Interesting. Anyway, to close the loop on my OP (which the mods belatedly and oddly merged with this thread), UA 838 on 9/24 was indeed delayed 3 hours so I would have mis-connected to UA 6. The GS agent had wrong information and discouraged instead of facilitated a re-booking. That's the real story here IMO.

Thanks :cool:

Operational Difficulties 36 hours in advance?
 

I received an email yesterday alerting me that my HKG-EWR flight would be delayed due to "operational difficulties". As the email arrived more than 36 hours ahead of the flight, I was wondering what kind of operational challenge United isn't able to solve in 36 hours. Does anyone know?

PS - For those not familiar with the route, this isn't related to aircraft arrival delays. The plane arrives in HKG the night before, about 15 hours before departure.

Crew rest?

Crew related. Maybe someone got sick?

I'd think 36 hours advance notice would be enough for UA to replace crew, no?

There is no Crew in HKG available to staff the flight. SubCO NTA/NLS FAs work this trip. But the crew working your trip to EWR will have arrived HKG today the 4th.

It's still puzzling to me... although I clearly don't know much about airline operations, I do know that delays cost money. And it would seem to me that UA could get a replacement crew to HKG with plenty of time since the incoming aircraft was still several hours from departure. I'm not upset about it (as long as we still land in time for my EWR-DCA connection :p) but I am curious as to why UA wouldn't or couldn't avoid a delay with so much lead time.

Again as I said the crew working your flight are already in HKG the crew who are on the delayed flight out of EWR don't return until the 7th. Kinda hard to recrew the aircraft when their aren't any HKG FAs that are allowed to work sCO metal.

Cancelled flight due to ATC tomorrow?
 

My flight tomorrow got automatically rebooked at a much later time in the day and through a different city. United claims that the reason is "Canceled due to air traffic control conditions impacting our flight operations." I called UA, and they had no further information.

Does it make sense that United has to cancel a flight 24 hours in advance because of ATC?

My route was ROC-IAD-SFO, leaving at 2:37 pm on UA4972. I don't see any other flights out of ROC that are cancelled tomorrow. I tried to see if other flights into IAD are being cancelled tomorrow, but the online IAD flight boards do not give flight status a day in advance.

Perhaps this is a pre-emptive cancellation due to the winter storm advisory in DC tomorrow?

Yes, and yes. And it might not only have been weather in DC. Perhaps your aircraft was scheduled to fly to ROC from EWR?

UX always takes the first hits when the FAA asks UA to prioritize their cancellations for flow control due to reduced capacity in bad weather.

UA's decision to not fly UAX when weather hits. Has nothing to do w/ ATC ... UA decides what is important and what is not.

Your point is well taken (although I was re-routed via EWR, so the weather really does look like it is at IAD).

Well, I told UA that I was entitled to 400% of my fare because I am being denied boarding. The agent said that I was not being denied boarding and could show up tomorrow to board if the plane is there, but she said that United won't have the plane there.

Compensation for Involuntary Denied Boarding
If you are denied boarding involuntarily, you are entitled to a payment of “denied boarding compensation” from the airline unless:
(1) you have not fully complied with the airline's ticketing, check-in and reconfirmation requirements, or you are not acceptable for transportation under the airline's usual rules and practices; or
(2) you are denied boarding because the flight is canceled; or
(3) you are denied boarding because a smaller capacity aircraft was substituted for safety or operational reasons; or
(4) on a flight operated with an aircraft having 60 or fewer seats, you are denied boarding due to safety-related weight/balance restrictions that limit payload; or
(5) you are offered accommodations in a section of the aircraft other than specified in your ticket, at no extra charge (a passenger seated in a section for which a lower fare is charged must be given an appropriate refund); or
(6) the airline is able to place you on another flight or flights that are planned to reach your next stopover or final destination within one hour of the planned arrival time of your original flight.

That policy has to do with oversold flights, not cancelled flights.