Try the soup!

[kann]

My daughter's (and fiancee) flight from Frankfurt to San Francisco was cancelled today. This was supposed to be her aircraft. Thanks to great passenger protection laws in the EU, it looks like they are going to be making the best of a shitty situation.

 

[CigarStone]

Nick, I'm happy all is well and you are able to make light of the poop soup.

 

[kann]

Nick, I'm happy all is well and you are able to make light of the poop soup.

I ain't got shit to worry about -- I'm still cozy in bed at home. The kids, though...

Have you seen all of the news about United lately? Something just doesn't smell right about that airline.

 

[CigarStone]

I ain't got shit to worry about -- I'm still cozy in bed at home. The kids, though...

Have you seen all of the news about United lately? Something just doesn't smell right about that airline.

I used to fly 2-3 days per week and never think a thing of it. Now, when my kids fly, I get a little nervous.

 

[jfields]

"they are going to be making the best of a shitty situation."

"I ain't got shit to worry about"


I see what you did there!

 

[CBoukal]

Glad they took them back and all the safe!!

 

[JoeMO]

Sounds like a real shit show!

 

[bfreebern]

What's the prize for dealing with this shitty situation?

 

[CigarStone]

What's the prize for dealing with this shitty situation?

Life

 

[kann]

What's the prize for dealing with this shitty situation?

€650 each free and clear, €50 in food vouchers at the airport, and hotel covered in SF since they are going to miss their connection to Hawaii. Business class upgrade SFO-HNL if space is available. If the flight would have been outright cancelled, they would have received 150% of their airfare refunded by United, along with the rebooking, hotel, etc...

When they finally got to boarding, the gate agent was offering four people €1,500 checks, food, and accommodations to rebook for the following day due to overbooking. She wanted to take it (hey, another free day in Germany!), but he already had to call and extend his leave because of the one delay and couldn't do so again.

 

[{tpc}]

I ain't got shit to worry about -- I'm still cozy in bed at home. The kids, though...

Have you seen all of the news about United lately? Something just doesn't smell right about that airline.

United scares me, well lately they all scare me. But I’d probably chose a delta or American flight first at this point. And I’ve seen/been aboard some crazy American flights!

 

[Pugman1943]

Well, I'll pass on the soup and settle for a safe landing. Bummer Nick, glad it will work out.

 

[kann]

United scares me, well lately they all scare me. But I’d probably chose a delta or American flight first at this point. And I’ve seen/been aboard some crazy American flights!

I hear ya. I've made the flight stateside to/from HI many times, and I think there's been more equipment delays than any other airline I've flown. Unfortunately, if you want any sort of flight beyond your first stop, United is pretty much the only option unless you change airlines mid-stream. :/

 

[{tpc}]

Last time I flew United, it was continental? Lol or maybe us airways. I can’t remember who swallowed who anymore…

 

[CigarStone]

I hear ya. I've made the flight stateside to/from HI many times, and I think there's been more equipment delays than any other airline I've flown. Unfortunately, if you want any sort of flight beyond your first stop, United is pretty much the only option unless you change airlines mid-stream. :/

This is truly frightening!

 

[dawgie]

I think there's been more equipment delays

I used to be a “road warrior” service tech, and traveled the entire U.S. upwards of 80% of my calls. So, my ”commute” was by commercial airlines to the tune of 2-6 flights a week. I never minded the equipment delays. I didn’t care if it was a burned out light in the shitter. I wanted everything on that plane to be working as it should so that my flight du jour made it to where I was going!

 

[{tpc}]

One of my favorite story’s is waiting for a layover in Texas (I don’t remember if it was dfw or iah) but we are waiting and the flight is delayed.

So we are looking out the window at the plane when a lift truck pulls up under one of the engines. They get up to it, release some bolts to remove the bottom cover when a cascade of some liquid pours out of the engine.

And we still got on that flight, but it was a minute till they fixed whatever it was lol. I just remember turning to my wife and saying “that looks like the problem” lol.

 

[kann]

I used to be a “road warrior” service tech, and traveled the entire U.S. upwards of 80% of my calls. So, my ”commute” was by commercial airlines to the tune of 2-6 flights a week. I never minded the equipment delays. I didn’t care if it was a burned out light in the shitter. I wanted everything on that plane to be working as it should so that my flight du jour made it to where I was going!

One aspect of my job when I was in the Air Force (kind of like a department within a company) was working with aircraft maintainers to coordinate airlift. During that time I learned a lot about what is critical to keep an airplane in the air, and what just keeps the red ink off of the write-up logs. Like you, I usually have zero personal problems when a flight is delayed for equipment issues. I also understand that a commercial airline's first concern "should" be to the hundreds of passengers who will be confined within the aluminum tube hurtling through air at 500 mph 40,000 feet above a really hard landing. I'd much prefer the better safe than sorry approach, but it's still a little disconcerting when the jets delay more than they fly because of maintenance issues.

Last summer when we returned home from our Hawaii visit, we flew Honolulu-Detroit-Madrid. I'm really familiar with the sounds that an aircraft makes, and what systems and flight events produce those sounds. There were several times over the ocean from HNL-DET that we all looked at each other and kind of said "WTF?" to some of the noises and vibrations this 777 was putting out. In Detroit we were scheduled to have that same aircraft continue the flight to Madrid. We were delayed, then boarded, then delayed, then delayed some more, then deplaned, then further delayed, and then finally told that our original jet had been deemed un-airworthy by maintenance (the same piece of metal we flew in on from HNL that caused us concern) and we were getting a new plane... eventually. This is absolutely one of those times I was not upset about the myriad delays at that point -- especially having already experienced the unsettling feeling from HNL-DET.

 

[{tpc}]

One of my other favs was a flight leaving Detroit, again to Texas. We got onboard and it was delayed for a bit while they fixed something or waited for some crew, I can’t remember.

We de-ice and the plane takes off. We are at the part where they start to pull up the landing gear when we hear a bit of a bang. My wife who is already nervous about flying says to me “what was that??!!” with a worried look on her face. I say “oh just nothing im sure” trying to calm her down, when the pilot gets on the speaker and says “I know you all heard that noise, and I don’t know what makes a noise like that, so we are headed back to Detroit to figure it out”.

The best part was watching the fire trucks and ambulances pull up on the landing strip as we were landing…I guess that’s why she never wants the window seat. Apparently something had happened with the landing gear. We sat for awhile and eventually deplaned and boarded another to make the trip. Of course missed our connecting flight, had to switch that up and then our transportation was also goofed up. But we got there eventually lol.

 

[kann]

One of my other favs was a flight leaving Detroit, again to Texas. We got onboard and it was delayed for a bit while they fixed something or waited for some crew, I can’t remember.

We de-ice and the plane takes off. We are at the part where they start to pull up the landing gear when we hear a bit of a bang. My wife who is already nervous about flying says to me “what was that??!!” with a worried look on her face. I say “oh just nothing im sure” trying to calm her down, when the pilot gets on the speaker and says “I know you all heard that noise, and I don’t know what makes a noise like that, so we are headed back to Detroit to figure it out”.

The best part was watching the fire trucks and ambulances pull up on the landing strip as we were landing…I guess that’s why she never wants the window seat. Apparently something had happened with the landing gear. We sat for awhile and eventually deplaned and boarded another to make the trip. Of course missed our connecting flight, had to switch that up and then our transportation was also goofed up. But we got there eventually lol.

Really reassuring of the captain on that one, eh?! :O Glad everything turned out alright, obviously. I think my only other really interesting story is when we were flying Frankfurt - Dublin on Aer Lingus a bunch of years ago. Everything was normal as we bussed to the jet on the ramp, boarded, closed up, started, and then taxied to the runway. We turn onto the actual runway, hear and feel the engines power up... and then almost instantly cut out back to idle. We then turned and taxied off the runway and back to our hardstand. We were met there by an ambulance; it seems that right as we were preparing for our roll out, one of the pilots began experiencing a "cardiac event". Not sure what ever came of that, physically, but hope he was ok. We were delayed a few hours whilst awaiting a new pilot to fly in from Ireland on an inbound flight, but everything was nominal after that.