weero

Cleaning the birds beforehand and actually boarding and departing on time isn't an option in your view?

jsloan

The thread was about UA holding departures to account for delayed passengers. There will always be delays, whether due to congested airspace or weather or technical issues or whatever. Saying "just be on time" is not a realistic option, no.

weero

It absolutely is. No airline ever waited for my connection, they easily not wait for anyone else .

JimInOhio

UA has waited for me a couple times and for others many more. I've never seen anyone onboard grumble because of it. If anything, I've seen people be appreciative because they know they might be in the reversed role next time.

WineCountryUA

UA does

United Airlines Makes Connecting the World Easier Than Ever with ConnectionSaver

gaobest

any chance that these flights are waiting for a GS / equivalent passenger? We all know that it can happen for the top tier elite pax. Maybe especially those who spend more within that GS category?

WineCountryUA

See the post prior to yours for a link explaining ConnectionSaver -- it is not an explicitly elite benefit.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

United has definitely held SFO-HNL several times for me (and other connecting passengers). And I've been seated on planes SFO-HNL when pilot/GA/or FA announced a hold for connecting passengers. Extrapolating personal experience to be proof of worldwide airline policy is a bit of a stretch

HNLbasedFlyer

Ive had flights to HNL held for me. I’m not a fan of connection saver though. I’d prefer flights leave on time. I’d be fine grabbing the next flight.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

WIth the fluff UA's been adding into block times, a 15-20 minute hold generally doesn't affect arrival times too much. And several of the HNL-bound flight were the last of the day.

emcampbe

I’ve had planes held for me before (though not sure if it is just me…), and I’ve run from late inbounds to watch the planes pull out. So it goes both ways.

Lots of factors involved - where is the plane going next and in how long, crew status (will holding cause someone to timeout), connections at destination (will holding connection let more passengers get onboard than people who it will affect at destination), flight time (if tailwinds, will holding for a few minutes even make aircraft arrive late), weather, slot use, is it holding for 1 pax, or two dozen, etc., etc. more too, I’m sure. GA isn’t even the one making the call - ops is, I’m pretty sure.

it’s never going to be perfect, obviously. UA is trying to do the best it can to help out the most pax, while also making sure it can keep operations on track as much as possible. This stuff is not completely objective all the time - sometimes helping out a few pax here might affect a couple there, or other times it might not affect anyone (which makes the decision easier).

weero

It wasn't an extrpolation, it was a poorly worded recommendation: don't delay everyone to fix your (i.e. the airline's) screw ups.

Now that is an extrapolation for a world without public ground transport .