Not exactly clear on the concept

[carbonel]

I'm flying to Chicago for Thanksgiving. My parents wanted me to come in today, so I'm flying on the busiest day of the year. When I went to do online checkin, I discovered my flight (United 3458) is delayed about an hour -- 5:45 instead of 4:42. All well and good. I called the taxi company and asked the driver to come an hour later than originally planned.

Then I got an automated e-mail from United, notifying me of the delay. But the e-mail also said: "Please be at the gate for boarding prior to the original scheduled departure time of 4:42 p.m., as the departure time could be revised again."

So I'm supposed to show up at the airport already knowing I'm going to have to sit around for an extra hour, on the off-chance that my late plane is less late than predicted?

Bleah.

Comments

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

It's really not a bad idea to be there in time for your original departure.

I fly a fair amount, and it's not all that uncommon to have a plane shift times more than once. One memorable flight from Houston to New York was delayed by an hour, then two, then 30 minutes, then an hour. We eventually left within 10 minutes of our scheduled departure.

Especially if you don't know what the delay is is -- if it's mechanical, that's one thing, if it's air traffic control, that's another.

[carbonel]

As it happened, the plane was announced as further delayed to 6:40, then made better time than that, and eventually left at 5:55. So I was right in trusting the first delay notification, but not the subsequent one.

The delay was caused by the lateness of the plane that was on a previous route. So once it arrived and they did a quick clean, we were on our way. Luckily, we didn't have crew timing out the way other flights did.

Hey!

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

At least it ain't Anchorage! ;-)

Have a great Thanksgiving!