Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > United Airlines | MileagePlus
Reload this Page >

UA 179 (EWR-HKG) 19 Jan 2019 diverted YYR , passengers stuck on board for 13 hours

Community
Wiki Posts
Search

UA 179 (EWR-HKG) 19 Jan 2019 diverted YYR , passengers stuck on board for 13 hours

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Jan 20, 2019, 7:26 pm
  #61  
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: ROC/NYC/MSP/LAX/HKG/SIN
Posts: 3,214
Originally Posted by narvik
So the door remained OPEN the whole time? Wow.
(If the door is open, does that mean the FAs don't get paid? )




Other carriers? You mean after getting back to EWR I hope.
Correct.
narvik likes this.
PaulInTheSky is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2019, 7:29 pm
  #62  
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: YYZ/YUL
Programs: UA 1K, AC nadda, DL, WS-Nadda
Posts: 1,476
AC jazz has a couple of flights a day on the weekends to YYT then you would have to connect through YYZ, or YUL to get to back to EWR.
The Jazz flights are on DHC 8's so not a lot of seats available.
yul36 is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2019, 7:32 pm
  #63  
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 1.9MM
Posts: 6,358
Originally Posted by narvik
So the door remained OPEN the whole time? Wow.
(If the door is open, does that mean the FAs don't get paid? )
So this actually has me wondering: how WOULD this scenario affect the pay of the United crew? Do they get paid original block-time? Door closed?
This might also be pretty horrible for the crew, I guess. Hadn't considered that before.
narvik is online now  
Old Jan 20, 2019, 7:43 pm
  #64  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: KEWR
Programs: Marriott Platinum
Posts: 794
Originally Posted by narvik
So this actually has me wondering: how WOULD this scenario affect the pay of the United crew? Do they get paid original block-time? Door closed?
This might also be pretty horrible for the crew, I guess. Hadn't considered that before.
The crew will get paid the whole value of the pairing EWR/HKG/EWR.
narvik likes this.
clubord is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2019, 8:04 pm
  #65  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: PMD
Programs: UA*G, NW, AA-G. WR-P, HH-G, IHG-S, ALL. TT-GE.
Posts: 2,911
Originally Posted by clubord
The crew will get paid the whole value of the pairing EWR/HKG/EWR.
Except they are subject to be assigned to shorter pairings, starting with the least seniority, within a certain time period. But I think for this crew, they won't be legal to be assigned a short flight within that time period.
HkCaGu is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2019, 8:12 pm
  #66  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,417
Flight aware is showing two separate UA 777 flights from YYR to EWR. It looks like one was a rescue flight (flown up from EWR and didn't spend much time there), with the original aircraft being shuttled beck to EWR. However, both YYR to EWR flights would have been in the air at the same time with the same flight number, so I suspect that this is wrong.

BTW, the discussion about rubber at low temps reminds my of the O ring failure due to cold weather causing the Challenger disaster, including the demo of dropping an O ring into a glass of ice water.
MSPeconomist is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2019, 8:27 pm
  #67  
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Blue Ridge, GA
Posts: 5,512
Originally Posted by j2simpso
I'm sure the ETOPS plan of UA allows for just this incident to occur since they are supposed to stock at least an extra meal (or more) in such incidents.
How does ETOPS mandate "at least an extra meal" if the airline only caters snacks?

Will Southwest have to serve meals to win Hawaii ETOPS approval?
LegalTender is online now  
Old Jan 20, 2019, 8:40 pm
  #68  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,359
Originally Posted by LegalTender
How does ETOPS mandate "at least an extra meal" if the airline only caters snacks?

Will Southwest have to serve meals to win Hawaii ETOPS approval?
The ETOPS mandate states that if you're flying over water passed a certain amount of time (is it 120 minutes?) then the flight must be stocked with enough food to allow you to divert if necessary to the backup airport and wait for help to arrive. In the case of EWR->HKG I believe they serve 2 meals in Y, so likely they stocked 3 meals for the flight (in case they have to divert at the end). In the case of WN they would likely need to have enough food on board to serve everyone a meal I would think. That doesn't mean that they have to be plated, it could just be enough BoB items to serve an extra meal to all pax. BTW these plans are elaborate and it can be months before an airline gets certified for a particular route. The authorities take 0 chances when you're running on a measly 2 engines!

This event proves the vital importance of having that extra meal at hand since they were running out of food before Timmies arrived and I can assure you Timmie is not a meal (unless you consider donuts and bagels to be a meal?!)

-James
FlyerTalker70 is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2019, 9:30 pm
  #69  
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: YVR
Posts: 39
I sure hope United's delay in diverting much less going to a smaller airport/city instead of St. John hasn't/won't cause complications to the sick passenger. IIRC where was story/thread last year about United not diverting and the individual having medical complications as a result.
windscar is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2019, 10:02 pm
  #70  
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Houston, TX, USA
Programs: UA 1K, AA Lifetime Platinum, DL Platinum, Honors Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium, Hertz Platinum
Posts: 7,970
How much do you want to bet that this soon appears as a click-bait story on the FlyerTalk home page, with a headline that mentions United and the fact that passengers were stuck on the airplane, but with no mention that it was due to immigration/customs issues (much like this thread)?
Steve M is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2019, 10:14 pm
  #71  
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Atlanta Metro
Programs: DL , AC, BA, Hhonors Diamond, IH Platinum, Bonvoy Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 2,358
It's weird how people want to blame this on Canadian customs.

There would have been no need for Canadian customs if the plane was functioning properly. The primary reason for the long wait on the tarmac was the broken door. The customs issue was completely secondary to this. People don't schedule customs staffing based on the possibility of a diverted flight, nor are customs policies based on this potentiality.

This should have been a quick diversion to drop off a sick passenger, something that few passengers would have a problem with. It turned into a nightmare because of a malfunctioning plane.
hotturnip is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2019, 10:15 pm
  #72  
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 18
So the next question is: What type of compensation is being given to passengers- economy vs business. Global, 1K vs everyone else
bobosing is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2019, 11:13 pm
  #73  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: PDX
Programs: AS DL
Posts: 9,038
Originally Posted by windscar
I sure hope United's delay in diverting much less going to a smaller airport/city instead of St. John hasn't/won't cause complications to the sick passenger. IIRC where was story/thread last year about United not diverting and the individual having medical complications as a result.
Originally Posted by restlessinRNO
Also St. John's, Newfoundland (YYT) has much better medical facilities and medical staff.
Originally Posted by yul36
If the person had seizures not long after take off why continue the flight, and be stuck 4 or more hours later. That aside. Since the plane turned around off the coast of Greenland why not St Johns rather than the goose. AC has Mtce there who might have been able to fix the door. There is lots of hotel space, and CBSA is staffed , even on a weekend.
When the plane turned around, it was closer and north of YYR than YYT. YYR has a nearby hospital according to Google and I don't think the crew takes into consideration what specialists are available. So YYR seemed smarter because they weren't anticipating a problem with the door.
wrp96 and nancypants like this.
Toshbaf is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2019, 11:40 pm
  #74  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,467
Originally Posted by Toshbaf
When the plane turned around, it was closer and north of YYR than YYT. YYR has a nearby hospital according to Google and I don't think the crew takes into consideration what specialists are available. So YYR seemed smarter because they weren't anticipating a problem with the door.
I presume this decision was made in coordination with UA Ops. Particularly since this was not an equipment emergency and there was apparently substantial passage of time between when the passenger was stricken and the decision to divert was made.

While it's easy to monday morning quarterback from the comfort of the living room sofa, it does seem this might have been handled a bit smarter.
restlessinRNO and nancypants like this.
Kacee is offline  
Old Jan 20, 2019, 11:59 pm
  #75  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: Rapid Rewards, AAdvantage, SkyMiles
Posts: 2,931
What is it with US airlines and trouble completing trans-Pacific flights lately?

I'll be sure to take a foreign carrier for sure on routes to Asia.
DCP2016 is offline  


Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.