On Monday, United Airlines flight 2138 from Des Moines to Chicago O’Hare suffered a bizarre four-hour delay. It wasn’t weather, mechanical, or a disruptive passenger. Two flight attendants got into a fight.
- Scheduled to depart at 11:26 a.m. and land just before 1:00 p.m., the short hop on an Airbus A320 sat in Des Moines for four hours.
- As first reported byPaddle Your Own Kanoo, the airline’s internal records show the cause:
Crew availability – Flight Attendant: Disagreement on 2 of the FAs. IFDM pulling all crew and will need to recrew flight.
United’s Inflight Duty Manager, who oversees cabin crew operations, decided the disagreement was severe enough that none of the original flight attendants could safely operate the flight. By about 12:10 p.m., passengers who had already boarded were deplaned.
New crewmembers had to be sourced – and Des Moines isn’t a crew base – with the flight ultimately pushing back around 3:24 p.m. and taking off close to 4:00 p.m. generally blowing connections. The flight landed at O’Hare at 5:09 p.m. – a four-plus hour delay for what’s normally less than a one-hour flight.
United’s flight status page didn’t update with details about the incident, and the airline hasn’t explained the delay.
It’s rare for a crew resource managment issue to escalated to the point that the duty manager yanks the whole cabin crew. That’s extreme – but correct – when teamwork and therefore safety can be compromised. Once a pair can’t work together, the airline still has to meet 14 CFR 121.391 minimum flight attendant staffing at all times. But an airline likely won’t have the reserves for this in Des Moines. I am surprised here not to see “crew availability” or something similarly neutral as the delay reason.
Customers don’t require EU‑261‑style cash for delays like this. For a four‑hour controllable delay, United would auto‑issue meal credit, and proactively rebook customers misconnecting at O’Hare.
I am not surprised by this. The quality and friendliness of United FAs has gone downhill. They are attracting lower quality people because the pay sucks and they treat junior FAs badly.
I was on a Northwest flight about 2010 from HNL to MSP overnight. A330. I was next to the galley separating FRC from coach. One attendant got so mad at another one that they throw a box of ice at the other and most of it landed on me.
They were cleaning the floor AND me up. I send a message to NWA and got 25K points and a huge flower/fruit basket 🙂
After a flight attendant catfight on United Airlines that caused a four-hour flight delay, passengers are entitled to up to a $20 meal voucher. The United Airlines Customer Commitment means you will have ample compensation to purchase your choice of two McDonald’s Big Mac sandwiches or two McDonald’s Happy Meals, so you will not be hungry until your next Unied Airlines flight is canceled.
Your food voucher can also be used for the reasonable cost of a meal at many airport food vendors and expires in one day. If you don’t automatically get one, just ask a United Airlines customer service agent.
@Ken A: You must be joking right. UA delayed my flight for 4 hours at Newark. They brought out a cart with some small bags of pretzel and small bottle of water for passengers. No $20 vouchers were given to any of us.
This is what at most an hour in air? You mean two flight attendants found a way to have a severe argument in that space of time? Better suited for working at Walmart or fast food.
This. Is. Why. We. Need. Air. Passenger. Rights. Legislation. Like. EU261. This is a staffing issue under the airlines’ control. If you’re gonna fail to perform, then pay up.
(Uh oh, Gary, Ben got to it first, but you’re still ahead of Matt. What’s the content distribution model over at Boarding Area? 1 day delay?)
Mr. Kirby, Dana White is on line one; something about the next cage match…in Des Moines?
@George Romey: The flight attendants got into a fight before takeoff, not while the plane was in the air.
I would also note that given how seniority works at the airlines, the flight attendants who would be working a flight between Des Moines and Chicago are probably about as low on the seniority list as one can get.
@T: You commented, “You must be joking, right?” T, this was no joke —though a flight attendant catfight might be more entertaining than viewing your in-flight movie. When United Airlines delays your flight for four hours due to an employee catfight, don’t let them get away with offering you just a tiny bag of pretzels and a mini-bottle of water so you won’t choke on their pretzels. Here’s what you should say: “Thank you for the complimentary pretzels and water. However, after a four-hour delay, over one hundred passengers on this flight are starving. All of us are entitled to and expect a $20 food voucher from United Airlines because your flight crew chose to engage in a fight rather than serve us. Please provide every passenger on this flight with our food vouchers or have your supervisor issue them immediately.”
Gary, Why bother using a stock photo of five smiling crew members to accompany a story about flight attendants fighting on a plane? Does that make any sense to you at all? Your current affinity for all these boring stock photos (does anyone here really need to see another exterior shot of a plane?) is just getting in the way of what you’re writing.
@Ken A — You wise, wise man, you. I know that United ‘$20 voucher’ (via text message) quite well. Good for a large Evan and some peanut M&Ms, if you’re lucky, thanks to all those… ‘affordable’ options at nearby Hudson News, the world’s largest operator of airport newsstands…
I hope the FAs involved realize they violated 121.580 “No person may assault, threaten, intimidate, or interfere with a crewmember in the performance of the crewmember’s duties aboard an aircraft being operated under this part.”
No person includes flight attendants. Good job, gave each other a fine if it gets submitted to the FAA
@Bobby Gee — Wrong! The ironic stock photos add immeasurable value to this post. It reminded me of the ‘blue balls’ safety video that United is currently playing before flights….
So … while those flight attendants get fired or not?