United Airlines Flight Canceled After Taxiing for 8.5 Hours

Having spent some time flying this summer I have found the Airline industry, not individuals, to be the rudest, inconsiderate group. They the industry, treat the customers like trash and don't give a damn about people.

Reporters love the word 'tarmack'. At least they didn't say it 'sat on the runway' for 8-1/2 hours this time.

People should stop perceiving airlines as some sort of sentient being that "doesn't care about them". They don't have feelings or emotions. The are a collection of office workers tasked with directing the efforts of the hourly employees and maximizing profitability of the organization. That's it. The only way to change their unsavory practices is to make those practices cost money, either by voting with your wallet or government rulemaking.

WOW.. that reminds me when I was on the same SWA flight in the same seat for 14 hours and 3 Diversions from KMDW to KLUV... The entire time in the same seat except for Restroom visits... I know what that feels like...

This is absolute abuse of the customer, I was once opposed to government interference but with an episode like this it proved that private business can not police themselves .

The old saying is, "If you have time to spare, go by air."

On June 16th on a flight from LAX-Yul we were in the plane for 13.5 hours. They blame the weather but that was only part of it. When we were touching down it was raining so they aborted The landing. But they had gone on a delay vector about a hundred miles north which was unusual since the approach to yul is from the south. The pilot had commented that if they gotten their 10 minutes earlier we could have landed.After the aborted landing we flew around Montreal for a bit then they flew 1.25 hours back to Toronto set on the tarmac for over 2 hours flew back to Montreal and then sat on the tarmac for 90 minutes because there were no Gates available. When we got there all the connecting flights were in disarray there was no manager coordinating the cleaning crews with the flights crews so by the time the cleaning crews the flight Crews hours were up. You can't imagine the more than 3,000 people lined up in the terminal. There was no one to rebook people who needed to rebook because the gate agents are no longer allowed to do that and even the people that check you in can't do that. They blame the weather but after years and years of cuts when something happens there's no one and no ability to take care of anything. No manager trying to fix the situation. Then my bags were missing for 21 days, lost between 3 airlines and on the plane back they didn't even load bags in and didn't tell anyone until we had been standing around the carousel for 30 minutes, the plane had landed 2 hours late so it was after 1:00 a.m. in the morning

sure as hell hope there were no passengers aboard . . .

https://aeroxplorer.com/articles/united-airlines-flight-canceled-after-taxiing-for-85-hours.php

Why just this one flight? Were other flights departing Newark delayed for 3+ hours?

These "pilots" let (FORCED) their passengers (customers) sit for 8 hrs,, for a 4 hour flight ??
This is exactly what is wrong with U.S. Airline travel-- No one with some Common Sense
jumped in to save those passengers??
And what a gigantic waste of Jet fuel??
I guess United Airlines doesn't worry and/or care.
I can only sit back and laugh-- because this is the exact reason I have a job!
I fly for a Private Jet Charter company...
Everytime an Airline does some crazy shit like this, and pisses their passengers off, and clearly mistreats them!
I can only giggle because I know they are creating customers for my company!
I do not treat customers like this--
My company doesn't treat customers like this!
What were they thinking?...clearly they weren't.
How do they remain in business doing stuff like this??
Fly Private folks!

I was on a flight that was due to arrive at 5:30PM and make a connection to the next leg at 6:00pm. Close but doable. Would arrive at dest before 9PM. It arrived late but we were put on a different plane. After boarding we were informed that there was a problem with a tire and we had to deplane to change the tire. We did, then were moved to ANOTHER plane. Boarded and seated and immediately told to deplane again because there was not enough fuel on board and they could not refuel with passengers onboard. As we sat in the terminal we got info thru the grapevine that the crew was near the end of the time window they could take off again. Well that time window expired so they needed another crew. At 2:30 the next morning we were bused to a hotel for the night with the new flight departing at 6:am. Got into the hotel with a meal pass for $12. Nothing on the menu resembling a "meal" was under $15. Went to bed and got less than an hour of sleep and we were called to be bused back to the airport for our new flight. Arrived at around 6am almost 24 hours after the original departure from Corpus Christi TX to somewhere (its a little blurry at this time) in South Carolina.

Nothing has changed since 1975. Airlines have practiced and perfected the art of deception. Many hours I sat at a gate and watched gate agents & pilots being lied to by their own people. I can list dozens of ways airlines deceive everyone from the FAA to passengers to their own employees. It's in their DNA, hard-wired, they can't help it. Passengers are jerked 90 different ways from buying a ticket to claiming baggage, it's no wonder they snap & go crazy on a regular basis.

A few years ago I was flying from EWR to Chicago ORD and similar thing happened. Pushed off from the gate exactly on time 3:45 pm got off the plane in Chicago at 6:35 AM the next day.

On the plane, taxi out, taxi back, off the plane, on the plane again, taxi out, taxi back, changed flight crews (they timed out), taxi out, wait and then finally left....The final nail was when we got to Chicago the airline had us wait for another 30 min or so as they didn't have a gate for us!!!

Got to my hotel in downtown Chicago about 7:30 am, I showered and then left for a 9 am meeting. My head never touched the pillow....best use of a $400 hotel room reservation ever!

Oh by the way the flight was marked..."on time"


So I can really relate to these customers......

This seems like seriously bending the FAA/DOT 3-hour taxi limit, but then that's par for the course for an airline that's now a shadow of its former once-great self. Once upon a time I was a die-hard Platinum Mileage Plus and Red Carpet member until 22 years ago I was unable to fly for nearly a year due to medical reasons. On my next Mileage Plus anniversary they busted me back to basic mileage plus and rescinded nearly 400,000 bonus miles. I sent a letter to the mileage plus and Red Carpet offices and got no reply. I decided I should be as loyal to United as they were to me so, of the nearly 1,500 flight segments in the past two decades since then, I don't even have to take off my shoes to count the number of United flights I have taken.

feels like the old Soviet Union...all these rules and regulations to be followed and the needs of the consumer gets lost on the shuffle..

Where to start….Newark allows unlimited flights at an airport that essentially has 2 useable runways. Even on a perfect day it runs out of takeoff and landing space by early to mid afternoon. Since customers want as many possible departures for their convenience, too many flights for the existing number of gates are scheduled. Throw in weather and tarmac delays become huge. Then the planes are required to return to the gate per FAA guidelines, but no gates are available, so they block taxiways, causing further congestion. Communication between aircraft and overloaded station operations personnel break down, furthering the difficulties. When an airplane sitting at a gate knows of a delay for takeoff, they wait there, blocking incoming flights from letting the passengers off. When the passengers DO get off, they usually wander all over, delaying rebounding for the next attempt, hence the warning not to stray too far or be left behind. Waiting for every person to decide to rebound usually means missing a timed takeoff slot. Want to stop this? Tell the airlines you’re fine with fewer departures and more connections.

5:30 AM CST the article is not accessible on the server since the server is down.

Now that’s what’s called a creeping delay !

We were once 48 hours delayed. YYZ-ORD due to snowstorms

For more than eight hours the aircraft sat on the ramp awaiting its turn to depart

This does not constitute ''Taxiing''. To taxi is to proceed to the end of the runway for departure. Sitting on or at the ramp does not.

Airlines do this avoid putting people up in hotels or refunding. So, yes there would have been passengers onboard.

this truly is unexcusable! a few years back this problem was supposed to have been taken care of by all the airlines because of so many passenger complaints and the government getting involved with fines,etcetera..weather is was and always will be a problem for the airlines,but over 8 hours on the taxiway???someone did not understand how much fuel that takes..they had no open gate for the flight to return to ???

BTW, using the weather as an excuse gets them off the hook.

Shit happens.

Let’s see; United kills pets (dogs, a rabbit -‘Kill the Wabbit’, & likely cats) & mishandled a rappers dog
sends pets to wrong destinations halfway around the world
breaks guitars (that turned into a YouTube hit w/@ least two sequels)
assaults & has paying passengers evicted & arrested in favor of United employees
‘kidnaps’ paying passengers (this incident)
turned a proposed bonus via lottery turning employees against each other
sold a toddlers seat (already paid for) to a passenger waiting on standby
an infant getting sick & hospitalized while it’s plane was delayed on the ground (sound
familiar?)
an employee shoved an Elderly person to the ground in a fit of anger
other employees threatened to cancel a passengers boarding ticket for recording the
employee
refused to allow a passenger wearing leggings to board
sold economy tickets w/out clearly disclosing the restrictions…

I’m sure I’ve left out one or two transgressions from the past……

https://www.businessinsider.com/united-airlines-worst-customer-service-incidents-2018-3?op=1#when-its-passengers-became-confused-about-its-basic-economy-tickets-12

I was flying a DC-8-73 from Newark to louisville Ky. (for guess who) from block out to take off...Four hours. The problem was the "eight" had no APU, so we had to run #3 motor the whole time on the ground. We finally took off right at minimum T/O fuel. And of course the controllers at Newark were NO help at all. NO reason for the delay. No expected time of release. NO information at all.

in air traffic lingo it's called the "ramp".

Since the passenger cabin door was closed and they pushed back from the gate anyway with probable knowledge they couldn’t depart, was the crew paid or paid at a higher rate than door open rate? I’m curious as to what industry standards are for when the pay clock starts.

At least the pilots got paid flight time.

...some days I feel the same way...

A similar thing happened last month with Delta. Taxi out, they had a malfunctioning alarm, Took 90 minutes to try to fix including shutting the plane down for 5 minutes to reset. Allowed passengers to get off, but stay close. Did not work. got us all off and got arranged for another plane. 1 more hour and off we went. the Crew was great, common sensed and kept us informed. We all realize with the shutdowns through the pandemic the ability to manage flights is more difficult. I just wish they didn't schedule flights which they know they may have trouble getting off the ground.

Almost Every summer afternoon, the Rockies cook up convection that drifts over Denver and intensifies. Why do they load people into planes just so they can sit on a ramp for metering or hold over arrival gates?

Thanks for not mentioning climate change.

Thank goodness I now fly private. Saves time and sometimes money if on a business trip.

I think there’s now a law against holding passengers on a plane that long? There may be lawsuits.

Of course it ran out of fuel. I guess it never occurred at some point to go put more fuel in it so It can run around longer. Just an unbelievable circumstance what the hell kind of pilot was in airplane that didn’t have any kind of sense to put up with that kind of abuse for 8 1/2 hours. Really go park back at a gate. That whole event sounds like an incredibly active stupid beyond stupid.I

The bus drivers don’t know how to drive the bus!

The law only applies to time on board. If you are deplaned and re-borded, the clock starts all over again

As a recent million miler with Delta and more than a million with other carriers since the 70s, my Delta experience has consistently exceeded my expectations. Delays and mechanical issues will happen and that’s when an airline has a chance to rise above the rest in employee and customer service. I am happy to pay more for that peace of mind.

the only reason this happened is because 1) the cabin crew expended their entire alcohol and food allocation keeping the passengers pacified or 2) not one of the pax had the balls to call 911 and report he/she was being held in an airplane against their wheel. When #2 happens the airline finds a gate lickety split.

United should be charged with KIDNAPPING