...were pax not allowed to leave and make their own accom if they wanted?

That would be my guess.

Canada immigration is really strict.

6/12 958 Saga
 

I really feel for the folks on that flight - a complete customer service debacle by United (yet again). I lived through a 2-day nightmare a few years ago when an LHR to LAX flight got diverted to Shannon, Ireland and we didn't get out for two days. At least we had hotels.

UA 958 on the 12th:
1) Left Chicago late due to MX.
2) Diversion to Goose Bay due to MX.
3) Passengers slept in barracks while the crew went to a hotel.
4) Replacement aircraft from EWR (2176) delayed almost five hours due to MX.
5) UA shuttling folks back to EWR from Goose Bay, not onto LHR (why not, I don't know).

Complete disaster. This is the reason I don't fly UA for international trips anymore. AA has been MUCH more reliable.

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).

Hundreds of fuming [UA] passengers 'abandoned' in remote Canada barracks
 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...mfy-hotel.html

- Hundreds of people were traveling from Chicago to London on Flight 958

- Plane made emergency landing Friday night due to a 'maintenance' issue

- Passengers spent night at Goose Bay barracks in remote part of Canada

- Given 'only two blankets to sleep under and no heat in cold weather'

- ... 'not given any food from midday to around 7pm'

- Passengers say they had [no] contact at all from United Airlines for 20 hours

It's 36 degrees F there tonight...I could see how 2 blankets (esp. if UA-thin, ha) wouldn't be sufficient, esp. if heating wasn't great in the barracks.

Another classic UA fail.

Although if the problem really was an inoperable rudder, I'd be pretty happy to be back on the ground.

UA fleet stretched so thin right now, probably no spare widebodies to send to pick them up.

Hell of a way to run an airline.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/...4238321365.jpg

:eek:

Good PR UA! And the flight crew stayed at a hotel and would not answer questions. No food provided for many hours. 2 blankets given to each PX.

Hundreds of men, women and children have been abandoned at remote barracks in Canada for 20 hours so far after their United Airlines flight from Chicago to London made an emergency landing.

:rolleyes:

Those are already special sections, no?

Did the FC / C PX get to stay in the hotel? Why no food or communications from UA?

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/...4235088073.jpg

I love it!

Honestly, could they not get another aircraft from EWR in the air as soon as they find out about the diversion. Is it really that hard. Aircraft from EWR could've been there in a few hours. This is very very sad UA. Pathetic.

If the mechanics are doing this on purpose (seems possible), they're only shooting themselves in the foot. This isn't how you will get better contracts.

You need a spare plane and crew available. Not something you just have at the ready or round up in a couple minutes. At least the people onboard didn't divert into the Atlantic.

Yes, the horrors of having to go from midday to 7PM w/o a meal (after having eating breakfast at 9AM or so). Surprised there was no Donner Pass action.

And I am surprised nobody got frostbite in fairly mild weather, indoors with only 2 blankets. The place is of course heated, but likely the locals turned it off because the weather was so warm.

Also noted that one source in the Daily Mail rant was very complimentary of the local workers. I guess they did not realize that these are the hands on the ground the UA (or any airline diverting there) has.

This airline is going from bad to worse. But I was amused to see the snow drifts in YYR - Goose Bay (Daily Mail article). :)

Because they signed up for it and did not pay for 000's of dollars for the privilege of missing weddings meetings and connections,
It's a silly comparison

Sorry but if you don't have a spare then people doing scheduling have an issue. If you don't have a spare you cancel another flight and get those passengers off of Goose Bay. If you can't do that EWR has several 757's that could've been sent up to pick up the passengers and get them to LHR.

The situation was handled poorly.

+1. Press reports like this cause the public at large to avoid United, and the people subject to the cancellation/long delay, tell their friends/relatives who have a reduced desire to fly UA. Today Delta had two (yes 2 :eek:) cancellations, United had twenty-one (21 :() Also 21% of United flights today were delayed. https://flightaware.com/live/cancelled

But United has set low (sub-80%) OT goals as anything more is "diminishing returns" and they are reaping the whirlwind at this point for their choices.

I bet those overcoddled whiners choose another carrier next time and tell others to do the same. Any airline can have a MX. Stuff happens, I get that.

It is the way UA handled the problem. They put the crew in a hotel and the PAX in a military dorm. They did not feed or communicate to the PAX for many hours. This is a complete FAIL on UA.

The worse part is UA shuttling folks back to EWR from Goose Bay, not onto LHR.

That is a major FAIL! UA is hitting the skids on all fronts! :td:

This management team needs to learn how to treat people (your customers who pay your salary). Don't treat us like cattle. Shame!

Oh but come on how good of a story would that be!? :)

I would be upset if it ate into a trip, but if I were just coming home I probably would take it in stride as a travel adventure.

How did the crew clear customs then? :confused:

Has United responded at all about this? Or gone into hiding?

Nothing about this (poor maintenance, lack of a backup plan, lack of caring for customers, lack of taking action when needed) surprises me anymore.

Just when I start to feel good about the better treatment I have been getting from FAs, UA management shows its true colors.

Does anybody have any actual information about this or are we going to read nothing but negative speculation?

Are you suggesting that all the facts reported thus far are speculation?

Are you suggesting the plane didn't divert? Or, the passengers were put into a hotel? Or, they were fed? Or, United Contintal did communicate? Or, they weren't sent to EWR?

Which reported facts are you disputing and why?

Throw some of that UA positive spin on this one. BAZE you need to try other carriers. Nothing personal. This is what I have read:

1. The PAX were taken to Military dormitories.

2. The PAX were given NO info from UA on what was going on.

3. The PAX were given NO food for several hours.

4. The PAX were given two blankets.

5. The flight crew were put up in a hotel.

6. The flight went to EWR from Goose Bay, not onto LHR.

FAIL, FAIL, FAIL on UA!

UA has turned into a joke.

UA should have refunded every person on that flt and given another free trip. That would have kept this mess out of social media. ANOTHER UA FAILURE!

If I was on that flt, I would be pissed and I would contact UA, the media and let people know how UA treats people.

As for the brave soldiers in the Canadian Military. They joined. The PAX on UA did not. I served my time in the US Air Force and I know when I am being treated bad. UA you failed big time on this one!

One of the passengers posted an hour ago on the Daily Mail site:
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz3d0jORWzi

Another post by a resident of Goose Bay an hour ago:

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz3d0maqj77

Maybe UA will get a press release out on Monday.

The way they usually do.

It's not uncommon to hold pax from a diverted flight in a sterile area. It's likely some percentage did not have visas for Canada.

Exactly. You cancel any flight on a ten-times-a-day route to rescue them. Or wait, isn't EWR-LHR itself a high frequency route already? Back when HNL-GUM became HNL-MDY, they canceled a sUA 772 to fly HNL-MDY-HNL and the passengers were only there for a few hours. How can they cancel ex-HNL on demand and can't for EWR?

Ok, either we are missing something here, or UA is really hitting new lows:

1) It took them 20 hours to actually get the passengers out of Goose Bay
2) After those 20 hours, the passengers were flown to EWR
3) After arriving at EWR, the passengers spent yet another 3 hours sitting around EWR and then took the same exact plane to LHR. UA 2063 - still en route to LHR right now.

This really sounds like pure insanity from an operational standpoint.


BTW, looks like today's UA 925 made a (brief) diversion to Goose Bay as well.

Yes, it looks like UA 925 LHR-IAD stopped there. UA 2065 YYR-EWR looks like it was an unscheduled flight for other refugees.

They have finally spoken.

Full of compassion and truth, as usual.

"United Airlines spokesperson Hallie Eisenpress said in a statement that "hotel space was not available, so we accommodated our customers at a local military base and provided meals.""

http://www.kmbz.com/Passengers-Aboar...ight-/21633226

Ain't NO way to run any business, much less a customer service oriented one! Feel so bad for all of the PX.....prisoners are treated better than that....oh, they were prisoners of UA...very similar to experiences I had before leaving UA...except I was in a place with hotels and snacks.