halls120

No, FI from US, connecting to FI and other airlines in KEF.

goodeats21

Was caught in my most memorable EWR mess on Monday. Line of storms apparently closed all the routes out, which meant the entire airport was filled with lines of aircraft just bunched in conga lines all over.
Was also listening to ATC and Ground radios which was chaotic. Multiple flights declaring DOT 3 hour rule, but no gates open to return to even when they could get out of the middle of these staging lines.
I ended up getting out after about 2 hours, but other planes didn't move the entire time I was watching. Just crazy.
When I was finally taking off, they were stacking the arrivals on the far side of the runway as well

grafixx

I wish, all UA lounges close at 9.45pm

escapefromphl

Sat 5/21 UA139 departed over 2 hours late. Why don’t they just schedule this flight a bit later?

gretchendz

It would improve their on-time departure statistics!

Yes-and keep the lounges open later!

Lux Flyer

I mean as has been pointed out earlier in the thread, and looking at the departures in this time block, it's not KEF exclusive that was out over 2 hours late, many flights throughout the evening are having this problem, so do you push all of their scheduled departures back 2 hours? (which then creates crew scheduling and connection issues).

The problem largely is that EWR essentially runs at its capacity every day (even more so in the summer), and there is no slack at the airport to recover from anything more than a few minor delays. On a perfect day, with only a few minor delays, things can run great at EWR with the flight schedule. As soon as you get one or two major delays, this hub in particular falls apart since there is no room in the schedule to absorb the delays, so they just cascade the rest of the day. EWR has been this way for years, and it is always worse throughout the summer. Yesterday, in anticipation of the thunder storms, they already put a travel waiver covering the next 3 days because they know it is going to be a disaster.

UA this past week, and really all of May has been getting hammered with issues at all of their domestic hub that are not LAX or SFO.

escapefromphl

They are opening themselves up to EU-261 claims if the return to EWR is delayed by any significant amount meaning missed connections etc.

dmurphynj

You're spot on correct. Part of the issue is EWR is at capacity. The bigger problem though is the *entire* NY airspace is at capacity. And when storms roll in like this, they tend to affect all 3 major airports (EWR/LGA/JFK) as well as the major-minors (ISP/HPN/TEB/MMU/SWF et al). Bear in mind that TEB alone handles more aircraft movements (by almost 40%) than, say, Columbus Ohio (CMH). And that's just one of the major-minors.

Even worse - thunderstorms force ramp personnel indoors, which means nobody's wing walking or marshalling flights in or out. Do that at all 3 major airports in the same 15 minute span, and it's total gridlock.

On a good day, the fact that anything works at all is a minor miracle. When it's a bad day, it's a REALLY bad day. Air, bus, train, surface roads -- all the same gridlock problems.

Such is life in NY Metro.

whlinder

Had the same happen 3 years ago when I last took this flight. Multiple hour delay on the outbound, due to inbound aircraft delays and switching planes around. Polaris lounge closed and eventually the United Club by the departure gate.
Coming back from KEF was right on time.

Lux Flyer

Bringing this back up, apparently UA has made a statement to their staff regarding the operational difficulties at EWR. My interpretation of what was relayed is that UA's position is to blame other carriers/the FAA at EWR for the operational difficulties being encountered. The spark notes summary:
1) the FAA has determined the max # of operations that EWR can support is ~80/hour while maintaining optimal airport functionality.
2) UA has adjusted their schedule the past few years working with the FAA to make sure even during peak time periods they meet this recommended limit
3) LCC increased their flying at EWR during the pandemic, which were approved by the FAA due to COVID waivers. This eliminated the congestion improvements gained from UA adjusting their schedule.
4) LCC have continued to schedule and add additional flights, that with other carriers resuming their pre-pandemic schedules have led to the recommended max operations to be exceeded, which is then causing the performance issues UA is having at EWR.
5) UA remains committed to the investment they have been making in EWR, including prepaying millions in fees to allow runway construction to be done last year while travel was still significantly decreased.
6) Given their commitment to EWR they have been urging the FAA to limit what is being approved to keep hourly runway operations in line with the recommendation

As I've previously mentioned in this thread, as far as I can remember, EWR has always been a operational disaster (at least going back to 2014). However I don't know when the FAA made this determination, and if there was actually any operational improvement when they apparently adjusted the schedule a few years ago. I also don't know how much LCC operations have truly increased as a result of the pandemic. At least the version of their statement as presented to me, made it seem like UA was casting the blame almost entirely on other entities. It does sound like, at least in the past they have tried to take a leadership position at managing things, given they are EWR's largest operator, however it's unclear how much they are leading in trying to resolve the current operational problems EWR faces, as opposed to just going to the FAA and saying to limit other carriers who have expanded their flying at EWR. It will be interesting to see how this develops further throughout the summer.

N104UA

EU 261 also doesn't apply if the cause is weather.

LarryJ

Was this what was intended when the EWR slot controls were dropped a number of years ago?

EWR764

The FAA has lately been imposing delay programs at EWR (not JFK or LGA) which it attributes to ATC staffing issues. Not sure where these staffing issues are located but it's notable that it's not just an explanation coming from United.

mduell

I decided to check this. "Count" is the number of hours with >80 ops planned, and then the UA/LCC/other/total columns are the number of aggregate flights in those >80 op hours in the month.

May 2019 there were 78 hours with >80 ops planned, and 73% of the flights in those hours were UA.
May 2022 there were 53 hours with >80 ops planned, and 72% of the flights in those hours are UA.
So I'll give UA credit for being correct, and their schedule spreading probably contributed a lot to reducing the number of >80 op hours. But it's not like the LCCs have massively ramped up flights in those currently/formerly busy hours.

WineCountryUA

Weather is not an exempt reason for EU26, airlines don't like that but even once a year weather events have been ruled as covered by EU 261. UA has reluctantly paid out on weather caused delays
Best Practices for Filing EU 261 Claims Against United?