omsflyer

Sitting in DEN ON 3rd hour of UA #735 delay. Concerned about my return Sunday. Any word on wind/ rain helping things

wxguy

Wind fans the fires and blows embers. We want the wind to slacken.

One of the long-range computer simulations is hinting at some moisture / rain around the 19th.

frankmu

My wife is transiting through SFO on 10/16. Will United let her route her flight away from SFO tonight, even though the waiver is up to 10/15?

findark

The flow restriction into SFO today seems quite severe, based on number of cancels and average GDP delay I see posted to various flights.

I'm curious how this compares to a heavy fog day. What aspect of the WX is limiting arrivals (actual conditions, guard for it getting worse - don't repeat what happened in that hurricane, etc?). Wondering if any of our controller friends here can comment.

fgirard

I'm also suspecting that due to the fire fighting air operations, they may have needed to close off a whole set of arrival flows into SFO.

TObject

I have a 10/18 Q fare booking SAN-SFO-FRA-HAM, on 016 ticket stock, with the last leg operated by Lufthansa. Since rains are not expected until the day after…
Which option would you recommend?

a) Eat the $300 change fee, and route away from SFO, while the options are wide open.

b) Wait for the travel advisory for the date (if any), and change then. Would I still get the change fee waved with a leg on partner metal?

c) SDC to one of the earlier SAN-SFO flights, and hope that Lufthansa puts me on one of the later flights to HAM if SFO-FRA gets delayed.

d) SDC away from SFO (may have to wait long time in FRA, as I understand partner flights can not be changed under Same Day rules).

I have United Premier Gold status.

Thank you.

BlueZebra

Seriously? Wind is the LAST thing we need. In fact, we are going to have another serious dry wind event tomorrow, and again on Sunday night.

Wind? Geesshh!

findark

What is your connect time in SFO? I would plan for SAN-SFO to be delayed by 3hrs and attempt to change (free with waiver for free with SDC) so that there is adequate connect time in SFO. If there is a routing you like that avoids SFO, wait for a waiver and change to that.

Yes, the waiver will allow you to change the LH flight as long as the ticket was issued by United. Unless you have life-altering commitments in HAM, I would not spend $$ just to avoid a possible misconnect. There is a GDP and SFO ops are slow, but it's hardly Armageddon up here.

Kacee

I flew out of OAK this afternoon and the visibility decreased as we climbed out over the bay. It was a very flat light and everything looked brownish white, no contrast at all. I can totally understand why there were flow controls into SFO.

Have never seen smoke like this in the bay, '91 was nothing like this. If you're connecting through SFO over the next few days, I would definitely recommend taking advantage of the waiver if possible.

bhunt

Would United refund non-refundable tickets (Not BE) due to the wildfires destroying their winery/resort they planned to stay at this weekend by Santa Rosa?

I told them probably not. Just find a nice hotel in San Francisco to stay for weekend. But wildfires/smoke have them freaked out that San Fran may be bad too.

Kacee

I doubt UA would offer a refund. But I would stay away from SF this weekend. The entire Bay Area is covered in a thick layer of smoke. It's not pleasant.

Long Zhiren

Doesn't seem like any of the posters of this thread go through PEK much.
Get the "Air Matters" app on your phones, and notice how the SF Bay Area's air situation is way worse than Beijing's these days.

It's bad.

PEK is infamous for smog delays. The effect of the California fires is real. SFO is new at this. Anything over 100 will cause delays. 100-160 is common for PEK. Over 160 is almost unheard of at PEK. SFO's been way over 160 every day now.

The South Bay Area has been doing 100-160 in the afternoons. It's only double digits in the mornings.
Peninsula, SF and East Bay have been consistently worse than South Bay while the fires are going.
North Bay, Vallejo, San Rafael have been 200-280+. I never knew the scale went that high.

If you're here, consider a face mask. Breathing the particulates is a quick route to respiratory infection.

I'm not sure how this will get under control any time soon.

Kacee

Singapore goes over 400 when the fires are burning across the Strait.

daisyatl

Hi. Actually not. I need the miles. I was concerned the flight would not go out. But the fires are just delaying the flights. I checked all the flights today and that seems to be the case with all of them. That actually is "good" for me. I say good because the whole situation is awful. I live in the Bay Area and know many people who have been affected. I have a tight(ish) connection. I had the option of SDC through SFO and could have done the other two segments the next day. I rejected that before I saw the waiver. I only called United after I saw the email and got concerned about this routing. And the SF option is no longer available. I am going to try and do it though.Maybe get on a EWR-SFO-LAX tonight and just do the first leg and do SFO-LAX-SFO tomorrow. That seems like the safest bet.

Thanks!

130 fsw