garkster

The only IAH/SFO flight that hasn't been significantly delayed the last couple of days has been the first 0723 departure. Today the 0915 left IAH departed almost 3 hours late. In the typical "low clouds" ATC case, you'd be looking at typically 60-90 minutes, absolute worst case wind/rain 120 minutes.

Regarding another comment upstream regarding approach, over the past couple of days I've seen the incoming EU flights lined up N/S near the coast all the way up to WA on a 180 heading, vs. the normal ~200-210 cutting across SE WA/ID, central OR, and CA. The 747 tankers seem to be operating at 5000 or less, so I don't know if it's the fire ops or smoke or ?? that is causing this unusual fair weather approach scheme. These are LH458 from Sunday and Tuesday.

mduell

Likely driven by winds enroute rather than the terminal conditions.

BlueZebra

Agree. Much of the wind issues we have had for the last week or longer have been North/Northeast winds.

PVDtoDEL

Alaska has extended their waiver through the 20th. Chance of UA match?

laxmillenial

not sure. Might not even be needed. Things seem good at SF/SFO today. No FAA delay program set. Delays minimal / nonexistent even on short haul flights.

Air in the city seems breathable for the first time all week. It was amazingly clear this morning.

frankmu

My wife decided to skip SFO, and was able to get a flight through DEN to EUG on 10/16. No waiver, but the CS agent did the change without any fees.

docbert

Just landed at SFO, and I can't remember the last time I saw such a beautiful, clear day over the entire bay.

We overflew 2 fires to the north, but the wind was obviously blowing the smoke from them out to sea well north of the bay area.

Overflying the airport headed south I could make out every single aircraft on the ground, and then as we turned at the very south of the bay even the city was clearly visible.

UA's crystal ball obviously misfired on this one...

BlueZebra

Ah... Marin and Sonoma counties, the two counties immediately north of SF, and very commonly considered part of the Bay Area, were very smoky today. So, no, not "well north" of the Bay Area. I know, I live here.

All it takes is one or two degrees difference in the wind direction, and the smoke is down on SFO. I don't think United, their weather folks, or the FAA, who is ultimately responsible for any landing restrictions at SFO(not UA) did anything wrong.

But, as many think here, United is ultimately responsible for everything.

findark

Things are doing much better today for most of the bay, but also I'm not aware of there being a GDP this afternoon? Current status looks like SFO is running a full capacity.

I finally got to open my windows today though, it was a nice break from the terrible air all week.

laxmillenial

I mean, if you read the posts above you, people were saying the exact opposite. Flights in and out of SFO were absolutely dreadfully delayed. They were wondering about changing connections on Oct 15, and even one person on Oct 18! People were hoping to proactively change their flights as we couldn't see the situation improving even next week.

So, wouldn't you prefer United err on the side of caution? I mean, if they didn't and put a 1-2 delay up, can you imagine the number of posts saying "I can't believe UA didn't see this coming based on the magnitude of the fires".

sggolf

Any thoughts on delays in SJC?

docbert

Certainly nothing related to the smoke. It's a beautiful day in the South Bay today - visibility well over the "10 miles" that counts as "unlimited". A bit very light haze, but no more than you'd get on any other day of the year.

Kacee

SFO is special due to the parallel runways, which require 1000 ft visibility otherwise they impose flow control, leading to delays/cancels.

SJC and OAK have not been affected by the smoke.

GoSh4rks

SJC is almost never delayed. This past week has not been an exception.

Ocn Vw 1K

Although it's a bit smoky -- and warm (75F) -- in S.F. tonight, the only delay program shown active by the FAA as of 1945 PDT is in Toronto (CYYZ), due to weather and winds.