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Old 10-04-2008, 11:23 PM
 
2,781 posts, read 7,183,310 times
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3 hours at most. No idea where.
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Old 10-05-2008, 06:26 AM
 
Location: Sunshine Coast, BC
10,781 posts, read 8,697,061 times
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Worst experience was after we flew to San Diego from Vancouver, on a new discount airline, it went out of business the morning of the day we were due to return home. It wouldn't have been too horrible but we had our two little ones with us - 9 months old and two-and-a-half year old. We spent close to 6 hours in the airport, as they tried to figure out how to get a full planeload of people back to Vancouver. Our kids behaved quite well, but it entailed a lot of holding them, since they fell asleep for the most part. So I remember my back and arms just killing me. They got us a flight at 5am, so we booked a motel, even though it was only for about 4 hours, just so we could get some sleep, horizontally.

We have friends in SD and would have just gone back to their house, except they had flown to NYC that morning so we were on our own.

We've never flown with any new, discount airline since.
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Old 10-05-2008, 08:09 AM
 
14,986 posts, read 23,765,217 times
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Not really "stuck at the terminal" conventional stories, but...

Stuck from cancelled flights? 4 days on the west coast during an event now known as 9/11. I had my rental car and a hotel so it wasn't that uncomfortable. But I couldn't get home.

Another time I was leaving from a backcountry airport from a grassy field in the mountanous region of Nepal. Air Nepal flight was cancelled for 2 days because of high winds. There were no roads here, just trails and Yaks. I thought I would have to walk out to the nearest roads (5 day walk). But the plane finally came. I had a little lodge to go back to in the evening, then in the day I would just sit on the grass seeing if a plane would arrive.

Literally stuck at the airport? Something like 22 hours at the Singapore Airport. This was pre-designed and pre-planned however. It just happened the flight I was connecting to only left once a day. SIngapore airport was very comfortable.
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Old 10-05-2008, 07:40 PM
 
13,248 posts, read 33,360,955 times
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I was stuck for four days in Chicago during an East Coast blizzard in 1994. I had gone to a Pampered Chef conference and the blizzard struck the day I was to go home to PA. My husband was home alone with our three children, ages 9, 7 and 1. I had a great time sharing a nice hotel room with other strandees and shopping the after Christmas sales on the Miracle Mile. The airport was closed in Philadelphia so there wasn't much I could do. On the third day we found out that some other PA friends had been stuck at O'hare the whole time, sleeping in crummy hotels during the night and wandering the airport during the day. Probably the best forced layover I've experienced.
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Old 10-06-2008, 08:15 AM
MB2
 
Location: Sebastian/ FL
3,496 posts, read 9,409,415 times
Reputation: 2763
Stranded for over a day at the Washington DC airport (that just happened this past April.)

We caught a flight from Orlando, and were supposed to connect in DC.
Plane was right in front of us, and we boarded....but never left.
After 6 hours sitting in that airplane, we were told that the FAA won't let them start, because they had issued several weeks earlier, that planes equip with Boeing engines needed to be checked, and released because of defect concerns.
Well, "United" slept through that, and never did that safety check on that particular plane. (15 planes from United were affected, and grounded that day).
(It did make the paper worldwide, and well, my husband and I were amongst passengers affected by it)

So....we were ushered off the plane, and being told that the red cross would be awaiting all passengers with meals, blankets and cots (sp) for the night at the airport.

We got to our ticket counter to find out, when the next plane would leave, and to book us on it...going to Frankfurt/ Germany.
The next plane would leave the next day, late in the afternoon.

So, we were told, that passengers living close by, to go home....and for the remaining ones, there were NO HOTELS around to sleep at, due to all of them being booked because of the ongoing "Cherry Festival".

Oh....and NO RED CROSS, NO MEALS, NO BLANKETS, NO COTS.....NOTHING !!!!
We finally found a blanket laying somewhere....
My husband slept on uncomfortable attached rows of chairs, and I rolled myself up into the blanket, sleeping on the concrete floor at the luggage retrieval band.....like a bum.

I felt horrible, because there were elderly people on that flight......and they made them sleep on the concrete floor too, giving them crushed flat cardboard boxes to lay out on the floor.

It was TRULY a nightmare......and I don't think, I will ever fly United ever again.
By the way.....no refund, no voucher...not even an apology from United for the hell they put everyone through because of their "oversight" and laziness !
But then on the other hand.....why doesn't THAT surprise me ????
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Old 10-06-2008, 11:24 AM
 
Location: Orlando
8,176 posts, read 18,476,710 times
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October 1985..Atlanta..The day TWA and Ozark merged. Instead of just renaming the flights and bit by bit adjust the schedule, they just cancelled all the Ozark flights and expected everybody to magically fit onto TWA.

At 24 years old, normally this would just be an adventure, but we were coming back from my brother's wedding, my mother, other brother, grandfather and me. My grandfather had never flown before and really didn't like it much. My traitor of a mother managed to get one flight my brother on another and left me to deal with this cranky old man. She still owes me for that one.
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Old 10-06-2008, 01:13 PM
 
27,239 posts, read 27,301,344 times
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Ive never really been stranded, per say. If a flight cancels, I would try and grab the next one out on another airline and worry about the details later. I remember a couple years back a very long layover....cant remember why now but it didnt really bother me, I was able to grab a 'catnap' and play 'caption the people'.
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Old 10-06-2008, 02:48 PM
 
14,986 posts, read 23,765,217 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MB2 View Post
Stranded for over a day at the Washington DC airport (that just happened this past April.)

We caught a flight from Orlando, and were supposed to connect in DC.
Plane was right in front of us, and we boarded....but never left.
After 6 hours sitting in that airplane, we were told that the FAA won't let them start, because they had issued several weeks earlier, that planes equip with Boeing engines needed to be checked, and released because of defect concerns.Oh....and NO RED CROSS, NO MEALS, NO BLANKETS, NO COTS.....NOTHING !!!!:
You really have to know your rights. You got screwed badly if the events you describe are accurate. Most people here complain of wheater delays, nothing you can really do about that, airlines can't be held responsible.

Now - equipment failures are another thing. They are required by the FAA to give you meal vouchers, hotel vouchers, and put you on the next available flight on any airline around, not just their own equipment.

If this is recent and you still have boarding passes I would write a nice letter to the FAA. I did this once with TWA before they went under, talked to an FAA rep, and TWA coughed up a free round trip ticket for me. And this was just a 10 hour or so delay.
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Old 10-06-2008, 03:07 PM
MB2
 
Location: Sebastian/ FL
3,496 posts, read 9,409,415 times
Reputation: 2763
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dd714 View Post
You really have to know your rights. You got screwed badly if the events you describe are accurate.
................
If this is recent and you still have boarding passes I would write a nice letter to the FAA.......
Yes....this is all to TRUE!
I called United WHILE still at the airport in DC, complaining....and a second time AFTER we got back home to Florida from Germany.
All what they said was pretty much "it was out of their hands, and that United couldn't be held responsible for the ruling of the FAA".
Still....no apology or ANYTHING! (Just the "regret" for it to be "unfortunate".)

Boy....I am STILL so LIVID about it, and felt so, so bad for the elderly couple, making them sleep on the CONCRETE FLOOR ON CARDBOARD BOXES!!!!!!!!

I still have the boarding passes, and the reservation print out.
Maybe I should write a letter to the FAA...or "higher authorities" on what happened ?
The only ones I had called were Lufthansa (since they partnered in the flight), being referred to United....and with United I didn't get anywhere.

I should try.....shouldn't I ????
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Old 10-06-2008, 04:42 PM
 
14,986 posts, read 23,765,217 times
Reputation: 26473
Quote:
Originally Posted by MB2 View Post
Yes....this is all to TRUE!
Hmm. My statement "required by FAA" is incorrect. Sorry. This was in effect before airline deregulation but was changed.

However, every airline still has a contract of carriage under the old FAA rule 240. Usually (not always) it was applicable for equipment failures. United may not include FAA groundings - which are essentially the same thing in my opinion. Shame on them if it isn't.

So see if you can find United's rule 240 online. It could be the people you spoke to at United's customer service were incorrect (not unusual).

EDIT...here it is for United. Nothing about meal tickets, but don't tell me they couldn't find a flight over the pond among the thousands that leave every day until the next afternoon:


RULE 240 (C) SCHEDULE IRREGULARITY


1) WHEN A PASSENGER WILL BE DELAYED BECAUSE OF A SCHEDULE
IRREGULARITY INVOLVING A UA FLIGHT WHICH, FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS
RULE, FOR TICKETS ISSUED ON/AFTER SEPT. 1, 1992, FLIGHT DELAYS
EXCEEDING 2 HRS., OR UA CANCELS THE PASSENGER'S RESERVATION PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPHS A) OR D), RULE 135 (CANCELLATION OF RESERVATIONS) EXCEPT FOR CANCELLATIONS OF RESERVATIONS DUE TO A WORK STOPPAGE:

A) UA WILL TRANSPORT THE PASSENGER WITHOUT STOPOVER ON ITS
NEXT FLIGHT ON WHICH SPACE IS AVAILABLE IN THE SAME CLASS OF SERVICE AS THE PASSENGER'S ORIGINAL OUTBOUND FLIGHT AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO THE PASSENGER.


B) IF UA IS UNABLE TO PROVIDE ONWARD TRANSPORTATION
ACCEPTABLE TO THE PASSENGER, UA, WITH CONCURRENCE OF THE PASSENGER,WILL ARRANGE FOR THE TRANSPORTATION ON ANOTHER CARRIER OR COMBINATION OF CARRIERS WITH WHOM UA HAS AGREEMENTS FOR SUCH TRANSPORTATION. THE PASSENGER WILL BE TRANSPORTED WITHOUT STOPOVER ON ITS (THEIR) NEXT FLIGHT(S), IN THE SAME CLASS OF SERVICE AS THE PASSENGER'S ORIGINAL OUTBOUND FLIGHT AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO THE PASSENGER.


C) IF SPACE IS ONLY AVAILABLE AND USED ON A UA FLIGHT(S) OF A LOWER CLASS OF SERVICE ACCEPTABLE TO THE PASSENGER, UA WILL PROVIDE A REFUND OF THE DIFFERENCE IN FARES PURSUANT TO RULE 260 (REFUNDS-INVOLUNTARY).


D) IF UA IS UNABLE TO ARRANGE ALTERNATE AIR TRANSPORTATION
ACCEPTABLE TO THE PASSENGER, UA SHALL REFUND THE FLIGHT COUPON(S) FOR THE UNFLOWN PORTION(S) IN ACCORDANCE WITH RULE 260 (REFUNDS-
INVOLUNTARY).
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