Sunday morning’s United flight 1116 from Washington Dulles to San Francisco cancelled… after passengers waited around for about 17 hours.
Several issues compounded here – from weather delaying the inbound aircraft, mechanical problems and an aircraft swap, to crew timing out and exceeding their maximum duty hours. Passengers made it onto the Boeing 787 twice and even pushed back from the gate.
That’s a miserable travel day that, paradoxically, highlights something that United does really well: communicates with customers throughout.
- They proactively offer plain language explanations for delays, and
- Push meal vouchers and compensation to passengers
What’s more, even though the initial delay was due to weather, United didn’t claim that the cancellation was ‘weather-related’. They acknowledged they ultimately had to cancel due to lack of crew, which left them responsible to passengers.
One customer on board sent me the stream of texts from the airline explaining what was happening along the way, providing meal vouchers on two separate occasions during the delay, and finally proactively offering compensation when the flight was cancelled. And that $175 – while not generous, or reasonably compensatory for the inconvenience – was given without any request. Customres can always complain and might get more…
To be sure, the passenger wasn’t happy:
The plane was supposed to depart IAD to SFO at 8:35am and after repeated delays, the flight was cancelled around 1am the next day, making for a 17 or so hour wait. Twice the we left with the plane from the gate, heading to the runway, just to have to return to the gate because either a pilot or an attendant had timed out.
And it feels like adding insult to injury, the airline offered $175 as a compensation, which just about coverers the taxi from home, $60+ and back home, $60+ after the flight was cancelled in the early morning.
Still, the communication piece strikes me as impressive.
It looks like you haven’t checked in for your flight to San Francisco yet. Check in now: […]
Your flight departs at 8:25 a.m. from Gate C4 in Concourse C.
You’ll need to check in before heading through security. We look forward to seeing you soon!
Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco is delayed because an earlier delay impacted your plane’s arrival. It now departs at 8:55am on August 4.
We’re sorry for the delay and are working to get you on your way.
Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco is delayed further because an earlier delay impacted your plane’s arrival. It now departs at 9:55am on August 4.
You can rebook your flight to a different day, an earlier or later departure, or connect through a different city here: […]
Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco is delayed further. It now departs at 10:25am on August 4.
Your inbound aircraft is arriving late from Baltimore due to weather conditions on the way to Washington Dulles. We apologize for the delay and are working to get you on your way as soon as possible..
We’re sorry about the changes to your travel plans. We’d like to help by providing a meal voucher for everyone on your trip.
See your meal vouchers here: […]
Your flight has a new gate. Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco now departs from Gate C5 at 1:00 pm on August 4.
Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco is delayed further because we are troubleshooting a technical issue on your plane and will provide an update at the posted departure time. It now departs at 1:00pm on August 4.
Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco is delayed further because we are troubleshooting a technical issue on your plane and will provide an update at the posted departure time. It now departs at 2:00pm on August 4.
Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco is delayed further because of an operational issue that required a change to another aircraft to get you on your way. It now departs at 3:00pm on August 4.
Your flight has a new gate. Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco now departs from Gate C1 at 4:00 pm on August 4.
We’re ready to board your flight to San Francisco at Gate C1. We look forward to seeing you soon!
Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco is less delayed. It now departs at 4:15pm on August 4.
Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco is delayed further because of an operational issue that required a change to another aircraft to get you on your way. It now departs at 4:45pm on August 4.
Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco is delayed further because of an operational issue that required a change to another aircraft to get you on your way. It now departs at 6:00pm on August 4.
Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco is delayed further because of an operational issue that required a change to another aircraft to get you on your way. It now departs at 6:30pm on August 4.
Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco is delayed further because we’re waiting for your crew to arrive. It now departs at 10:00pm on August 4.
We assigned your flight new crew members because your original crew reached the maximum number of hours allowed by the FAA. Your new crew are on their way, and we expect them to arrive in time for a 10:00pm departure. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco is delayed further. It now departs at 10:30pm on August 4.
We’re sorry about the changes to your travel plans. We’d like to help by providing a meal voucher for everyone on your trip.
Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco is delayed further. It now departs at 10:50pm on August 4.
Flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco is delayed further because your crew has not had sufficient rest time required by federal law. It now departs at 11:57pm on August 4.
We’re sorry to let you know we’ve canceled flight UA1116 from Washington to San Francisco because your crew did not have sufficient rest time required by federal law.
Several hours later, the customer received an apology email from United:
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience you experienced on your flight with United Airlines.
An Electronic Travel Certificate has been issued to […] valid towards the purchase of one electronic airline ticket, where eligible, on United up to $175.00.
Redemption information – Total Value: $175.00 Promotion Code: 24TCVA […] Issued Date: 8/5/2024 Expiration Date: 8/5/2025 Original Ticket Number: […]
Bad weather happens, and so do mechanical delays. You don’t want an airline pushing through unsafe conditions. And crew rest rules are legal requirements. Fortunately the flight departed from a hub where additional crew were available.. but further delays pushed them out past their legal maximum duty limits, too.
United didn’t deliver the flight, and that’s really the most important thing you expect from an airline. But it seems to me they did a really nice job of communication, pushing updates to the customer with reasons why things were happening. Nobody had to stand in line to wait for meal vouchers, or even ask, and the airline offered compensation.
That all may seem pretty baseline for customer service, but this is an airline where the base is very very low. And United clearly exceeds that.
This is part of why I have started flying United far more frequently and reduced my flights with American Airlines. When irregular operations happen they provide timely updates that allow you to make informed decisions and choose alternate plans when appropriate. While American claims the flights is going to leave in 10 minutes when the inbound aircraft hasn’t even arrived and just does 15 minute rolling delays for hours on end making me waste my time at the gate instead of being productive at the lounge.
What I find most interesting about the updates though is that United was flying a 787 aircraft from BWI to IAD. That is a super short flight
The amazing part to me is this flight was between two United hubs. How do they not have reserve crews at a hub?
Anyone in the airline business KNOWS that Washington Center is the worst for causing delays. The slightest bit of weather and they close down the airspace. Many times flying from the New York area south bound, all of the airlines have to either add more fuel or deplane passengers to allow for more fuel in order to go around Washington Center’s airspace. Any airline trying to enter or leave the DCA/IAD airspace is faced with the same issue. Of course, UAL could have foreseen this issue and repositioned crews on the scanty openings in the weather. But…17 hours…gimme a break!
Good Heavens – Amtrak was faster!
I had a completely different experience on the west coast on the same day. I was supposed to get back to Houston at 5pm that day. Instead, we got home at 8:30 the next morning. Further, I had to make demands and point out that United Airlines has committed to the DoT to provide your referenced vouchers. I couldn’t even get a freaking bottle of water. Their communication was crap. Their concern for passengers was worse than their communication. And, to push an even more concerning issue, we (the surrounding passengers) had to make the airline aware of the presence and location of a blind passenger.
We had a 9:30am ORD-HNL departure a few years ago that departed at 7:15pm. Was so insane it was comical:
*9:40am about to turn right onto runway and turned left. A woman having a panic attack
*10:45am finally replace oxygen used on pax
*11:00am 10m discussion because woman wants back on the plane. HELL NO! (denied)
*11:15 ready to pull back. Sit there for 1h45m due to wind sheer events
*1:00pm about to pull away but Biden & AF1 on tarmac
*2:30pm pull away. 3rd in line and United HQ orders pilots back due to cabin door being closed for 3h. Pax need a chance to get off. Pilots PI$$ED and 0 people get off.
*3:30pm-6:30pm we think we’re ready to go multiple times and FAs time out and then pilots time out. Get $20 vouchers each and proceed to use them for a pizza and as much Peroni as they will give us. Went back and got an extra 2 vouchers lol
*6:30pm we re-board and finally go. 2pm arrival into HNL turned into getting into bed at 1am. Rough way to start the trip.
I will say UA had some high up ORD ops manager working on getting this flight out and feel like he moved some mountains. They were able to find both FA and pilot replacement crews which I was thought was pretty amazing. Landed in HNL with $250 e-vouchers and also later on 15k miles. Not the way I wanted to start the trip but was thankful we were able to wake up in HNL versus trying again in Chicago
Wow, this is opposite of Delta…doing the right thing and not blaming others. Simple concept.
Was on a United flight earlier this year from Auckland to SFO. An hour in, we had to turn around due to a non-dangerous mechanical issue, then wait 24 hours for the next day’s flight (they flew the regular one plus a second one for our passengers so we kept our same seats). United communicated throughout, put us up, gave us food vouchers and proactively emailed each of us with $650 in United credit while we were still in New Zealand. They handled it about as well as possible. .
Hey Gary, this is a really good article, and I’m completely agreed with your comment that “United didn’t deliver the flight, and that’s really the most important thing you expect from an airline”. What’s amazing to me is the contrast between this article and the one earlier today, “Delta Melted Down To Historic Proportions – But American Airlines Last Month Was Actually Worse”. In that earlier article, you based your comments on American being absolutely awful based on “On-Time Arrival”.
I’m sure that you recall my comment, which was that “Candidly, as a passenger, my rating on performance would solely be Completion Factor”. As you already know, on that metric American was far better than both United and Delta.
At the end of the day I’m glad that we’re agreed, but the juxtaposition between the two articles is striking.
As much as some people laud the communication, all it reveals is that UA couldn’t see its operation in one more than one dimension at a time.
A late arriving aircraft from weather the night before is not only the airline’s responsibility to fix but is easily predictable as much as 12 hours in advance.
UA has the highest number of cancellations at the start of the day of the big 4 which means they do a poor job of resetting their operation and accept a higher rate of cancellations as the “baseline”
Mechanicals happen and are not necessarily predictable but it isn’t hard to put all of the pieces – pilots, flight attendants and aircraft – together when it is determined that an aircraft swap is necessary.
And, I am pretty sure that UA does not have a pilot crew base for the 787 at IAD.
And let’s not forget that Gary’s date shows that UA cancelled 3.5% of their flights in July compared to 5.25% for DL. UA’s operation was hardly a poster child of success.
175 for That long a delay is not acceptable.
WFL (work-from-lounge) day?! Most travelers these days can do most of what they do anywhere they have internet access. Also, as for the passenger’s claims of spending $240 on 4 taxi rides to and from the airport, who takes a taxi to the airport anymore?!
UA 919 from LHR to IAD on Sunday was a cluster eff too. Over 100 people on that single flight missing their connections at IAD.
I got this same kind of BS when United was delayed (going and coming) from IAD to HNL last month. Flight Aware gave me a lot more information than UAL did and told me when the incoming plane would land to the minute.
They may think it’s helpful but IMO it’s self serving inaccurate ka-ka.
BTW the flight back from HNL was horrible. Awful food, a filthy seat and surroundings and two overworked trying to help FAs for the 33 people in business. Does United own a vacuum cleaner? Just one maybe?
After sleeping for 4 hours on the tarmac in Naples, UNITED decided to fly to EWR even if the pilots might time out. We all knew our connections were gone.
To add- at least I didn’t fly Delta. In the end UAL got me there and home.
So the future $175 credit was in addition to a full refund?
in LA,
of course it wasn’t.
It was a voucher for future travel.
And no airline is going to refund travel which you take.
in this case, UA’s excessive yacking about the reasons for their delay simply highlights that they couldn’t figure out how to get the flight on-time and simply dealt with one reason after another when – other than the mechanical – every reason for the subsequent delay was known hours before the flight’s scheduled departure.
And for those that can’t pass up the opportunity to throw DL under the bus, DL’s rate of cancellation is still better than AA or UA year to date, DL’s operation is once again running far more reliably than AA, UA or WN, and Gary’s data shows that UA really did not fare that much better than DL in July performance even though we’ve heard incessantly how much better every other airline did in getting their operation restarted.
@Tim Dunn: I’m pretty sure that United has a 787 crew base in the IAD area.
For sure it doesn’t look good in hindsight. They tried and they failed, but at least the communication was there and they didn’t blame it on someone else :-). Every airline fails once in a while, but at least having an honest reason is easier for reimbursement from travel insurances.
United also gave early and easy rebooking options.
Probably not many seats available on other flights, but at least their higher status passengers were most likely protected. That’s also a good reason to have status and to use the big 4 over Spirit, Frontier & Co.
When Spirit cancels a flight – passengers might be stuck for days. The big 4 can easier reaccommodate.
Delta is known for delaying flights until the next day for mechanicals or crews. No more passengers left, but then flying empty? Looks good for the statistic but is bad for the environment. That’s when I’m also not sure, that completion factor should be the only metric. If there are no passengers left, evereyone is reaccommodated on a different flight that arrives earlier than the original one… Why not just cancel the delayed one?
@Cairns: With some delayed flights… Not everyone has connections and the airline needs the airplane back at the airport as well. So an arrival at 2am in the morning might be inconvenient, but still better for a lot of people than a couple of hours later.
Bill,
I accepted that UA does have a 787 pilot base at IAD – but that again just makes the rolling delays that much worse.
the point is that United can communicate all it want but if all that communication shows is that United couldn’t figure out how to get a severely delayed flight on a new schedule without “finding out” 20 different times the basics weren’t in place which they consider every time they schedule a flight.
The DOT actually reports average delay – and also by individual flight if you want to search the DOT database.
Yes, Delta has not cancelled flights to operate an empty flight back but other airlines have higher average delays than DL – so the notion that they are the only airline that massively delays flights in order to avoid cancellation is yet another internet myth, esp. since individual flight data shows that other airlines have far more massively delayed but uncancelled flights.
And arguing that operating an empty plane is bad for the environment is non-sense considering that the plane has get back to where it was going anyway esp. since you use that very argument in your response to Cairns. It is no less polluting if 100 passengers flew on 10 other flights and 0 on one than if 91 passengers flew on 11 flights (for math’s sake).
Why just a $175 voucher? US Department of Transportation (DOT) requires airlines to automatically issue cash refunds for domestic flights that are delayed more than three hours.