flag stop - san-iad red eye makes "flag stop" in CLE
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: UA 1K MM, AA Gold, SPG Plat, HH Gold
Posts: 991
flag stop - san-iad red eye makes "flag stop" in CLE
Tonights SAN-IAD redeye has become a SAN-CLE-IAD with CLE as a flagstop to let off 65 Cleveland passengers. (San Diego played Cleveland yesterday so there are passengers trying to get home.)
They've booked an extra 45 minutes into the flight schedule. Let's see if that holds.
They've booked an extra 45 minutes into the flight schedule. Let's see if that holds.
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Houston
Programs: UA Plat, Marriott Gold
Posts: 12,694
Flight preparation... odd choice of coding.
Disrupting a redeye like this, >24h after the game ended, seems cruel. The morning or midday flight, ok weird but helps some pax, but shortening the redeye? Ouch.
Code:
1657/05OCT F SAN/ETD 950P ON TIME F SAN/ETA 732P E00.09 P CLE/ETA 510A FLAG STOP-INTERM-ETD 530A PREVIOUS STOP SAN F CLE/ETD 530A F IAD/ETA 643A L01.03 D FCF/FSTOP CLE ENRT SAN-IAD A/FLIGHT PREPARATION
#3
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 844
How does something like this come about? Were 65 people bumped off a previous flight/delayed due to the game and missed their itinerary? Or did 65 folks just show up with a wad of cash and say "would you mind making a brief stop en route to let us off?"
#5
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: if it's Thursday, this must be Belgium
Programs: UA 1K MM
Posts: 6,484
I have never heard this term before -- flag stop? Like when someone flags a train or a bus to stop somewhere on demand?
Just because of the sheer number of people it becomes a real option?
Just because of the sheer number of people it becomes a real option?
#6
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: NJ
Posts: 107
Pretty sure the term refers primarily to train or bus stops where they only stop if they need to drop off/pick up passengers. Definitely unusual for a plane, there must have been some extenuating circumstances that lead to this decision.
#7
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Flag stop = where the bus or train is not scheduled to stop unless the station master puts out a flag to alert the driver, etc. to do so. Greyhound used to have them in small towns all the time. With UA, however, it's more like rewriting the timetable on the fly.
#8
Join Date: Feb 2006
Programs: UA, Starwood, Priority Club, Hertz, Starbucks Gold Card
Posts: 3,953
"Flagstop" is also official airline terminology. It rarely happens these days, because airplanes today have much longer range.
Look into airline route maps from the 1930s (and probably into the early 1950s), you will see that "direct flights" often stop at multiple cities down a line, just like railroads. I'm not sure how true this is: Dallas had always had more scheduled airline service than Fort Worth (this part is true), but airlines often made flag stops in Fort Worth to pick up and drop off passengers.
Look into airline route maps from the 1930s (and probably into the early 1950s), you will see that "direct flights" often stop at multiple cities down a line, just like railroads. I'm not sure how true this is: Dallas had always had more scheduled airline service than Fort Worth (this part is true), but airlines often made flag stops in Fort Worth to pick up and drop off passengers.
#9
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Into the late 1960s actually. As a kid I flew from Fort Smith to STL on a Frontier Convair 580 that must have stopped three or four times en route.
#10
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: NJ
Posts: 107
Obviously it'd dramatically increase elapsed time, but I wouldn't mind a flight that stopped at a few different airports to pick-up/drop-off a few along the way, provided that the turnaround times were relatively short and I didn't have to get off the plane. Take off/landing and taxiing are the best times to sight-see!
#11
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: BOS ORD (via MSP) and occasionally AUG and MWN
Programs: UA 2P. Former DL FO in the Golden Age of Mileage Runs
Posts: 139
Makes sense to me
UA has 65 seats SAN-IAD, and that many pax which need to go to SAN-CLE. Not enough to justify an extra section (if you can somehow find the equipment and crew and the repositioning works). If you don't get the pax out, you have to find them all seats the next day and maybe put them all up in a hotel. So you put in a flag stop. Slight inconvenience for IAD pax, getting in at 6:30 instead of 5:30. Appease the IAD pax with drink chits or some miles or $25 vouchers for the inconvenience, you still save a lot versus a bunch of hotel rooms. Doubt that happened except for those who complained.
Important question: if you're on SAN-IAD, can you claim miles for SAN-CLE-IAD with 500 minimum for CLE-IAD?
Apparently the SAN-CLE route has been flown during the holidays as recently as 2013.
Important question: if you're on SAN-IAD, can you claim miles for SAN-CLE-IAD with 500 minimum for CLE-IAD?
Apparently the SAN-CLE route has been flown during the holidays as recently as 2013.
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: UA 1K MM, AA Gold, SPG Plat, HH Gold
Posts: 991
OP here...
CLE passengers were suppose to fly SAN-DEN-CLE. The SAN-XXX went mechanical and they would have missed their DEN-CLE. Instead, UA decided to hold them in SAN and put them on this SAN-CLE-IAD flight.
There was no indication that this extra leg was put on. The only way I realized was when I mentioned that the Dulles flight wasn't on the departure board.
Arrived into Dulles an hour late. We didn't refuel in Cleveland which was convenient. No word of compensation. I did pay $300 extra to fly the non-stop versus a connection on AA.
CLE passengers were suppose to fly SAN-DEN-CLE. The SAN-XXX went mechanical and they would have missed their DEN-CLE. Instead, UA decided to hold them in SAN and put them on this SAN-CLE-IAD flight.
There was no indication that this extra leg was put on. The only way I realized was when I mentioned that the Dulles flight wasn't on the departure board.
Arrived into Dulles an hour late. We didn't refuel in Cleveland which was convenient. No word of compensation. I did pay $300 extra to fly the non-stop versus a connection on AA.
#13
Join Date: Feb 2006
Programs: UA, Starwood, Priority Club, Hertz, Starbucks Gold Card
Posts: 3,953
For a situation like this, my impression of UA's attitude is that it will not proactively offer compensation in order to minimize the amount paid out. Instead, it expects you, the pax, to initiate the email. I would make the same points as you have above, but from my experiences, I expect little more than ~ 5,000 bonus miles. YMMV and good luck.
#15
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flag stop - san-iad red eye makes "flag stop" in CLE
I was wondering if a flight was delayed/canceled somewhere else.
I remember several years ago, maybe about 2007, I was on the last ORD-CVG of the night. I was on the blue line to the airport, and got an email about its cancelation. I called in for rebooking, and they put me on the AA flight instead. After landing, I was surprised to see a UA flight from ORD on the board landing a few minutes after mine. Apparently, they decided to have the DAY flight make a stop in CVG.
I remember several years ago, maybe about 2007, I was on the last ORD-CVG of the night. I was on the blue line to the airport, and got an email about its cancelation. I called in for rebooking, and they put me on the AA flight instead. After landing, I was surprised to see a UA flight from ORD on the board landing a few minutes after mine. Apparently, they decided to have the DAY flight make a stop in CVG.