milepig

We benefited from the famous late departure from KEF awhile back. Our origin airport was ORD and we suffered through a "storm of the century", I think we were in each lounge at least twice and had so many boarding passed that we couldn't keep track. The Polaris lounge staff was tracking us through the airport and had our next set of BPs ready whenever we'd reenter the lounge. At least twice we showed up at a lounge to get rebooked and they said "you've already been rebooked At one point we had a family reunion when our daughter and her husband showed up at the same gate as ours out of the blue. But, to the KEF story.

We finally got on a plane that was due to arrive in EWR hours late, long after the KEF departure that was still showing on time. But, the polaris staff pulled us aside and said "don't worry you're be fine". Off we went and arrived to an absolutely DEAD EWR, no one anywhere we were starving but the restaurants were all closed as were the lounges. No one to help us. We atumbled to our gate (we were dead tired). Deserted, no one there. We thought we'd missed the flight, but the sign showed a new departure time some hours away. The app showed that our bird was still in IAH! We crashed in a somewhat comfy seat in a closed restaurant and eventually some people and gate agents started to show up. If you think EWR gate agents are grumpy during the daytime, imagine what they're like at 2 am! We were able to contact our driver to let him know we'd be very late and to watch the flight, and in the end all turned out fine. If not for the ORD polaris lounge staff we were about to rebook on some crazy itin getting us in at least a day late and likely missing our cruise. I suspect what happened was that EWR saw the late arriving bird from IAH and "stole" our original bird to use for something else knowing that there would be many late arriving pax for the KEF flight.

lwhitmandc

The last 3 times I have flown UA149 – EWR-GRU – the plane has been delayed; on the last two flights, I missed my connection because of the EWR-GRU delay. I checked the last 10 days for EWR-GRU at Flight Aware to find consistent delays from 50 minutes to 3:40 hours. Is this just bad planning?



4, June 22 --2:54 late
3, June 22 – 3:47 late
2, June 22 – 0:50 late
1, June 22 – Cancelled
31, May 22 – 1:24 late
30, May 22 – 1:49 late
29, May 22 – 3:40 late
28, May 22 --1:47 Late
27, May 22 – 0:58 Late
26, May 22 – 1:13 Late
25, May 22 – 1:41 late
24, May 22 – 1:05 late

mduell

With the chronic issues for UA at EWR, makes sense to put more delay on a flight that has all day to sit in the sun after arrival.

bslepko

Am on UA 149 EWR-GRU departure 4 June at 22:20. Pulled away from gate close to on time but then sat on tarmac for 6 hours. Multiple reasons why so no idea of the truth. And the FA's provided nothing during the entire time. And my colleague and I were sitting in Polaris.

Had us deplane, sent us off on our own and now same flight departing 15:00 today.

Will be reaching out to GS for an explanation!

Clemson

6 hours? They eventually let you off at 4 in the morning? That seems incredible. You're probably due some compensation unless they're claiming some ATC exception. From the DOT - "For flights departing from a U.S. airport, airlines are required to begin to move the airplane to a location where passengers can safely get off before 3 hours for domestic flights and 4 hours for international flights."

Also, they should have given you and everyone else something to drink and eat unless you were on an active taxi-way: "During a tarmac delay, airlines must provide you with a snack, such as a granola bar, and drinking water no later than two hours after the start of the tarmac delay."

fumje

Ouch. Seems rough, the extent of delay, and the new expected 0130 GRU arrival. Flight status page says it is an engine maintenance issue. Good luck.

Repooc17

Engine issue.

cagiva92

Does anyone know what happened to UA 3531 on June 12th?

I was on the flight, we left the gate after a 2hr delay and waited on the tarmac for 1hr. We then returned to gate and we’re told flight cancelled.

Mixed messages from crew - they said at one point Newark had a ground freeze or something and it lasted several hours. I can’t find anything else about it but know the weather in NYC was bad earlier in the day.

how can I see the actual cancellation reason? We paid out of pocket for a hotel but want to know if I could reasonably claim that back.

findark

Looks like weather, although the detailed wx and ops info from yesterday is not something I can easily see. Two AC flights YUL-EWR also canceled.

LarryJ

The cancellation was coded to the ATC Ground Stop for EWR.

It's too late now, but you can check the National Airspace System Status page for details on active and planned ground delay and ground stop programs at the following link. I don't know a way to pull up historical data, though.

https://nasstatus.faa.gov/

When you have a Ground Stop (GS) you have an update time but no wheels up time. All the update time means is that they'll update the GS problem by then. It can be cancelled or extended. If it's cancelled, you will usually transition into a Ground Delay Program (GDP) where each flight is assigned an Expect Departure Clearance Time (EDCT) which is often called a "wheels-up" time. Until the GS ends, you have no idea how long you'll have to wait for your EDCT.

cagiva92

Thanks! This was definitely it. They kept giving us a “wheels up” time that was being pushed back and eventually we were cancelled and returned to gate.

Do you know if this would count as the Airlines fault? Or is this like Weather where it’s not their problem? We paid for a hotel ourselves, which is fine, but wondering if I could ask for it to be reimbursed. Maybe I’m thinking of this the wrong way but if they were denied flying by ATC due to the airline’s poor planning/scheduling that’s their fault. If it is for some other reason then I can accept it’s not the airline’s fault.

findark

Weather and ATC operations are no-fault delay reasons.

TomMM

1KChinito

If you are looking for reimbursement, do you have travel insurance and/or credit card provides such coverage? My travel insurance requires a six hour minimum delay.

50Kthehardway

EWR posted delays early on Sunday. A friend sent me this pic Sunday morning from CLE around 9:00 AM asking what was up with EWR. I checked the FAA site which said "OTHER / STAFFING"