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Is United quoting wrong reasons for delay? How is the reason determined?

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Is United quoting wrong reasons for delay? How is the reason determined?

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Old Jul 7, 2017, 1:29 pm
  #256  
 
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Depends on the airplane. The 737 records the arrival time when the first door (main deck or cargo) in opened after the parking brake is set.

I believe that the Airbus records the last time that the parking brake was set prior to a door opening.

In a case such as you describe the arrival time might have to be changed manually. The flight crew will initiate the correction but it might take a little while for it to be updated.
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Old Jul 7, 2017, 7:45 pm
  #257  
 
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
My understand there are two arrival times recorded.
-- touchdown
-- arrived at the gate and aircraft breaks are set

There are both automatic entered and don't require a human to initiate.

If you arrive at a gate, park but the jet bridge is inop -- the system will probably record the arrival at the first gate. Needing to move to another gate after parking is probably not accounted for by the system (pretty rare occurrence IME)
Originally Posted by LarryJ
Depends on the airplane. The 737 records the arrival time when the first door (main deck or cargo) in opened after the parking brake is set.

I believe that the Airbus records the last time that the parking brake was set prior to a door opening.

In a case such as you describe the arrival time might have to be changed manually. The flight crew will initiate the correction but it might take a little while for it to be updated.
Thanks for the information! In this case, it was an A319 and they definitely had the cargo door open (and were also in the process of refueling the plane). I happened to check today (the trip was last Thursday) and it was still showing an early arrival
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Old Jul 7, 2017, 8:33 pm
  #258  
 
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Originally Posted by lilpisher
I happened to check today (the trip was last Thursday) and it was still showing an early arrival
You may not see the correction in the web site or app flight status display. Those front-ends can be confused when the FLIFO information on the back-ends gets complicated. Also, I'm not sure that the FLIFO does get updated in these situations. We see it on our pay registers.

The crew's pay is based on having the correct block-in time so they are motivated to follow up and ensure that the arrival time is updated.
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Old Jul 7, 2017, 9:47 pm
  #259  
 
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Originally Posted by LarryJ
You may not see the correction in the web site or app flight status display. Those front-ends can be confused when the FLIFO information on the back-ends gets complicated. Also, I'm not sure that the FLIFO does get updated in these situations. We see it on our pay registers.

The crew's pay is based on having the correct block-in time so they are motivated to follow up and ensure that the arrival time is updated.
Thank you! Appreciate your willingness to share your time and knowledge.
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Old Jul 7, 2017, 10:17 pm
  #260  
 
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Originally Posted by LarryJ
Depends on the airplane. The 737 records the arrival time when the first door (main deck or cargo) in opened after the parking brake is set.

I believe that the Airbus records the last time that the parking brake was set prior to a door opening.

In a case such as you describe the arrival time might have to be changed manually. The flight crew will initiate the correction but it might take a little while for it to be updated.
You are correct on the Airbus IN time. That was also the case with other planes I've flown with the exception of some of the 767-300s.

FAB

Originally Posted by Kacee
There's a thread on this subject. United Quoting Wrong Reason for Delay.

Bottom line: Sometimes UA gets it wrong, and sometimes the error looks like an effort to avoid paying comp. OTOH in many cases, the passenger's conclusion that UA quoted the wrong issue turns out to be incorrect.

Personally, I don't think there's a pattern of improper conduct, though conspiracy theorists may conclude otherwise.
Do ya think!?!

FAB

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jul 7, 2017 at 10:35 pm Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member
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Old Jul 9, 2017, 5:56 pm
  #261  
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Originally Posted by fgirard
This past Friday, I was on UA9 (SFO-CTU), and when I got to the gate 5 minutes before boarding, the aircraft was no where to be found. Apparently, it was in transit from the parking area as the aircraft before us at the same gate (G91) encountered a MX delay (UA35, SFO-KIX). So we board late, which is compounded as 5L was broken and needed to be repaired. So, our total delay was due to MX...

...and UA codes it as weather.
it happens quite often, but I have never encountered any pushback from UA when I sent a detailed account (they can see the history) of a delay. A 6 hr MX delay BOS-SFO was coded as 'late arriving aircraft' (yes, it was 10 mins late), but they were happy to send an ETC no questions asked.
Recently there was also a 'delay due to snow and ice removal difficulties' .... in June @ ORD
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Old Sep 17, 2017, 7:34 pm
  #262  
 
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Flight delayed because inbound plane not early enough?

I'm curious how this happens. UA407 (DEN-SEA) is leaving late because the arriving aircraft UA980 (IAD-DEN) is shown as arriving late. However, that aircraft is actually arriving ahead of schedule and the only way it would have been on time to continue as UA407 is if it had arrived 30 minutes or so early.

Was UA407 doomed to leave late? Or did something get rearranged that caused this situation?
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Old Sep 17, 2017, 7:37 pm
  #263  
 
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Almost certainly the aircraft that was scheduled to fly UA407 was delayed, and so they swapped it for a new one, being the one arriving as UA980.

This happens all the time - especially at hubs like DEN.
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Old Sep 17, 2017, 7:39 pm
  #264  
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Originally Posted by nobodyherebutme
Or did something get rearranged that caused this situation?
Most likely the current aircraft is a replacement for the one that was originally scheduled to operate your flight. This happens all the time, and yes, it tends to confuse because flight status doesn't show the earlier history which would explain why you now have an on time arriving aircraft that is nonetheless "late" for purposes of its next flight.
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Old Sep 17, 2017, 7:46 pm
  #265  
 
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Actually looks like this was a multi-aircraft swap.

UA407 was due to be flown by the plane arriving into Denver as UA509, which wasn't due to arrive until 8:52PM (and is delayed a little later than that).

UA509 was due to be flown by the plane that is actually going to be UA407.

Welcome to the complex world of aircraft schedule management. One delayed/canceled flight can lead to changes of multiple others in order to reduce the overall delays across the network.
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Old May 6, 2019, 1:57 pm
  #266  
 
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Sitting in SFO, completely full 753, and the captain announced that too much fuel was added to the plane. The fuel gauge also has a problem, so they need to "drip" the fuel and calculate how much is loaded.

Reason for delay online is re-routing flight path due to severe weather. If thats true, it is purely secondary.

Cant think of a round trip on United this year where all flights were on time.
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Old May 6, 2019, 2:05 pm
  #267  
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Originally Posted by FlytheTail
Reason for delay online is re-routing flight path due to severe weather. If thats true, it is purely secondary.
... Except that the calculation of how much fuel is needed is tied to the route that the flight will take...
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Old May 6, 2019, 2:20 pm
  #268  
 
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Originally Posted by FlytheTail
Sitting in SFO, completely full 753, and the captain announced that too much fuel was added to the plane. The fuel gauge also has a problem, so they need to "drip" the fuel and calculate how much is loaded.

Reason for delay online is re-routing flight path due to severe weather. If thats true, it is purely secondary.

Cant think of a round trip on United this year where all flights were on time.
Just minutia but it’s “dip” the tanks.
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Old May 6, 2019, 2:24 pm
  #269  
 
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Originally Posted by jsloan
... Except that the calculation of how much fuel is needed is tied to the route that the flight will take...
I would understand if more fuel was needed, but the overfill and broken sensor are the problem. Pilot said nothing of weather or routing.
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Old May 6, 2019, 2:32 pm
  #270  
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Originally Posted by FlytheTail
I would understand if more fuel was needed, but the overfill and broken sensor are the problem. Pilot said nothing of weather or routing.
It gets complicated.
Need to consider alternate airports, and have to be under a certain weight to land at the alternate airports. Too much fuel, and you will be overweight to land.
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