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Who knew? [GA: we can't board as plane is pressurized]

 
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Old Oct 5, 2015, 2:12 am
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
Unless working in the operations area for that flight, you cannot know what impact holding the flight for the passengers already onboard could potentially be

Maybe US could have been in a position to delay the flight if necessary - it may also not have been and so treated that flight like any other
In which case they are free to throw my complaint in the trash as their records indicate there was nothing they could have done. (Something I consider an outside chance at best BTW, but sure I'll allow for the possibility)

On the flip side, if they could have waited 5 minutes and gotten 26 people home, they will (being overly optimistic here) make note of it and hopefully do better next time.

So, as I said, I would file a complaint.
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Old Oct 5, 2015, 12:46 pm
  #17  
 
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I've flown that route many times over the years living in Orlando. Usually the gate agents are a bit more accommodating on the late flights as there are a lot of families with small children and international connections. Sounds like this agent thought thought they were speaking to Goofy!
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Old Oct 5, 2015, 1:37 pm
  #18  
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Originally Posted by MCOGUY
I've flown that route many times over the years living in Orlando. Usually the gate agents are a bit more accommodating on the late flights as there are a lot of families with small children and international connections. Sounds like this agent thought thought they were speaking to Goofy!
No kidding.

All the GA had to do was communicate with the pilot or Dispatch to determine the next steps. The aircraft was held at the gate for another 25 minutes, after all.

If someone let all the hot air from this gas bag she might have deflated and been unable to go home at the shift's end.

Last edited by JDiver; Oct 6, 2015 at 12:06 pm Reason: Typo
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Old Oct 5, 2015, 6:45 pm
  #19  
 
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The heart of the matter is that as long as the burden of costs/delays for avoidable misconnects rests with the unfortunate passenger, airlines have no reason to try to accommodate them. If the airline had to pay for food/lodging for 26 pax on the last flight of the day, maybe ops would have figured something out.
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Old Oct 5, 2015, 11:08 pm
  #20  
 
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Originally Posted by ty97
I would absolutely complain as someone at US (maybe not the GA) should have stopped this from happening in the age of computer information. No reason 26 people should have been stranded by no fault of their own when US could have held closing the door 5 minutes.
+1
I flew AS a couple of weeks ago and the originating flight to SEA was delayed and three of us arrived at the connecting gate at T-5. Guess what? AS knew we were delayed and held the flight for the three of us. My checked bags even made it.
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Old Oct 6, 2015, 7:15 am
  #21  
 
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Originally Posted by FF524
she proceeded to then tell us that they can't open the plane door once it is closed as it becomes pressured - and opening the door after it is closed will cause all of the air come out of the plane and the plane won't be able to stay in the air once it takes off.
LOL!!! The worst part is she probably thinks this really will happen!
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Old Oct 6, 2015, 9:12 am
  #22  
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
Other than potentially garbage information about a technical reason why a door cannot be opened, what is there of value to complain about?
Poor operations

Poor customer service

Potentially increasing expense and decreasing revenue to the GA's employer as a result of how he/she handle the situation

Ability to re-train the employee for the future
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Old Oct 6, 2015, 11:59 am
  #23  
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GAs have (maybe with a supervisor override) reopened doors to board paxs. It seems as though the 26 paxs could have been boarded quickly with the flight still leaving the gate on time. Now their bags would have been a different story.
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Old Oct 6, 2015, 12:07 pm
  #24  
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Originally Posted by elitetraveler
Poor operations

Poor customer service

Potentially increasing expense and decreasing revenue to the GA's employer as a result of how he/she handle the situation

Ability to re-train the employee for the future
Remedial basic physics course... (Given a/c is on ground, they'd actually have to remove air from cabin to reach normal altitude of ~8,000 MSL, making the aircraft marginally lighter due to reduced cabin air density... and I doubt a/c have a way of actually reducing cabin altitude. This gal should be a great teller of "Babe, the blue ox" and Paul Bunyan stories.)

Absolutely agree.
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Old Oct 6, 2015, 2:11 pm
  #25  
 
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Originally Posted by newyorkgeorge
GAs have (maybe with a supervisor override) reopened doors to board paxs. It seems as though the 26 paxs could have been boarded quickly with the flight still leaving the gate on time. Now their bags would have been a different story.
There is more to it than just reopening the flight and boarding more people. Paperwork including weight and balance would have to be redone and that could potentially then delay the flight. Also, if the flight has a specific clearance time to even just taxi, then reopening the flight can create the flight to miss that clearance causing a delay as well. Just a few potential issues of just "reopening" the flight.
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Old Oct 6, 2015, 10:40 pm
  #26  
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Originally Posted by milesandmoremiles
There is more to it than just reopening the flight and boarding more people. Paperwork including weight and balance would have to be redone and that could potentially then delay the flight. Also, if the flight has a specific clearance time to even just taxi, then reopening the flight can create the flight to miss that clearance causing a delay as well. Just a few potential issues of just "reopening" the flight.
I'm guessing here, but I'd imagine calcs (fuel load, w&b in particular) had already been done for the aircraft expected loads, including missing 26 passengers. A call would have revealed what was possible (including a delay leaving the gate), but the GA chose to wing it.
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 1:30 pm
  #27  
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Originally Posted by JDiver
I'm guessing here, but I'd imagine calcs (fuel load, w&b in particular) had already been done for the aircraft expected loads, including missing 26 passengers. A call would have revealed what was possible (including a delay leaving the gate), but the GA chose to wing it.
Most GAs do, they aren't exactly striving for employee of the year.
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 4:52 pm
  #28  
 
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
The passenger arrived 13 minutes prior to the departure of the flight

The policy as listed at https://www.usairways.com/en-US/trav...ckintimes.html seems to require that the passengers be at the gate 15 minutes before departure to avoid being denied boarding
You seem to have missed the fact that the passenger was flying US Air, which was late. So now it is the passenger's fault the plane arrived late?
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 6:00 pm
  #29  
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Originally Posted by s0ssos
You seem to have missed the fact that the passenger was flying US Air, which was late. So now it is the passenger's fault the plane arrived late?
Doesn't matter what the reason is, the passenger is required to be at the gate at 15 minutes prior to departure

being on a connection, the airline was required to assist with rebooking and potentially accommodation/meals depending on the reason , but the passenger was still late

As far as comments as whether the agent should have spoken to someone regarding the flight - why is it being assumed that the agent and operations had not been in discussion before closing the flight on time
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 10:23 pm
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
Doesn't matter what the reason is, the passenger is required to be at the gate at 15 minutes prior to departure
And the passenger was there 15 minutes before the plane departing. Because the plane was there 25 minutes longer at the gate. So?
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