WineCountryUA

The extra fuel would be do to making up the delayed departure for a less delayed arrival

milepig

Seems to fly in the face of the “get the plane off the gate on time at all expense” initiative!

BThumme

They may have done this more informally in the past. Back when CLE was a hub (RIP), I was flying back December 23rd CLE-FNT. We delayed about 30 minutes (we were already on board), and the pilot said with it being the holidays (and it already being 11pm), we were gonna wait for the last connecting passenger.

...or maybe it was just another mechanical delay on a Dash-300, but I like to think that they were truly waiting, and someone did end up boarding. This was 3 years ago. Or maybe that was CommutAir's policy or goodwill act.

mander

I had this happen on a ORD-OGG flight years ago just before the holidays. Gate hold for a family of 7 in F coming from DTW.

NoLaGent

We've probably all been on a flight or 2 in the past however many years that has been held, but I've certainly never had it formally addressed as "Home for the Holidays", which from a customer facing perspective, is awesome.

For the naysayers in this thread, I would have to assume that OPS in CHI is in control of the flights that get this treatment based on # of inbound delayed connections to a specific flight, crew rest hours and a number of other factors.

I know that if I was connecting through DEN (or other) to an outstation (wherever) on the last flight, was delayed inbound and was notified on arrival that UA was waiting for me, the amount of loyalty earned by that action would be priceless.

Two enthusiastic thumbs up for the effort.

mr8

While it seems like nice gesture, some people have plans and need to arrive at the scheduled landing time. What if some pax were connecting to another airline/separate ticket or some other ground transportation that they need to catch.

I'd say go for it as long as they don't arrive later than originally scheduled!

NoLaGent

I agree with you, the "what if" game can be played endlessly and UA is obviously damned if they do and damned if they don't in this scenario.

I'm sure OPS has a max delay time threshold set, but if Little Timmy gets to see his dying Grandmother for their final Christmas together, I'm going to call it a win. ^

Imstevek

Welcome to FT, the ultimate haven for "Damned if you do, damned if you don't"

I think it's a great idea, given the boundary conditions of being the last flight out an all. I do know they would do this at SFO-ICN/TPE if the connections we're within 30 minutes out. Regardless, cheers to trying to get it better.

hoopics

Cynical view here: over the next 10 days there are probably few empty seats to go around. If they mis-connect a passenger, they'll try to get them on a flight the next AM. Which may be full. Which may trigger increased VDB / IDB compensation, and cascade to later flights that also don't have room. Other than the extra fuel burn and potential crew rest issues, delaying the last flight of the day into a city with no onward connections may be the lower cost option than having to deal with the ripple effects from the late inbound passengers the next day.

It's also a nice, humane gesture, but I doubt that factored into it if it's a formal policy. Now the PR benefit...

BH62

Au Contraire: IME, I recall specifically sitting on a SYD flight at SFO (after connecting from SEA), an announcement that "we're holding this flight for connecting passengers from Los Angeles", but on another time the SEA-SFO connection was late & the jetway for the SYD flight was locked just as we came within sight of it. Win some, lose some.

NoLaGent

Ok, for the sake of "Home for the Holidays", I'll play.

The example I cited was a theoretical DEN-SFO flight that had 50 pax connecting to SYD. My point was that DEN wouldn't HFTH (Home for the Holidays) that flight and risk 50 misconnects to the SYD flight.

Your point is that the SYD flight was HFTHd for the pax arriving from LAX. Which is kind of the definition of HFTH being that it's the last flight out to an outstation...

Your last point was that the SYD flight in that case was not HFTHd, so there the Win some, lose some is correct which dovetails us right back into the old "damned if they do, damned if they don't".

It really is a fun game to play, but don't tell that to Little Timmy or Grandma.

threeoh

Back in the '90s I was traveling by train in the Netherlands and our late-night connection was blown by a late train. Or so we thought. As we pulled into the connecting station about 45 minutes late, preparing ourselves for a sleepy search for a hotel, we were shocked to see our connecting train across the platform, doors open, well past its scheduled departure time.

The conductor told us that during the day they won't even hold connections one minute, but for the last train of the night they'll hold it basically indefinitely. And this was not a train requiring a reservation; they were just honoring a published connection, without any knowledge of if there were passengers actually trying to make that connection. (Obviously they don't do this in every case and the conductor was simplifying for us, but at least under some circumstances they do.)

Obviously rail and air have different constraints, but if even an on-time focused travel provider like NS will do it, don't see why United shouldn't on the last flight of the night from a hub to an outstation, if doing so won't delay the morning flight.

Gig103

It did say "last flight of the night", so perhaps given the airport location(s) it's unlikely for other passengers to have connections. But if this is a legit program and not a GA initiative, scheduling software can be utilized to make sure other passengers aren't going below MCT!

FlyfromDenver

This used to be true all the time on the last flight from ORD to DEN. They held it for international connections. Nothing going out of Den after that but honestly a PITA after a day of work on the East Coast for someone living in DEN.

Two Bee

I posted this a while back " I asked a U/C agent in the SFO Club about this exact situation --- "What happens if I am late to the last flight to LAS, which I have many booked, will they hold the plane for me?" His answer was, "8 or less runners, it goes, more than that we wait." Now, we have to factor in the make up any answer you want, and they'll fall for it b.s., but he seemed pretty sure of his reply! There are probably a million different scenarios, and also a million different reasons to hold an aircraft, but if you're gonna be late, apparently have it happen just before a holiday.