Bad Start to early departure from BOS: delay to tow overnighted a/c to gate.
Jul 20, 2018, 5:26 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Boston, MA
Programs: AA Million Miler, Mosaic, Delta Platinum
Posts: 1,560
Bad Start to early departure from BOS: delay to tow overnighted a/c to gate.
Flying United for the first time in years this morning (hopefully).
Checked on Flight Aware this morning; happy to see flight is on time and inbound aircraft arrived last night.
Sitting here at the gate at T-30 and hear this announcement: “We are sorry for the delay. The plane was parked on the tarmac overnight and needs to be towed over. We’re waiting for a tow truck.”
What? Did someone forget to bring the plane over?
Still no sign of it.
Not impressed.
Checked on Flight Aware this morning; happy to see flight is on time and inbound aircraft arrived last night.
Sitting here at the gate at T-30 and hear this announcement: “We are sorry for the delay. The plane was parked on the tarmac overnight and needs to be towed over. We’re waiting for a tow truck.”
What? Did someone forget to bring the plane over?
Still no sign of it.
Not impressed.
Jul 20, 2018, 9:52 am
#4
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,386
Jul 20, 2018, 11:00 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Boston, MA
Programs: AA Million Miler, Mosaic, Delta Platinum
Posts: 1,560
Admittedly a frustration post.
It was Boston. I heard the flight attendant say it happens all the time he works that flight.
At least in seat power worked for 75% of the flight and WiFi for 25%.
It was Boston. I heard the flight attendant say it happens all the time he works that flight.
At least in seat power worked for 75% of the flight and WiFi for 25%.
Jul 20, 2018, 11:03 am
#6
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: BNA
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Posts: 8,181
Lots of congestion on the ground in Boston. Even if the move-team is hooked up to the airplane ready to tow it to the gate they may not be able to get there for some time due to all the ground traffic.
Jul 20, 2018, 12:06 pm
#7
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: SFO
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Posts: 4,768
This happens consistently at SFO. They know well in advance their plans and have been doing this for eons. If there’s a shortage of ground equipment, buy more ground equipment or plan your schedule for the ground equipment you have. To add insult to injury, I often find these planes have mechanical problems after being towed. What were they doing all night that they couldn’t run basic checks.
Jul 20, 2018, 4:22 pm
#8
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SFO is my "home" airport, also, and I take many early departures. This used to be a problem in earlier years, before UA reconfigured its Express gates and made more use of Int'l gates; but I have not had this "tow" delay for about 3-4 years at SFO.
Jul 20, 2018, 5:11 pm
#9
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K MM, Marriott Gold
Posts: 4,768
I've had it happen 3-4 times this year. 2 or 3 of those the planes subsequently went mechanical. I think they were all 753s.
Jul 20, 2018, 5:15 pm
#10
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Chicago IL US
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This happens consistently at SFO. They know well in advance their plans and have been doing this for eons. If there’s a shortage of ground equipment, buy more ground equipment or plan your schedule for the ground equipment you have. To add insult to injury, I often find these planes have mechanical problems after being towed. What were they doing all night that they couldn’t run basic checks.
Jul 20, 2018, 6:24 pm
#12
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Jul 20, 2018, 6:32 pm
#13
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Or at least, that's what it's been every time I've had it happen.
Jul 20, 2018, 6:40 pm
#14
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: New York(ewr,Roc)
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Posts: 87
Had this happen at SFO in april. Taking the 11 pm redeye to ord. Knew the 772 that we were on arrived at SFO 30 hours prior and get to the gate and sure enough no A/c was there and we were delayed for about an hour. On top of that all of the first class passengers were not allowed to board until after group 4 started boarding.