UA 99 Cancelled - What do they do with the people?
Mar 5, 2019, 3:16 am
#1
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UA 99 Cancelled - What do they do with the people?
I see that Flt 99 MEL-LAX is cancelled for 05-Mar-19. The plane is currently ferrying back to LAX as Flt 2716.
Assuming that the flight was close to full, how does UA reaccommodate almost 250 people when they offer one flight daily? Even if they use other airlines, I can only imagine it taking several days to take care of everyone.
My parents were once in one of the European cities and the lone UA departure was cancelled, however in their case a part was flown in on that day's arrival and they left 28 hours late on the same aircraft that they were scheduled to depart on. In this case, they're flying the plane back to LAX empty. That's a lot of people to take care of.
Assuming that the flight was close to full, how does UA reaccommodate almost 250 people when they offer one flight daily? Even if they use other airlines, I can only imagine it taking several days to take care of everyone.
My parents were once in one of the European cities and the lone UA departure was cancelled, however in their case a part was flown in on that day's arrival and they left 28 hours late on the same aircraft that they were scheduled to depart on. In this case, they're flying the plane back to LAX empty. That's a lot of people to take care of.
Mar 5, 2019, 3:35 am
#2
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I see that Flt 99 MEL-LAX is cancelled for 05-Mar-19. The plane is currently ferrying back to LAX as Flt 2716.
Assuming that the flight was close to full, how does UA reaccommodate almost 250 people when they offer one flight daily? Even if they use other airlines, I can only imagine it taking several days to take care of everyone.
My parents were once in one of the European cities and the lone UA departure was cancelled, however in their case a part was flown in on that day's arrival and they left 28 hours late on the same aircraft that they were scheduled to depart on. In this case, they're flying the plane back to LAX empty. That's a lot of people to take care of.
Assuming that the flight was close to full, how does UA reaccommodate almost 250 people when they offer one flight daily? Even if they use other airlines, I can only imagine it taking several days to take care of everyone.
My parents were once in one of the European cities and the lone UA departure was cancelled, however in their case a part was flown in on that day's arrival and they left 28 hours late on the same aircraft that they were scheduled to depart on. In this case, they're flying the plane back to LAX empty. That's a lot of people to take care of.
Mar 5, 2019, 4:04 am
#4
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Mar 5, 2019, 5:01 am
#5
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This happens fairly frequently believe it or not. It’s more cost effective to ferry the plane to a hub with full MX support rather than to have outsourced (local) maintenance, or UA personnel work on a plane with very limited resources.
Happened last year to me in Germany. Initially Lufthansa MX was handling the situation but it escalated after they couldn’t repair the fault. The emergency lights inside the cabin were randomly turning on/off with no control from the switch in the cockpit. Plane flew perfect but the inoperable emergency lights made the flight illegal to carry passengers so we ferried empty back to EWR for repairs. Hope this helps...
Happened last year to me in Germany. Initially Lufthansa MX was handling the situation but it escalated after they couldn’t repair the fault. The emergency lights inside the cabin were randomly turning on/off with no control from the switch in the cockpit. Plane flew perfect but the inoperable emergency lights made the flight illegal to carry passengers so we ferried empty back to EWR for repairs. Hope this helps...
Mar 5, 2019, 6:56 am
#6
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This happened to me on the same flight last year. They flew me via SYD. They put me on a domestic QF flight in business and were going to give me a voucher for food and an airport hotel, but I asked for the JW Marriott and they did it.
One of those times my status came in handy.
One of those times my status came in handy.
Mar 5, 2019, 7:24 am
#7
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I was MXD several times traveling to the US from SYD when I lived there for a range of reasons including a plane that had a bird
strike and took out a motor on approach. From memory
- Voluntarily went home and came back the next day if I had no schedule pressure
- I was usually traveling to SFO and was re routed thru LAX
- Got put on NZ as they had a direct also at the time from SYD
- Got put on QF
strike and took out a motor on approach. From memory
- Voluntarily went home and came back the next day if I had no schedule pressure
- I was usually traveling to SFO and was re routed thru LAX
- Got put on NZ as they had a direct also at the time from SYD
- Got put on QF
Mar 5, 2019, 7:37 am
#8
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I was booked on UA99 on 9th February. It was cancelled due to strong winds in MEL. The arriving flight was diverted to SYD and I believe there was going to be a crew issue by the time the weather would have passed. Therefore, they cancelled the MEL-LAX flight that day. My original route was MEL-LAX-AUS but I was rebooked in ANZ (after calling the 1k desk and calming explaining that I didn't want to fly CA through PEK) and my new route was MEL-AKL-LAX-DEN-AUS. Not fun - especially since I had a sore back from a running injury. But I was thankful to get out of there the same day and I was only about 7 hours late arriving home. As an interesting point of information, I was at the service desk trying to upgrade to a PE seat on ANZ and I overheard the QF agent complaining about someone overbooking flights to LAX and they didn't know who/where they were coming from. I informed them that the UA flight was cancelled and they were relieved to know and rang over to UA and told them to stop shifting people over.
Mar 5, 2019, 7:47 am
#9
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Sometimes, airplanes needing repairs can technically fly (safely), but the affected part or system negates its availability revenue operations under FAR Part 121. Under those circumstances, a special ferry permit can be issued under applicable FARs on a one-off basis allowing airline personnel to fly the airplane to a maintenance base where a repair can be conducted. Of course, fare-paying passengers cannot be accommodated.
Mar 5, 2019, 7:58 am
#10
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Sometimes, airplanes needing repairs can technically fly (safely), but the affected part or system negates its availability revenue operations under FAR Part 121. Under those circumstances, a special ferry permit can be issued under applicable FARs on a one-off basis allowing airline personnel to fly the airplane to a maintenance base where a repair can be conducted. Of course, fare-paying passengers cannot be accommodated.
In such cases, are they allowed to carry nonrevs? I would think not, but they might deadhead cabin crew on the ferry flight to get them back for their next work assignments.
Mar 5, 2019, 8:04 am
#11
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As an interesting point of information, I was at the service desk trying to upgrade to a PE seat on ANZ and I overheard the QF agent complaining about someone overbooking flights to LAX and they didn't know who/where they were coming from. I informed them that the UA flight was cancelled and they were relieved to know and rang over to UA and told them to stop shifting people over.
Mar 5, 2019, 8:05 am
#12
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Depends on which regulations the flight operates under. If a special ferry permit (for maintenance), then it's essential crew only.
Mar 5, 2019, 8:48 am
#13
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If it's a maintenance ferry then only the requirement crewmembers. Can't even have deadheads.
If it is a ferry for reasons other than maintenance then there can be deadheads and non-revs as long as the ferry flight will depart and arrive at a regular gate (i.e. not from/to the hangar outside of security). If they don't have a full F/A crew then they are limited to 19 non-rev/DH passengers.
Mar 5, 2019, 8:52 am
#14
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Out of curiosity, is the requirement for whatever flight deck crew are needed to operate the flight (so 4 for MEL-LAX) plus the minimum cabin crew number shown on the "FAA Minimum Cabin Crew" sticker by the boarding door, or are fewer F/As needed for a maintenance ferry?
Mar 5, 2019, 4:06 pm
#15
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Out of curiosity, is the requirement for whatever flight deck crew are needed to operate the flight (so 4 for MEL-LAX) plus the minimum cabin crew number shown on the "FAA Minimum Cabin Crew" sticker by the boarding door, or are fewer F/As needed for a maintenance ferry?