UA 179 (EWR-HKG) 19 Jan 2019 diverted YYR , passengers stuck on board for 13 hours
Jan 21, 2019, 9:02 pm
#136
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"Running out of food and water!" after sitting on the ground for 13 hours. On a plane that was stocked for a 16 hour flight. I promise there was enough food and water to keep everybody perfectly healthy and even reasonably fed for that amount of time.
Hopefully the crew was conducting beverage services, providing food, etc. during this time - I'm sure if they were refusing to do so we would have heard about it by now - but the implication in the video that people were fighting for survival is a little bit ridiculous.
Hopefully the crew was conducting beverage services, providing food, etc. during this time - I'm sure if they were refusing to do so we would have heard about it by now - but the implication in the video that people were fighting for survival is a little bit ridiculous.
Jan 21, 2019, 9:27 pm
#137
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For operational recovery, that could be SFO / HNL / LAX / Wherever they have the "legs" to get to. The advantage is it allows the passengers to get closer to their destination, and gives United Ops time to arrange for the follow-on flight to get them all the way to HKG. Suppose it could be FRA / LHR, though I don't think I have ever heard of those being used for Ops recovery....
EWR-HKG, the closest thing is either EWR or PEK... MAYBE YYZ, but I don't think UA flies 777's there...
Last edited by raehl311; Jan 21, 2019 at 9:37 pm
Jan 21, 2019, 9:29 pm
#138
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We were on the plane as well seated in Y about 4 rows in front of the guy who seized and about 3 rows behind the offending door that caused the delay. Not sure what was happening in First/Business, but back in coach all 3 meals that had been on boarded in EWR had been served by 12am local time. That meant there was actually nothing available to us but snack bags between 12 and 9am when the Tim Hortons was brought on. If you happened to be asleep when they served the breakfast the time between meals was even longer.
Im willing to bet my experience in Y is vastly different from that of the guys in the front, but my experience was not that far off what was mentioned on CNN. The guy quoted was actually seated in the seat in front of me. Also pretty sure that the line about the door being frozen is not the whole truth based on what we saw and were told by the flight attendant seated next to it. This was sort of confirmed when we saw the parts the maintenance guys brought with them.
I spent over 24 hours in seat 35C, which had no working entertainment system. It was a rough day and based on what I saw/experienced the lack of concern United had was extremely disappointing. The flight crew was great and did the best they could, but you know it’s bad when the Captain starts telling passengers the email Oscar Munoz and post to social media in a bid to actually get some sort of rescue plan in motion. He had more faith in a viral campaign than he did in the company he represents. That says a lot on how he though things should have been handled vs they reality we endured.
Im willing to bet my experience in Y is vastly different from that of the guys in the front, but my experience was not that far off what was mentioned on CNN. The guy quoted was actually seated in the seat in front of me. Also pretty sure that the line about the door being frozen is not the whole truth based on what we saw and were told by the flight attendant seated next to it. This was sort of confirmed when we saw the parts the maintenance guys brought with them.
I spent over 24 hours in seat 35C, which had no working entertainment system. It was a rough day and based on what I saw/experienced the lack of concern United had was extremely disappointing. The flight crew was great and did the best they could, but you know it’s bad when the Captain starts telling passengers the email Oscar Munoz and post to social media in a bid to actually get some sort of rescue plan in motion. He had more faith in a viral campaign than he did in the company he represents. That says a lot on how he though things should have been handled vs they reality we endured.
Jan 21, 2019, 9:36 pm
#139
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And welcome to FT!
Jan 21, 2019, 9:36 pm
#140
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We were on the plane as well seated in Y about 4 rows in front of the guy who seized and about 3 rows behind the offending door that caused the delay. Not sure what was happening in First/Business, but back in coach all 3 meals that had been on boarded in EWR had been served by 12am local time. That meant there was actually nothing available to us but snack bags between 12 and 9am when the Tim Hortons was brought on. If you happened to be asleep when they served the breakfast the time between meals was even longer.
Im willing to bet my experience in Y is vastly different from that of the guys in the front, but my experience was not that far off what was mentioned on CNN. The guy quoted was actually seated in the seat in front of me. Also pretty sure that the line about the door being frozen is not the whole truth based on what we saw and were told by the flight attendant seated next to it. This was sort of confirmed when we saw the parts the maintenance guys brought with them.
I spent over 24 hours in seat 35C, which had no working entertainment system. It was a rough day and based on what I saw/experienced the lack of concern United had was extremely disappointing. The flight crew was great and did the best they could, but you know it’s bad when the Captain starts telling passengers the email Oscar Munoz and post to social media in a bid to actually get some sort of rescue plan in motion. He had more faith in a viral campaign than he did in the company he represents. That says a lot on how he though things should have been handled vs they reality we endured.
Im willing to bet my experience in Y is vastly different from that of the guys in the front, but my experience was not that far off what was mentioned on CNN. The guy quoted was actually seated in the seat in front of me. Also pretty sure that the line about the door being frozen is not the whole truth based on what we saw and were told by the flight attendant seated next to it. This was sort of confirmed when we saw the parts the maintenance guys brought with them.
I spent over 24 hours in seat 35C, which had no working entertainment system. It was a rough day and based on what I saw/experienced the lack of concern United had was extremely disappointing. The flight crew was great and did the best they could, but you know it’s bad when the Captain starts telling passengers the email Oscar Munoz and post to social media in a bid to actually get some sort of rescue plan in motion. He had more faith in a viral campaign than he did in the company he represents. That says a lot on how he though things should have been handled vs they reality we endured.
That account sounds quite awful. Definitely worse than I was imagining
Jan 21, 2019, 9:44 pm
#141
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We were on the plane as well seated in Y about 4 rows in front of the guy who seized and about 3 rows behind the offending door that caused the delay. Not sure what was happening in First/Business, but back in coach all 3 meals that had been on boarded in EWR had been served by 12am local time. That meant there was actually nothing available to us but snack bags between 12 and 9am when the Tim Hortons was brought on. If you happened to be asleep when they served the breakfast the time between meals was even longer.
Im willing to bet my experience in Y is vastly different from that of the guys in the front, but my experience was not that far off what was mentioned on CNN. The guy quoted was actually seated in the seat in front of me. Also pretty sure that the line about the door being frozen is not the whole truth based on what we saw and were told by the flight attendant seated next to it. This was sort of confirmed when we saw the parts the maintenance guys brought with them.
I spent over 24 hours in seat 35C, which had no working entertainment system. It was a rough day and based on what I saw/experienced the lack of concern United had was extremely disappointing. The flight crew was great and did the best they could, but you know it’s bad when the Captain starts telling passengers the email Oscar Munoz and post to social media in a bid to actually get some sort of rescue plan in motion. He had more faith in a viral campaign than he did in the company he represents. That says a lot on how he though things should have been handled vs they reality we endured.
Im willing to bet my experience in Y is vastly different from that of the guys in the front, but my experience was not that far off what was mentioned on CNN. The guy quoted was actually seated in the seat in front of me. Also pretty sure that the line about the door being frozen is not the whole truth based on what we saw and were told by the flight attendant seated next to it. This was sort of confirmed when we saw the parts the maintenance guys brought with them.
I spent over 24 hours in seat 35C, which had no working entertainment system. It was a rough day and based on what I saw/experienced the lack of concern United had was extremely disappointing. The flight crew was great and did the best they could, but you know it’s bad when the Captain starts telling passengers the email Oscar Munoz and post to social media in a bid to actually get some sort of rescue plan in motion. He had more faith in a viral campaign than he did in the company he represents. That says a lot on how he though things should have been handled vs they reality we endured.
It's air travel. Sometimes you get there late - sometimes days late - for any number of reasons. In this case the delay was particularly interminable, but everyone was safe.
No one reading this forum would pick an airline that invested what it cost to prevent this problem and added that cost to their airfares.
Jan 21, 2019, 9:50 pm
#142
Join Date: Jan 2019
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They served breakfast before midnight? No working IFE is a big deal. People go a bit stircrazy staring at a blank tv. Obviously you mean 35F, not 35C. Edit: LOL You were talking seat number, not temperature. Oops
That account sounds quite awful. Definitely worse than I was imagining
That account sounds quite awful. Definitely worse than I was imagining
They put out the sandwiches while we were waiting for the maintenance guy to come and reset the door. After that didn’t work they served the breakfast because people we complaining of being hungry. I’m sure at the time it seemed like a great idea as the FAs couldn’t fathom we would have been stuck on the ground for over 12 hours. Having the ability of hindsight I am sure they would have done it differently.
Funny about the IFE, there were at least 4 of us in the back section that had an inoperable one. I was ok while the WiFi was running because I could just use my iPad to steam the same content, but once we landed that shut off and was never turned back on. It was a long, long wait to be rescued.
Jan 21, 2019, 9:51 pm
#143
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They put out the sandwiches while we were waiting for the maintenance guy to come and reset the door. After that didn’t work they served the breakfast because people we complaining of being hungry. I’m sure at the time it seemed like a great idea as the FAs couldn’t fathom we would have been stuck on the ground for over 12 hours. Having the ability of hindsight I am sure they would have done it differently.
Funny about the IFE, there were at least 4 of us in the back section that had an inoperable one. I was ok while the WiFi was running because I could just use my iPad to steam the same content, but once we landed that shut off and was never turned back on. It was a long, long wait to be rescued.
Was the in-seat power working?
Jan 21, 2019, 9:53 pm
#144
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They put out the sandwiches while we were waiting for the maintenance guy to come and reset the door. After that didn’t work they served the breakfast because people we complaining of being hungry. I’m sure at the time it seemed like a great idea as the FAs couldn’t fathom we would have been stuck on the ground for over 12 hours. Having the ability of hindsight I am sure they would have done it differently.
Funny about the IFE, there were at least 4 of us in the back section that had an inoperable one. I was ok while the WiFi was running because I could just use my iPad to steam the same content, but once we landed that shut off and was never turned back on. It was a long, long wait to be rescued.
)Oh, so everyone else had IFE? Wow, you deserve double compensation! Were there no empty seats?
Jan 21, 2019, 9:54 pm
#145
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Im willing to bet my experience in Y is vastly different from that of the guys in the front
Jan 21, 2019, 9:57 pm
#146
Join Date: Jan 2019
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Coach had about 3 empty seats, but those were used when the people sitting next to the sick passenger were moved. A lot of people on our flight took advantage of the travel waiver to get out of EWR early. I even considered heading to SFO from ATL instead of EWR, but figured we would be fine.
In seat power was hit or miss. There were quite a few seats around me that had inoperable outlets.
Im actually quite surprised more videos didn’t hit the mainstream media. Every time something happened or the captain made an announcement a lot of people whipped out their phone and started recording.
In seat power was hit or miss. There were quite a few seats around me that had inoperable outlets.
Im actually quite surprised more videos didn’t hit the mainstream media. Every time something happened or the captain made an announcement a lot of people whipped out their phone and started recording.
Jan 21, 2019, 10:01 pm
#148
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Coach had about 3 empty seats, but those were used when the people sitting next to the sick passenger were moved. A lot of people on our flight took advantage of the travel waiver to get out of EWR early. I even considered heading to SFO from ATL instead of EWR, but figured we would be fine.
In seat power was hit or miss. There were quite a few seats around me that had inoperable outlets.
Im actually quite surprised more videos didn’t hit the mainstream media. Every time something happened or the captain made an announcement a lot of people whipped out their phone and started recording.
Surprised they didn't get the Wi-Fi working.
Jan 21, 2019, 10:08 pm
#149
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I quickly looked at the thread and did not find the answers... 2 questions:
1 - did the passenger turn out OK?
2 - people talk about ETOPS here. I remember when these things first started, they were also talking about Polar Operations. I guess this would mean UA needed to satisfy both sets of requirements on flights like EWR-HKG?
1 - did the passenger turn out OK?
2 - people talk about ETOPS here. I remember when these things first started, they were also talking about Polar Operations. I guess this would mean UA needed to satisfy both sets of requirements on flights like EWR-HKG?
Jan 21, 2019, 10:12 pm
#150
Join Date: Jan 2019
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And yet people will very rationally continue to book the cheapest airfare on any airline regardless of a one-in-millions chance of an extended delay in Labrador...
It's air travel. Sometimes you get there late - sometimes days late - for any number of reasons. In this case the delay was particularly interminable, but everyone was safe.
No one reading this forum would pick an airline that invested what it cost to prevent this problem and added that cost to their airfares.
It's air travel. Sometimes you get there late - sometimes days late - for any number of reasons. In this case the delay was particularly interminable, but everyone was safe.
No one reading this forum would pick an airline that invested what it cost to prevent this problem and added that cost to their airfares.
Do I think United could have responded the resulting situation, sure do and may even reach out to tell them. Even something as simple as turning on the WI-FI would have gone a long way in goodwill. It was operable until we touched down in Goose Bay, but never came back online for passengers or crew. Cell service was spotty and lots of passengers had no way to contact loved ones or make travel plan changes. Poor lady behind me was headed to Vietnam and said her family would probably have no idea there was an issue until they showed up at the airport to get her.
$500 voucher to be used within 1 year or 25k in miles. Everyone was rebooked through EWR, SFO or ORD and provided food and hotel vouchers. We decided to come home as our vacation was cut from 7 to 5 days, so did not accept the hotel and headed home last night.
Ao to to add insult to injury I will be at work this week instead of HK
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jan 22, 2019 at 6:39 am Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member