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April/May 2010 - Volcanic Activity in Iceland and Impact to United's Operations

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April/May 2010 - Volcanic Activity in Iceland and Impact to United's Operations

 
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 1:54 pm
  #61  
 
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Originally Posted by cesco.g
??? Several flights into Europe still shown as operating on time for tonight / 4-15.
corrected, meant to say all UA flight from LHR - I was hoping to get back to the US this weekend, unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to get a booking on the Eurostar, though not sure where I could be sure of flying from without a very long train journey!!

They are now saying LHR closed until 1pm tomorrow, though it sounds far from certain they will allow flights after that.
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 2:58 pm
  #62  
 
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Unhappy

Originally Posted by neko
I don't think it's the southern route itself that is the problem; it's the destinations. If the situation persists, pretty much every major European capital north of ZRH and MUC will be hard to get to reliably. It's a long way from Zurich to London, even if train capacity is available - and it won't be - all the short-hop flight traffic will be there. Even if it were possible to quickly open new destinations in southern and eastern Europe, the economic and political centers are still (mostly) in the north (so are UA's destinations).

It was strangely quiet in my office today -- no plane noise at all. What would it be like if London, Stockholm, Brussels, Paris, Oslo were thrown back to the early 20C in terms of transportation technology?
Yeah that's scary to think of

Originally Posted by mahasamatman
They've done it before. Remember September 2001?
Im not sure UA could survive another "September 2001"
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 3:21 pm
  #63  
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Originally Posted by neko
What would it be like if London, Stockholm, Brussels, Paris, Oslo were thrown back to the early 20C in terms of transportation technology?
Doesn't this pretty much describe the London Tube?
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 3:26 pm
  #64  
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Originally Posted by UAL4life
Im not sure UA could survive another "September 2001"
Fortunately this is only similar to 9/11 in international flights, and then only Europe. Domestic and transpac flights are unaffected. They should be able to muddle through.
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 4:40 pm
  #65  
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CNN was reporting that 6000 flights were canceled.. The US is also closing down two AF bases for the next day or two...
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 5:02 pm
  #66  
 
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I saw a lot of UA 777's parked at Dulles today when I came through...
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 5:21 pm
  #67  
 
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if UA was smart they would take the 777 and 767 not used right now and consolidate some us flights to save some money
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 5:34 pm
  #68  
 
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Originally Posted by dcsnowwake
if UA was smart they would take the 777 and 767 not used right now and consolidate some us flights to save some money
Yeah that wouldn't really help that much, domestic flights have high frequencies for a reason. People want to choose between 8 flights a day based on their schedule, and they would not be happy if they got a schedule change notice moving their flight up 3 hours.

The only thing that they could reasonably use the 772 and 763s for would be a massive oversell situation or a consolidation due to long delays/mechanicals on other flights.
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 5:36 pm
  #69  
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Originally Posted by hh1
All UA flights out of LHR tomorrow are now cancelled it seems, guess UA doesn't want planes taking off tonight, with potentially nowhere to land tomorrow morning!!
Well, if the planes can't fly from "here" to "there" tonight, there are no planes to fly from "there" to "here" tomorrow!

I was booked on 900 in C today, SFO-FRA. When I got up to go jogging at 5:30 am, the news was reporting that all airports in London were cancelled. I checked on line, and the FRA flt still was planned. By the time I got home at 6:30, I had an easy update that the flight had cancelled.

Luckily, I called right away, and was rescheduled for Saturday, same flight. C was full, but I got an OP-UP to F! ^:-:^

Now, just crossing fingers that the winds blow the ash away .... but when I called FRA to talk to friends this afternoon, they said that the air is pretty still and the ash is just hanging.
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 6:11 pm
  #70  
 
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From an operational stand point, while researching the plans at the airport, we as UA are looking to probably add some extra segments and upgauge of aircraft, from what i've read employee wise. Our situation stand as it states on our website with the cancellations of for 4/15 (from US) and 4/16 (from EU). We are possibly still hoping for the later evening flights out of ORD and IAD of having a chance of actually still operating on 4/16. But as we know it, we're watching the situation very closely. As a friendly reminder, I do recommend you watch your itineraried flights closely if you do plan on traveling. UA may update (IIRC) our plan of action around 0800 CDT (1300z) for if we will operate our scheduled evening departures. (But of course that all depends on the situation.) And if need be contact our reservations if you would change your plans to any one of the cities involved. And yes our waiver is in place til the 18th, which is due to backlog and the volcanic ash.

Thanks for sticking with us during this unfortunate event.


(But please don't quote me on anything as I'm just a CS agent who likes to help our passengers out. I'm not one of the big decision making guys. )

Cheers.
-CLE-

Last edited by CleUnited; Apr 15, 2010 at 6:12 pm Reason: a few grammatical mistakes
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 6:22 pm
  #71  
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Originally Posted by dcsnowwake
if UA was smart they would take the 777 and 767 not used right now and consolidate some us flights to save some money
and put up-gauge equipment on the still operating routes. IAD-ZRH on a 744!
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 6:46 pm
  #72  
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This animation was posted on the BA board. Worth watching:

http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMKDU9MT7G_index_0.html
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 7:16 pm
  #73  
 
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Originally Posted by milepig
This animation was posted on the BA board. Worth watching:

http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMKDU9MT7G_index_0.html
Towards the end of the animation, the eruption seemed to cease... is that accurate? If so, this should blow over soon.
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 7:32 pm
  #74  
 
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Originally Posted by UAL4life
Towards the end of the animation, the eruption seemed to cease... is that accurate? If so, this should blow over soon.
It does look that way, but from the UTC time posted for 0400 utc 4/16, i think it's just speculation. If my zulu count is correct 0400 utc i believe would be 2300 CDT. (accounting for daylight savings). But I am also trying to read more about this so as i may better assist my passengers once I return to the airport. (Sadly enough we were already rebooking passengers for 4/18-4/19 due to oversales due to todays cancellations 4/15.)

Hope that helps.
-CLE-
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Old Apr 15, 2010, 7:41 pm
  #75  
 
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Originally Posted by IADtoWhere
Yeah that wouldn't really help that much, domestic flights have high frequencies for a reason. People want to choose between 8 flights a day based on their schedule, and they would not be happy if they got a schedule change notice moving their flight up 3 hours.

The only thing that they could reasonably use the 772 and 763s for would be a massive oversell situation or a consolidation due to long delays/mechanicals on other flights.
I know, i was just messin around
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