12 APR 18 - UA1862 IAH-AUS / Interesting Deplaning & Aircraft Swap
 

Had a new experience today on UA1862 IAH-AUS; not sure what IAH ops was up to but it didn't make a whole lot of sense. Here's the story:

We boarded the original aircraft on-time, and the process had gotten about halfway into BG2 (already had a beverage in F) when one of the FAs hops on the PA and says, "Sooooo, we were just informed that this aircraft is NOT going to AUS, but going to SAV instead so we'll need everyone to deplane." Fair amount of incredulous looks from the pax and everyone deplanes and heads back to the gate area.

Once in the gate area, the GAs had zero information available other than to tell us they were on the phone with ops. I got an update via the app with the new gate and headed over there. New GAs, along with the original crew, show up. GAs promptly tell us that they have no information other than that they have two potential aircraft that could be swapped in, they're just waiting for ops to tell this which one. Departure time kept continuously creeping and then another text update comes through that our aircraft was now an inbound aircraft coming from TPA. Aircraft arrives and we get out about 90 minutes late, so not horrible. That said, how on earth is deciding an aircraft swap after boarding is largely underway the most efficient course of action? Additionally, the roulette game with two mysterious aircraft to be swapped in (one of which apparently had flight control system issues) seems suspect at best. Most concerning was that neither the GAs nor the crew (I was chatting with them in the gate area) had any reliable information regarding the situation. Was this just a hiccup or did someone fall asleep at the wheel? IMO it just seems to be an incredibly inefficient and illogical course of events.

It happens. I've had my flight crew switched when BG5 was boarding on a 747. It was absolute chaos and they had to pause boarding and move everyone to the side (on the bridge) and sit everyone down (who had already got on the plane) so the FA's could figure out what the heck was going on. There was a lot of running up and down the aisles as well as using the PA system for announcing who was staying, who was going, and where they were going, etc.

FA's tend to learn about things when we do, sometimes slightly before.

But I assume it was for the best of things.

Since I wasn't there and am not in ops, I can't really say with certainty. However, it could be a large number of different issues. Perhaps the SAV flight would have caused greater operational disruption if it was further delayed. It is odd that they'd make this decision after boarding began, but not unheard of. Someone making a mistake is also possible (though not necessarily the most likely, but humans being humans, it does happen from time to time).

I wouldn't worry too much about the GAs and crew not having reliable information. They're not making the decisions, and the way these things are done, the info often gets pushed out to the public at the same time it gets sent to agents. So, if ops decided that aircraft X over at gate Y is the one you're going to use, your app will display the updated flight status at the same time as the GA's computer. There wouldn't be much benefit to delaying that information, and if a passenger can use it on his/her own and not have to wait until an agent tells them, why not? (Tangential note: A few years ago I was flying another airline waiting for a TATL flight, sitting in the lounge, when I got an e-mail indicating my flight had been cancelled; I immediately went up to the front desk of the lounge and the attendant there hadn't even heard about the flight cancellation until I asked her about it and she went to look it up)

I don't know why the "roulette" game of which you speak seems suspect. Based on your description, it sounds obvious that they were trying to figure out which plane would be available quickest/easiest: one with control system issues that needs maintenance to fix it, or one that's still in the air inbound and won't get there for another x minutes. I'm sure if the plane on the ground was in flight-ready condition, or could be repaired quickly, they'd have used it. Instead, ops was probably talking with maintenance getting an estimate on when that plane would be available, and when they determined that it would be greater than a 90-minute delay, they said to heck with it, we'll use this other one (which probably then required another flight to lose its airplane, putting them in limbo or waiting for the broken plane to be fixed).

Nothing particularly egregious or out of the ordinary about this scenario other than yanking people off halfway through boarding.

Nothing here stands out to me for IAH, just another day another bungled swap. Captive hub, why bother?

It's typical on United, the comments here are right. On real airlines however Ops is actually on top of things and you don't have situations like this happen, unless the aircraft goes MX or some act of God happens.

I do hope that the OP got water in the toilet on his flight. Last week when my flight was switched to a later arriving plane they were in such a hurry to get the plane out that they forgot to check the water level. And, funny, my flight was also going to AUS.

Sounds pretty normal to me. It has happened to me on AA and DL. This is not IAH or UA specific.

Agreed. Happens every day, to every airline.

Update: I did shoot a note to 1KVoice because in my opinion this is basic blocking and tackling and while it happens frequently (apparently), the manner in which it was handled and the misinformation that was being communicated was frustrating. I didn't receive the customary 1KVoice automated response with a case number, but rather I got a phone call from executive customer care. The woman was very sweet and pleasant and said she investigated with IAH ops and couldn't get a straight answer on anything. Apparently the system records are a disaster and there was no clear understanding of what happened from anyone involved. In the agent's words, "I've never seen anything like this in 30 years, seems like it was a total goat rodeo!" I got a good chuckle out of that, and the agent was kind enough to offer me a $200 e-cert (unsolicited) for the inconvenience.

The only time(s) I recall this happened to me when when they announced an MX, presumably something didn't pass as the Pilot did his/her pre-flight check.
Now, I have pretty much given up on the "reason" UA states as accurate. My last flight was delayed due to "Late Inbound", however the mobile app, Where is this flight coming from, showed the inbound arrived 40 minutes EARLY!!!

Doesn’t it also list late inbound aircraft as the reason when the flight crew’s inbound flight is late even though your aircraft arrived on time or even early?

One other interesting thing I'd like to point out here is that the PGA tour is at Hilton Head this week/weekend, so the need to get a plane to SAV might be related to that. But who knows, as others have said this sort of thing happens. Congrats to the OP on the e-cert!