Context
Summer 2023 finds United Airlines once again in the news for poor service, canceling thousands of flights just prior to a major holiday weekend and blaming the FAA. Their CEO, Scott Kirby, took a private jet to get out of New York City and apologized afterwards.
This evening I was reminded of my own bad luck with United: flying from Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow, the flight was diverted to Goose Bay, Canada because of a potential problem with the plane. My trip was to attend my first DevoxxUK but planned to arrive early to play in London. Good thing I did!
After arriving in London and checking into my accommodations, I sent this email to family/friends/co-workers to share the hilarity and incompetence.
As many of you heard, I was on the United flight that got stuck in Goose Bay, Canada….and if you haven’t, it’s too good a tale. Been asked for details, so here’s the run-down:
- Flight UA958 was suppose to leave Chicago around 3:30 but actually left closer to 5:30 (not 4:30 as reported, on tarmac for quite some time) due to a different mechanical problem – talked to the pilot, it was something different and quite minor (though we had no wi-fi and many entertainment systems were not working, which is more major for some of us!).
- After dinner, pilot comes on and says we’re diverting to Goose Bay for mechanical problems. Here’s where I talked to the pilot, who said that the “elevators” which are on the tail and are suppose to move in tandem (up together, down together) weren’t. A major problem, she said that we wouldn’t have made it across. To the pilot, it feels like we’re in turbulence, but we aren’t, and therefore a problem.
- Landed in Goose Bay. Because we landed with a mostly full fuel tank, the pilot had to break especially hard because of the weight, ground cool couldn’t even get close to us for 20-30 minutes to let the brakes cool. Otherwise, a routine landing.
- Don’t know exactly, but I believe we were on the ground for 90 minutes before everything was lined up for us in Goose Bay….we went through customs and then went to another line to get keys to rooms.
- Rooms were spartan, but were not tents with cots as I saw on at least one news article. I had a double-bed with a shared bathroom (bathroom between two single rooms, lockable on all sides to keep privacy). Clean but cold, it was probably 60 degrees and I had a summer blanket. Some rooms had an extra comforter though no one realized until later. I was in my room by 1:45am, some were closer to 3am, got a few hours sleep.
- Breakfast was in the “mess hall” which is really a cafeteria. Warm. Food essentially as good (better?) than a continental breakfast you get at a Marriott.
At this point, so far, so good. Ground staff were lovely – plane on its way from Newark, we’ll leave about 2pm and go direct to London, get there about 10pm, and not too ridiculous, yet….then the lack of communications begins.
- the plane’s left Newark, the plane hasn’t left Newark, we don’t know if the planes from Newark or somewhere else;
- we need to be ready to go by 10, 12, 11, 2:30, 3:30, ???;
- we’re flying to London, we’re flying to Newark,, we don’t know where we’re flying to (the last one came from the local ground crew, who’s our point of contact);
- because there’s a curfew at Heathrow (no landings of certain sized aircraft between 11pm and 6am because of noise restrictions), the later it gets, the more likely we’d arrive during the curfew. We’re all thinking, just keep us here longer, because then it’s only another 4-5 hours rather than go to Newark and then do a longer flight to London….but again, no one really knows anything at this point;
- my smartphone United app actually shows two reservations to get me to London, one Saturday night and one Sunday night, and even the United customer reps you call know nothing.
Now things actually start to move:
- we’re start leaving the barracks at 3:30 because the flight from Newark’s suppose to land at 4:30 and we’re taking off at 6pm;
- at the airport, all they have is a list of passengers, so we go through one-by-one, show our passports, and get crossed off. Canada TSA, however, wants to see the original boarding pass, which I don’t have because it has been taken off my smart phone. Finally get through;
- the flight from Newark lands at 5:30 instead of 4:30 – ultimately, as you might have read, the rescue flight had multiple hours of mechanical problems;
- because the Goose Bay airport is so small, we get moved to school buses which we sit on for about an hour until they finally let us on the plane;
- while we’re loading onto a plane, a United Heathrow-Dulles 777 flight lands with a medical emergency. Because the ground crew is not equipped for this, we lose all priority and continue to sit until they’re taken care of and back in the air. Ultimately, I sat on the plane in Goose Bay for close to 3 hours;
- One reason we sat for so long is because the weight calculations aren’t coming up right. They probably made 6-10 attempts to count empty seats, keep telling us to sit down. By this time, because we’ve lost all awkwardness around what used to be strangers, we’re groaning and making more and more comments that wouldn’t normally be tolerated;
- Finally, the pilot makes a count, either is happy with the count or says fuck it, and we’re off.
United was smart enough to send some customer service reps to answer questions, etc. and what we learn is:
- the 10:15pm flight from Newark to Heathrow is our flight, so even though there’s no chance we’ll be in Newark by 10:15pm, the plane will wait;
- new boarding cards and bag tags will already be printed and ready to go, should be a pretty quick turnaround;
- United is actively working on all connecting flights, even if it’s on different airlines;
- we have to go through customs;
- there will be a meal waiting for us at the gate;
Reality is much different
- after getting through customs, we go to the United ticket counter;
- boarding passes are printed but not alphabetized, so it’s taking forever to find people, plus the people working were obviously not prepared, especially for the people who want to go somewhere else (for a variety of reasons);
- baggage tags are not being reprinted, but instead they’re slapping some additional label that somehow will identify the bag in Heathrow…of course, for once I actually tear off the old one, only to be told to reattach it.;
- seat assignments are different; in fact, people who are paying for Economy Plus are in normal economy seats (lots of them) and that’s not was paid for. We’re told to change it at the gate;
- we get to the gate, more confusion, no one’s prepared to deal with changing this many seats, and in the 15 minutes I stood there only one person got through. Finally, a United person finally makes an intelligent decision and tells us to just takes the seats we had and they’ll count the empties. Much celebration, we get cold sandwhichs and snacks and board the plane.;
- there’s also “outsiders” who want to get on this flight, and are getting pissed because the Goose Bay strandees get first priority, some of them had their flight canceled so that we could be rescued, so they’re also very pissed-off;
- finally the plane is loaded, and instead of 10:15pm (scheduled), 11:30pm, 12:30am, 12:55am (delayed times), we leave close to 2am. Again, I’ve sat on the plane for about 3 hours;
- flight to London is uneventful, though by this time United is being really nice to us, head burser is all apologetic for our delays and troubles;
- journalists were waiting for us in Heathrow, someone asked me for an interview and I didn’t feel like it, but I pointed him to another family where he got something good.
When we arrive in London, we’re told to go to a URL (http://www.united.com/appreciation) where we can get something in return, which is a $500 e-certificate for a future flight or 2500 miles. None of us are amused.
While I lost play days in London, for others it was a much bigger deal:\
- a woman from Malta, who lives in California with her Navy Seals fiancee was going home for her brother’s wedding, missed at least the rehersal dinner but probably the whole thing;
- a British woman who lives in Chicago with her husband was going to meet her parents and take them to Malaga, her dad is elderly and wheelchair-bound, her sister ended up flying out with the parents to get them there and the woman on our flight was going out later Sunday from Gatwick to catch up.;
- a man from Chicago who had planned/coordinated a class reunion of some sort just turned around and went back to Chicago because he’d missed it all;
- an older woman and her elderly mother were on some sort of 8-day cruise/vacation/tour/something (I saw her paperwork) so most likely missed a chunk of that;
- a man (who used to play college football at Ohio State and then got his masters at Harvard in business) was going home for his daughter’s birthday on Saturday and it was his birthday on Sunday, obviously missed both celebrations;
- a British man who lives/works/is married in Tokyo was flying to London after some business in the US to visit his folks for a few days, but needs to head out on Tuesday, so lost a big chunk of time with his parents;
- my row mate was meeting her sister/brother-in-law in Norway for all sorts of prepaid tours which she had missed the start of, she was another one ready to just go home but decided to go through with it, but had to get to Bergen, Norway through Gatwick;
- I heard there were two unaccompanied minors who were not looked after in Goose Bay (for example, no one made sure they got food, no idea if they were able to contact their families), so that has to be pretty traumatic;
- others just lost prepaid hotel time, dinner reservations, etc.
Some of the good sides:
- no one freaked out, the passengers really took it well, lots of joking, drinking, friendships made, etc., even talks of t-shirts or tattoos to remember this by;
- at least 2 infants I know of, none of whom went ballistic or cried, which they would have had every right to and no one would have said anything (substitute diapers made out of first-class table linens and maxi-pads);
- the ground staff in Goose Bay were exemplary and really tried their best, even they were shocked that we had no heat in the barracks;
- I now know that there is absolutely no reason to go to Goose Bay, Canada.
I’m sure I missed something, but hopefully there’s enough here to keep you entertained. My biggest complaint is lack of communications/coordination from United. Let me know if you have questions. Time to actually get out to play in London.
-scs
Closing Notes
I typically watch the flight map on the personal entertainment system, and noticed changed destination before they announced it to all passengers (though you had a feeling something was up when the pilot makes her way to the tail of the plane).
I know a mechanic at Delta Airlines who read the incident report, which indicated the problem was more nuisance than dangerous and the flight safely could have completed the flight to London.
My wife saw me twice on news reports, once in Goose Bay and once in Newark.
My wife met me in London the following week, flying the same flight from Chicago to London. Her plane was swapped out at the last moment due some sort of mechanical problem, which did not fill her with confidence.
And since 2015, my wife and I always point out Goose Bay on the inflight map and smile with the inside joke.
