PSP-SFO morning delays
Jul 26, 2017, 9:45 am
#1
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PSP-SFO morning delays
Hi to anyone who is familiar with this route - I'm going to start taking it from time to time. Checking the recent flights it seems like the 6am to SFO is usually on time and the 7.35am is often an hour or two late. Today it's over 2 hours delayed for "air traffic control" The plane arrives night before from LAX so why the constant delay? SFO is only showing slight delays today... Anybody have insight..or is this just regular UA monkey business?
Jul 26, 2017, 9:50 am
#2
Join Date: Jan 2016
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Hi to anyone who is familiar with this route - I'm going to start taking it from time to time. Checking the recent flights it seems like the 6am to SFO is usually on time and the 7.35am is often an hour or two late. Today it's over 2 hours delayed for "air traffic control" The plane arrives night before from LAX so why the constant delay? SFO is only showing slight delays today... Anybody have insight..or is this just regular UA monkey business?
From the FAA website:
Due to WEATHER / LOW CEILINGS, there is a Traffic Management Program in effect for traffic arriving San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, CA (SFO). This is causing some arriving flights to be delayed an average of 1 hour and 9 minutes. To see if you may be affected, select your departure airport and check "Delays by Destination".
TLDR; Not Monkey Business
Jul 26, 2017, 11:03 am
#4
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It is all about how many landings the airport can accept. 6am already has a landing slot for 7-something AM, when arrival flow isn't too bad. Short haul aircraft can't even take off for SFO w/o a landing slot.
Jul 26, 2017, 11:37 am
#5
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The culprit is weather that turns SFO into a 1-runway landing operation. However, the typical arrival rate at SFO does not peak above the 1-runway arrivals capacity until 8/9am. So the earliest morning flights are generally safe, and starting 8/9am you see the delays start to mount.
You can see the last chart in the document here (although this is a bit old, it still generally applies):
http://media.flysfo.com/media/sfo/me...s-primer_0.pdf
You can see the last chart in the document here (although this is a bit old, it still generally applies):
http://media.flysfo.com/media/sfo/me...s-primer_0.pdf
Jul 26, 2017, 12:40 pm
#7
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The 6am sneaks in before arrival traffic picks up. Any later and now you're going to be competing for slots, and a CR2 from PSP loses the decision every time.
Jul 26, 2017, 1:29 pm
#8
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Yes, PSP is mainline but later day flights. If I have to get back to SF in the am...it's still RJs!
Jul 26, 2017, 2:06 pm
#9
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It's the same situation from LAX. Whenever I leave on a TPAC trip, I always take the 6am LAX-SFO, not even the ~ 6:50 am one. I'd rather spend the time in the SFO lounge than sweating it in the LAX one.
Jul 26, 2017, 3:17 pm
#10
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Jul 26, 2017, 3:25 pm
#11
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When I flew ONT-SFO-CTU, I swapped the 9am for the 5:40am, which, even though it was early, did afford me the ability to watch the fog roll in.
Jul 26, 2017, 4:32 pm
#12
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Jul 26, 2017, 5:02 pm
#13
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David
Jul 26, 2017, 7:57 pm
#14
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The first flight of the day will soon revert to a mainline (Airbus or 737) and depart at 5:35am or so...I travel PHL/EWR-SFO-PSP-SFO-EWR every 2 weeks--out Thursdays and back Sundays...The first flight to SFO generally performs well--and even when it is delayed, the AS 6am 737 always goes..so the substitution of mainline for UAX should be a blessing.(This upcoming season all PSP><SFO Alaska flights will be handled by Virgin America aircraft BTW)
Jul 26, 2017, 8:40 pm
#15
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