Maximilion

MEL-LAX and/or LAX-MEL have been cancelled about 4-5 times this month alone, I find that being well above average for any route, correct me if I am wrong.

Next UA99 is cancelled because of " Canceled due to required crew rest ", was wondering how this happens? did the crew supposed to be on UA99 simply come in late? Or is this poor planning?

I heavily rely on this route, and getting more concerned about the on time perfomance, as I have been affected twice by a cancelation on this route within 2 weeks.

mike1968

They're simply not going to be able to fix this until they get the crews onto 1.5 to 2 day layovers (depending on the route and flight volume). Problem is plane arrives 4 hours late...crew has to rest 24 hours...so, then they can't return making the the next day's flight at least 3 hours late. tHe inability to run a global schedule since the Continental takeover is surreal...can't think of any other airline that is this unreliable.

soorox

Today's flight was cancelled due to storms in MEL, the aircraft diverted to SYD therefore crew were out of hours and UA had to fly up crew from MEL to ferry the aircraft back to MEL. With that extra segment added on, the outbound crew due to operate today's UA99 were out of hours. I was hoping for UA to launch MEL-SFO at least then some pax would have a 2nd option if the LAX flight was cancelled.

There will be an extra flight on 24/1 operating as UA2052 as result of today's cancellation.

I guess there are x2 QF flights exMEL departing for LAX so I guess they can book pax onto those services or onto NZ services.

IainC

It is hard to believe that UA is profitable on this route and all these cancellations only drive down its competitiveness further. It seems only a matter of time before UA MX permanently LAX-MEL..One can only hope in this event that they don't regress to the previous SYD-MEL relay flight schedule!

HkCaGu

Problem is LAX-MEL is sCO with shorter breaks in their contract, while everything else (i.e. SYD-LAX, SYD-SFO) is sUA with longer breaks hence legally OK to shorten, am I right?

soorox

If it wasn't, then why even bother to operate MEL-LAX non-stop, instead of axing it completely from the start?

TA

Today's FRA-IAD flights had multiple issues, one of them canceled according to the people I overheard at FRA getting put on LH instead. The inbounds seemed to arrive ok, so I guess it was a problem on the ground in FRA.

Fri 1/22, 988 FRA-IAD canceled, replaced by 8827(?)
Fri 1/22, 933 FRA-IAD canceled

Oh, and updated: today's flights in the opposite direction are also canceled.
Fri 1/22, 989 IAD-FRA canceled, replaced by 8826(?)
Fri 1/22, 932 IAD-FRA canceled

gusd

As are all other flights out of/to IAD at this point.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...25-2016-a.html

wrp96

I do believe UA gets a pass on these cancellations.

bmwe92fan

Yes they do - and I give them credit for being unusually proactive and flexible in most cases - the agents are exhausted but working really hard - I find it difficult to criticize anything they have done in relation to this event....

transportprof

+1

A couple of years ago, these flights might have taken off and then diverted to Gander or Bangor while the Northeast dug out. Trust me, staying in Frankfurt is far preferable ....

wxguy

Real-time update!

UA 851 ORD-PEK, 1220 departure. About 50 minute delay for deicing, but then up, up, and away. About an hour out of ORD the Captain announced that there was a fault in an anti-ice valve on the #2 engine, so we could not fly through icing nor continue on a polar route. The decision was made to divert to LAX for its good weather and UA support.

Upon landing the GS rep told us there is now a 1900 decision time (about 2-1/2 hours from now), if they can fix the problem and find a new crew (pilots would obviously time out). We five GSs are protected on CA at 0040 Saturday, and hanging out at the ex-GFL above the rotunda.

ETA -- 1800 update at LAX: GS given choice of CA at midnight or UA make-up flight (2059) on Sunday morning. The same bird will be used with a new crew.

TA

oh of course, I totally forgot about the storm news while in Europe. Yet LH is flying?

gusd

http://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/Travel-information

IainC

Ah, time will tell won't it? UA in La La land embarked upon the LAX-MEL route with the 789 thinking it would be a winner. They must have had some sort of business case in hand to feel it would be profitable. However, the route has been plagued with MXs and cancelled flights. Not much consumer confidence in the reliability of UA and worse in the in flight product - pay for snacks on a 13.5 h flight? Give me a break! The fact of the matter is that with all the new competition, UA is hopelessly outclassed now on the AUS-USA routes. My feeling is UA LAX-MEL is doomed.