April/May 2010 - Volcanic Activity in Iceland and Impact to United's Operations
#61
Join Date: Mar 2008
Programs: GGL, UA 1MM
Posts: 486
They are now saying LHR closed until 1pm tomorrow, though it sounds far from certain they will allow flights after that.
#62
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: The World.
Programs: UA MP/UC - "RIP Tulip Plat"
Posts: 1,225
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?
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?
Im not sure UA could survive another "September 2001"
#64
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#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...
#66
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: UA1K, HH Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 558
I saw a lot of UA 777's parked at Dulles today when I came through...
#67
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: ANP
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Posts: 1,408
if UA was smart they would take the 777 and 767 not used right now and consolidate some us flights to save some money
#68
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Arlington, VA
Programs: United MP 1p, PC Ambassador, GP Platinum
Posts: 439
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.
#69
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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.
#70
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: The counter of lost hopes and dreams, and for the creation of new ones in DEN
Programs: MP Rehab... or something like that...
Posts: 317
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-
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
#72
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This animation was posted on the BA board. Worth watching:
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMKDU9MT7G_index_0.html
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMKDU9MT7G_index_0.html
#73
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: The World.
Programs: UA MP/UC - "RIP Tulip Plat"
Posts: 1,225
This animation was posted on the BA board. Worth watching:
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMKDU9MT7G_index_0.html
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMKDU9MT7G_index_0.html
#74
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: The counter of lost hopes and dreams, and for the creation of new ones in DEN
Programs: MP Rehab... or something like that...
Posts: 317
Hope that helps.
-CLE-
#75
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: ANP
Programs: UA 1k, Marriott Plat, HH gold, Avis/Hertz Pres
Posts: 1,408
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.
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.