tuolumne

Easy there with the pandemic talk.

1) We don't now the full situation, and neither do the FAs

2) Drawing parallels between this one event and the SFH and insinuating it could happens again at any time is the definition of an over-reach.

3) Since we're talking about the SFH, let's talk about UAL's management hardball tactical approach to planning, which backfired spectacularly. It takes two to tango, and the pilots won. Then the economy crashed, and 9/11 happened, and all workforces at UAL took drastic reductions to their benefits and pay.

BearX220

A little off topic, but there's plenty of analysis that says SFH animosity made the post-9/11 environment notably worse for United, as they had alienated so many former loyalists when they most needed support.

jacobguo

MSY. I think I can see why

mduell

Wonder which sub the pilots were from. Looks like the tail was scheduled to be N37273.

kb9522

FA should be fired immediately. You don't air your dirty laundry in public.

Gig103

Holy cow, I had the same thing (minus the FA announcement) happen on an AA flight last December. The assigned crew went invalid before boarding, so they delayed it an hour to get another pilot/copilot. They arrived later than expected, and didn't let anyone board until they had finished preflight checks. I've been on quick turnaround flights, but these .... took their time and they managed to time out before we boarded. It was the last flight of the night so we had to wait 12 hours.

I'm convinced, even though our FA didn't announce it like yours did, that the backup pilot didn't want to spend the night in Portland.

Two Bee

Perhaps seeing this cavalier attitude, on a daily basis, and watching passengers continually getting screwed over by a few select crew members, one doesn't really care who gets an ear full!

I'm sure the f/a is well aware of the ramifications of her actions, but has had a belly full of mis-connects that could be prevented if a few caring employees knocked off the obvious/visible lolly-gagging.

The union will take care of both parties, if this should get escalated, so no need to fret!

fredc84

I've seen this the other way, too. I had a flight that needed to leave on schedule other-wise the F/A's would go illegal. They dragged their feet during boarding and then the #1 asked the captain to try to delay the door closing so they wouldn't go on the clock. He didn't and they got royally P/O'd.

CruiserCLE

Does anyone know if pilots can waive their "duty limit" (or whatever it's called and work over their hours if needed?

I ask because I had a similar situation to the OP arise last month when my EWR-CLE got cancelled. We had been delayed a few hours and returned to the gate because of the tarmac rule and they said the crew was going to time out. Evidently, they pulled two pilots who were deadheading on the flight home to CLE and had them work, because they had time left on their duty (or so we were told).

When we reboarded and were told it would be XXXX amount of time before we could takeoff, the new pilot came on and said they would not be able to wait and that they were cancelling the flight. I had heard from a few of my industry friends that pilots can waive this (and get paid dearly for it). I've also been told some people hate when the company does this so that made me think maybe they were trying to get back by delaying our departure and eventually causing the time-out.

The new pilot gave us this story about how he was trying to get home too so it wasn't his choice but it seemed like they could have flown if they wanted to. Again, I am not an expert, just re-explaining what we were told.

The only part I felt was very unprofessional was on the taxi back to the gate the pilot gave this whole rant on why the entire escapade is due to the FAA and we all need to support President Trump's FAA reauthorization...

Truthfully, I don't think many listened and I started looking for alternatives while still onboard but I thought it was crossing the line.

AceReport

This ^^^

I believe this is still true for UA though some international (KLM/AF/LH) do it quite a bit differently, also AS and SWA have a different system in the USA

TominLazybrook

No.. The should get a medal. And the Pilots should be fired.

Given my experience with UA this summer, it appears as if there's some sort of labor beef going on, usually concentrating on mx issues. It wouldn't surprise me that it might be the pilots behind it.

I look forward to flying more flights on the ME3 and Norweigian if they don't fix it soon.

LondonElite

Air Canada operates a direct service between New Orleans and Washington. Wow, that's news to me. Or were you connecting beyond Washington?

laxmillenial

Maybe someone could clarify your second statement? I've flown plenty (ok...maybe not compared to most of you) of times this summer and haven't noticed anything. In fact, it's rare for me to even experience an mx.

So, is there a labor beef going on within UA?

BThumme

AC flies nonstop MSY-YYZ, so I think it's a safe assumption that Toronto was the final destination.

fightingsiouxatc

In regards to pilots waiving, I believe they can waive up to 2 hours of their duty CCO (Crew Critical Off). They also have a block time CCO of which I don't believe they can waive. Flight attendant duty limits are all contractual as the FAA has no limit on how long they can work.