Why do crews not show up on time?
 

My wife and I were on a cruise out of FLL. On 4 flights (IAD-EWR, EWR-FLL on 1/9 and FLL-EWR and EWR-IAD 1/17), the crews were late on three (all except EWR-FLL--we got to the gate during boarding because of the delay). The delays were between 30 minutes on IAD-EWR and 60 minutes on FLL-EWR. UA initially claimed that the delays on 1/19 were due to weather, but ultimately gave those passengers who missed connections vouchers for hotels and meals. But the overall performance left a lot to be desired even as we were not personally inconvenienced (since we did ultimately make the EWR-FLL flight, though only because a golf cart driver stopped to pick us up).

And on the FLL-EWR flight my wife and I were numbers 3 and 2 respectively on the upgrade list. The PNR had been split. About an hour before the flight was supposed to take off, I was upgraded and 4 other passengers were also upgraded, but not my wife (who had ranked above them not long before), who was above them on the upgrade list. I found a supervisor who fixed this (his words), but why did it happen?

The answer is almost certainly that they were coming on a flight (either as crew or deadheads) and that flight was delayed in arriving.

Usually, it is because their inbound flight is late.

Or because of mandated rest times they are not permitted to show up until a set time.

Last month I was waiting at the JW & I started to talk with a pilot who was waiting for his car service. I did so bc inexplicably my cab left without me & I was running very late & thought about asking for a ride if his came first. He seemed very concerned about the whereabouts of his service, which came first with mine behind.

I boarded at the end of group 2, took my seat in row 1, & gave the pilot a salute when I saw him. We left a few min late...

Not necessarily true. The first flight (IAD-EWR) had an 8:15 a.m. departure. Extraordinarily unlikely that the crew was coming from another flight. The gate agents did not know where the crews were on any of these flights and at times lied about the causes of the delay (weather--it's always terrible somewhere) and they lied to other passengers about whether they could make their connections (telling most people yes when this could not possibly be the case). And the gate agent in EWR told passengers with connections that he didn't know anything about IAD so he couldn't tell them how to get from the A gates to the C gates. Would it have taken much time to learn a bit about this so passengers knew what they had to do? I was able to speak to several passngers and let them know what they had to do.

Whatever the causes of the delays, they are unacceptable if they occur almost all of the time.

I don't think that you read the earlier post.

Crews have mandated rest periods (mandated by federal law). When their inbound flight arrives late the night before, they can't depart the next AM until X hours have elapsed.

That's common across all carriers when there is bad weather somewhere in the system. You won't find it different on AA or DL.

You may find it unacceptable and, if you do, should definitely file a complaint with DOT, suggesting that it lighten up on the rules. Most people understand why have a well-rested crew is a good idea and why weather, ATC and even mechanical delays all combine to create the situation.

Mandated rest periods for an 8:15 a.m. flight from IAD-EWR?

There were no weather conditions on 1/9. The FA on the EWR-IAD flight that left an hour late on 1/17 told my wife and I that he was turning right around and flying to Charlottesville. There was a bit of snow on the ground in EWR on 1/17. UA started to claim a weather delay but changed its tune. When a large number of non-elite passengers got angry that they missed their connections, UA fessed up and gave them hotel and food vouchers and didn't use the "act of God" excuse for bad weather. I know because we parked at the Dulles Hilton and the van that took us there was full of passengers on our flight who were going to stay the night there.

If 3 of 4 flights are delayed, that says something about UA: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-uni...-delays-2015-8

Just to respond to this comment. Why not? If the crew arrived into IAD late last night, they are required to rest X hours before they can show up for work. I lived in Austin, TX (AUS) for several years, and it is not uncommon to see the first few flights of the day get delayed due to "Late crew arrival". Almost every time I checked, I could find at least one flight arriving late into AUS the day before.

Yes, as quoted by the same post you quoted:

Was this a UA mainline or UAex flight?

Entirely possible and relatively common; potential causes
- Upline mechanical caused delay, FA or pilot was late off duty, crew rest required.
- Upline weather caused delay, FA or pilot was late off duty, crew rest required.
- FA or pilot scheduled to fly trip called in sick, new FA had to be located and assigned the trip. IIRC FAs flying reserve [as opposed to ready reserve] have to be able to report within 60 minutes of being assigned the trip -- but that doesn't mean "on the plane" within 60 minutes.
- FA or pilot exceeded monthly maximums, had to be replaced, ...

Also, since it seems like mixed domiciled crews are the norm rather than the exception these days if you're on a mainline flight just because one FA is IAD based and/or he or she met minimum rest, that doesn't mean the entire crew had the same itinerary.

Rest regulations got tightened up a few years back (partially in response to Colgan 3407 and other fatigue-related incidents/near misses) including requiring airlines to submit and comply with a "Fatigue Management Plan" which increased rest requirements and rest-related delays, generally speaking.

I wonder how many deadheads you can have on one flight? I was on an SBA-LAX flight today that had 4-5 FAs + pilots deadheading - and we were about ~15 minutes late. Kinda surprised there were that many out of a small station like SBA...

Were they actually deadheads (NRPS -- company paid travel to position a crew) or commuting (NRSA -- choosing to live/visit away from base and commute)?

I wouldn't be at all surprised at a bunch of commuters from somewhere as nice as SBA, but I'd be quite surprised at that many deadheads (meaning that United would have flown them in working on revenue flights but not had outbound revenue flights for any of them to work) absent an irrops situation.

(IIRC, if they're commuting it's their responsibility to get to the originating station for their first paid leg to check in on time and if not they're "charged" for the delay and they face nasty disciplinary action, on the other hand if they're deadheading it's the company's responsibility to get them to their next leg on time)

The FAA extended the required rest period from 8 hours to 10 hours a few years a back. A late arrival the night before could certainly cause a delayed flight at 8:15AM due to the 10 hour required rest period. Not sure why you seem to believe this is so unlikely. You would want to look at the weather on 1/8, not 1/9, to see if the inbound pilots were delayed thus causing a delay on a departing flight the following morning due to required rest.

You'll see it a lot during and after a big weather event as all the "broken pieces" are repositioned to resume normal service.

You'll also see it for cities that have a different number of flights per day on different days of the week such as resort destinations. We have a lot of Caribbean cities that have one, or none, flight per day during the week then multiple flights each on Saturday and Sunday. Crews have to be deadheaded in/out each weekend. I did a Punta Cana, DR trip this summer where we had three complete cockpit crews (six pilots) deadheading EWR-PUJ plus at least one full F/A crew.

Then there are the commuting crews that you mentioned. Only way to tell the difference between commuting and deadhead is to see if they already have their seat assignments or if they're waiting until near the end of boarding to get them. (And that doesn't work if the flight has lots of open seats)