WineCountryUA

As the questions of 787 operating issues has come up again in this thread and there was a earlier discussion on the issue, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ellations.html, will move the recent discussion to the previous thread.

WineCountryUA
UA coModerator

JK-SFO

UA 962 EWR-TXL delayed 2 hours 29 minutes on Wednesday, Dec. 14 (maintenance, 767-300)

leading to my flight delay:
UA 963 TXL-EWR, expected delay 2 hours 15 minutes on Thursday, Dec. 15

JK-SFO

gcashin

UA 917 SFO-AKL 77L December 14 delayed by 3 hours, appears to be maintenance related.

TEBraniff

787-8 N-28912. No idea why.

https://www.flightradar24.com/UAL46/be769f6

JOSECONLSCREW28

MX issue and swap to A/C 903.

TA

A friend was on today's (12/15 Thursday) SFO-CDG, and after leaving the gate, they had to go back to refuel (!) after 30 minutes, then left the gate again, and someone had a medical emergency so yet again they returned to the gate, had to refuel, and finally departed 2:45 late. 788 #3906. I have no idea how they would incorrectly calculate the fuel quantity needed, or have such small margin. It was pouring here all day, so there were some delays, but this is odd.

JK-SFO

UA 963 TXL-EWR, Thursday, Dec. 15, ended up only 1 hour 17 minutes late. I made my Amtrak connection; others were going to make connections that they thought were toast. Not as bad as we thought it was going to be . . .

JK-SFO

Artpen100

If you are on one of those LAX-MEL or SYD flights and it cancels with a replacement same time next night, definitely ask for two hotel vouchers so you are not checking in at 4am with an 11am checkout. They will give them.

kirkwoodj

Great advice, thanks!

dc89

12/16 UA941 LHR-EWR.

We pulled back from the gate and not a few seconds had gone by when the plane went BUMP - felt like we'd backed into something. It was jarring, and certainly the kind of moment when you go "Oh, #*%(, this flight isn't getting out of here on time." Turns out the tow bar connecting us to the tug pushing us back broke, damaging the nose gear. After 4 (!) hours on the tarmac they canceled the flight. Shockingly, the parts they needed to fix the 80s-era 763 United runs on that route weren't available at Heathrow.

This was my first time visiting the UK after getting my Registered Traveller validated and BOY was I glad to have that - based on prior experience I'd bet other passengers waited hours at passport control. I was pretty impressed with how quickly I got out of the airport and into the hotel room they'd booked at the Renaissance Heathrow, though I heard others grousing about the lack of communication on the ground.

They rebooked me automatically on a flight leaving at 3 PM tomorrow on the same plane we just abandoned. I spent some time on the phone with the Premier Desk to see if I could get on an earlier flight to no avail (the agent briefly mentioned that there was space on a BA flight at 8:30, but they wouldn't let her put me on it... would have been more surprised if they had than if they hadn't, honestly).

I did notice that I got put on an upgrade list for this flight - is that something they do when an irregularity like this occurs? I don't have GPUs (won't be 1K until this flight lands...) so not sure how else that would have happened, unless the phone agent felt bad for me or was just glad I wasn't yelling at her.

Anyway, all in all, pretty awful end to what happened to be a pretty terrible trip - delays leaving EWR, surprise stomach flu, bad corporate housing - but I'm comfortable with how United handled it and I'm pretty psyched that I'll be entitled to 600 Euros in compensation.

JDT1955

On 907 to FRA. Worried about the snow, which turned out to be pretty much of a non event, but some unspecified"relay" problem has us 3 hours behind and counting. Of course, two trips to the Polaris club isn't the worst punishment. Hope we make our flight to Oslo...

Update: pushed back awaiting deicers who never arrived as they got the same electrical error as in the first place. So back at the gate with a posted 5 hour delay. So much for our evening in Oslo...

Update 2: got back to the gate where they officially declared plane broke, now moved over a gate awaiting a new plane with 5 hour delay and counting. Next to fall: crew times out...

Update 3: so now we have our shiny new plane ready to take us to FRA, all restocked with food and amenities. Unfortunately there's a disagreement between the crew and operations as to just when they time out, and several FAs just walked off the plane and left. Operations say they're trying to find replacements, but "It'll be a miracle". You just couldn't make this incompetence up if you tried!

Update 4: so... At the 5.5 hour delay point, they decided that they really had timed out, setting off a melee of people trying to rebook, near impossible with flights so full. Then, voila! The flight is going tomorrow at 1:45 PM (we'll see...). Another hour to sort out connections and taxi vouchers, and we're on our way home, 9 hours after getting to the airport. Soon, back to the Polaris lounge...

exerda

One thing may be that many of the GS and 1K pax (along with the paid C pax) have convinced UA to reroute them on other flights, leaving more C space. Had that happen in LAX once, where a 3-class 777 went out with ~40 total pax after people rerouted. I happily took the nearly-empty C cabin seat upgrade...

minnyfly

That sometimes happens. There's always a small margin. I suspect either the taxi was much longer than expected and/or the en route weather conditions changed that required more fuel for alternate airports, etc. Usually those two reasons cover going back for more fuel.

dc89

Yep, makes sense - I had a similar thing happen this summer after a 6-hour delay at SFO (was finally able to use an RPU!). I was just surprised because I don't really have any reason to be upgraded - I'm not yet 1K so no GPUs, though I will be if I ever get home

Speaking of which - our replacement flight, UA2099, has been delayed until 8 PM. Guess I'm getting another 600 EUR...?

Flying Machine

Good luck! I hear the lounge is nice there.. Nice score and Safe Travels..