bocastephen

Seriously, what the heck is going on with this airline?

4 days before departure I get a delay warning due to aircraft maintenance??

4 days is not enough time to have an aircraft ready to fly? Not enough time to substitute another aircraft?

How utterly ridiculous

mherdeg

What route? (What equipment type? They're down a 744 right now, aren't they?)

bocastephen

SFO NRT. 744....so that means we're getting the damaged plane? This is their key 744 route...they need to get it together asap.

mahasamatman

I can guarantee with 100% certainty that you will not get a damaged plane.

By whose definition of "key"? This statement smacks a bit of DYKWIA.

bocastephen

Obviously I know I'm not getting a damaged plane, my statement should be clear that appears we're getting the aircraft was damaged and is currently in repair.

mherdeg

No, I think the a/c that was damaged was United's charter 744 N194UA, which you are unlikely to see on SFO-NRT, and I think they have had some equipment shortages while rotating in "normal" 744s to satisfy charter service demand. This is thirdhand speculation/info from FlyerTalk.

UA-NYC

Try calling and getting re-routed to a superior NH flight experience?

bocastephen

I'm upgraded with a GPU so I doubt they would move me to another carrier in J....my destination is actually TPE, but since the delay still leaves me with a 2.5hr connection, I don't think they would make a change for free even with R space SFO TPE...but I'm legitimately concerned about the delay growing and putting my connection at risk by the day of flight

gengar

Is it possible it's just a system bug or some mistake that's resulted in the delay notification? Seems absurd to have a 4-day notice on a relatively short delay.

denuaflier

Since they know delays are usually "rolling", if you get the "right" agent they will proactively move you to SFO - TPE in J.

UA-NYC

Exactly...you can pitch it as a win/win situation for both you (boca) and UA

bocastephen

On the phone with the 1K desk and they say there is no delay for my flight nor is my itinerary tagged with a delay...but she can see the email that was sent out. Checking now but she suspects an IT glitch.

JBord

With the number of mechanical delays I've had in the last few months, perhaps they're just being proactive. Like when the weatherman says there's a 50% chance of rain next week.

bocastephen

Alls well that ends well...even if a bit odd.

So agent #1 would not make the change because she could not see the delay, but advised me to call back and try again if the delay was still posting after midnight this morning.

It was, so I called back and the agent confirmed the delay was due to maintenance planned on the 747 coming in from FRA - which led me to think the delay could go longer, or the flight could be canceled that day, a risk I did not want, so I requested and she graciously moved us from SFO NRT TPE to the SFO TPE nonstop and even modified the first flight so we weren't leaving so early and sitting in the lounge for 5.5 hours.

One odd thing - after she reissued the tickets and I checked on them later, the first segment was moved to a later flight leaving us with a 2hr connection, which I don't want to risk at SFO. I called to have the flight moved back and the agent told me an automated system rebooked me without intervention (or permission) to shorten my connection time - a change I did not like, but we got everything put back and a block on further automated changes like that.

Of course, as of this morning, the SFO NRT flight is showing on time with a new ship number So no upper deck 747 or ANA Lounge on the flight over (and stuck in middle J seat section SFO TPE), but I didn't like the unpredictability with the NRT flight, so I'm happy with the change.

Yes, it was a positive thing that UA pre-warned everyone about the delay due to maintenance, and yes it was a positive thing that I was pro-actively moved to a less risky routing.

nerdbirdsjc

So United was not being utterly ridiculous, and employed the airline industry best practice of advising the customer as soon as it knew that a maintenance delay was likely, AND offered you a protection option that is even better than what you originally had.