milepig

Looks like I get to start. 1/1/18 CDG/ORD. Should be only minor, but the pallet loader went mechanical and they’re looking for another one. I think we should start a “my INTL flight left on time” instead. It would be shorter.

cfischer

UA924 IAD-LHR 788 3 hrs late (left past 1 a.m.) due to aircraft maintenance

therefore today's

UA919 LHR-IAD 788 2 hrs late due to aircraft maintenance

dulcamara

895 showing 4.5 hours late for MX out of ORD.

cesco.g

1/2: UA 989 B777 IAD-FRA cancelled due to maintenance - leading to
1/3: UA 988 FRA-IAD cancelled as well.

cfischer

UA2428 SJD-IAH 320 cancelled due to aircraft maintenance

yaromac

1/1 UA925 LHR-IAD delayed almost two hours because of "a leak in the air conditioning system" Didn't make up time in flight.

cesco.g

Severe winter storm Burglind with winds up to 100 mph affecting operations in ZRH today:
UA 53 ZRH-IAD arrived 3h31' late;
UA 135 ZRH-EWR arrived 3h35' late.

halls120

1/4 UA78 NRT-EWR cancelled
1/4 UA79 EWR-NRT cancelled

cfischer

UA85 TLV-EWR 772 diverting to IAD and cancelling ... really UA? At the same time AC, LY (! same route !), EC, WW and others are arriving at EWR and UA must divert? wow.

threeoh

They can't land the same number of planes when it's snowing. Something has to cancel or divert. This time, UA diverted the TLV flight. Next time, maybe they divert a flight from another city or another airline loses the slot lottery. Making assertions like "they should have landed flight XXX" have a hidden "and screwed over flight YYY instead" component, which if they had done there would be an identical post here saying "they should have landed flight YYY".

Or maybe the flight had a lot of connecting pax and UA ops decided landing in IAD (which will have fewer onward flights cancelled than NYC) would serve them better than landing at EWR with everyone in a hotel for 2+ nights.

Furthermore, LY doesn't have any ops at any other east coast station other than BOS...they are more likely to delay/cancel than divert to an airport with no ground staff if they can help it. UA diverted a flight to a major hub with ground staff and a dozen daily flights to the original destination. Seems like there are better things to complain about!

cfischer

UA is not landing ANY plane at EWR right now. There is no slot problem, they just shut down. Great to put planes in the air and then decide 'sorry, we are not in operation today'. Clearly EWR is open and other carriers are landing. UA needs to decide if they want to operate a flight or not. If they do they should make it happen unless there are circumstances beyond their control and it is not looking like it, frankly.

threeoh

(1) Things may have looked different when the flight took off many hours earlier.

(2) If I were sitting in TLV hoping to get to the US, I'd much rather get on a plane and land at IAD, where I can take a different connecting flight to my final destination, or take Amtrak to NYC, or rent a car, etc. Would it best if they knew they were going to divert before they took off so those who wanted to wait out the storm in TLV could do so? Yes, obviously, but see point (1) -- things may have looked differently 12 hours earlier.

Like a massive snow storm?

Imstevek

I know this is FT where the anti-UA sentiment IS high, but this is out of bounds even for here. ive read tweets all day about AF, BA, DL and others cancelling, heavily delayed, or returning after take off to get into NYC or BOS. Not just a UA problem.

This post used used to be one of the most valuable here and has turned into a source of irrational kvetching against UA. enough!

HkCaGu

UA needs to return their EWR-based planes back to the US instead of getting stuck abroad, so you can choose to come along or stay put. Changing flights is FREE with the ongoing waiver.

minnyfly

AC diverted to ORD. LY took a second attempt to land before it was successful. And they don't have staff at any possible diversion airport. EC is cancelling tomorrow's flight, so they're kicking the can down the road. The decision to divert is sometime as simple as a pilots saying "no" to landing at the scheduled airport. Or possibly there isn't enough reserve fuel for a long hold. The decision to divert to IAD and its still-operating hub was likely a wise one.

They shut down for a very good reason once the storm became worse than expected. They shut down very proactively. Seems like it will be the wisest move and UA's operations appear ready to quickly resume at relatively full strength once the storm passes. In the meantime passengers that were diverted made it to a functioning hub, minimizing the number of affected passengers. From what I see, once again UA has shown the wisest operational decisions today in the face of storms.