Some passengers who were hoping to celebrate the New Year twice experienced a very poorly timed delay…
Continue reading: Oops: United Airlines’ “Time Travel” Flight Lands In Wrong Year
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This is where I think the PR team and Ops team should have acted and tried a plane swap to ensure the timeliness. I know it’s not easy but if you promote it and doesn’t happen then it becomes bad rep.
NZ offer a similar flight between Auckland and the Cook Islands. Quite fun to celebrate new year twice.
Ground time zone notwithstanding, at least the same aircraft crossed the date line and years twice: Going from 12/31 9:15 am to 1/01 9:15 am (UTC+/-12), and later going from 1/01 20:07 to 12/31 20:07 (UTC+/-12).
This is precisely why you don't make dumb claims regarding airline operations. Delays happen.
Doesn't matter how "on-time" the flight was for months before.
It's United so hot air is part of the way they operate....
Out of my nearly 150 flights in 2023, Delta is the only one who A) canceled my flight and B) lost my bag on a different occasion. Delta is trash compared to what it used to be and my SkyPesos pushed me to a much better now AA…
DL ain’t god!
Wouldn't this be in the realm of a credit card charge back situation? They touted a product on Social Media but didn't deliver it, that seems within the realms of 'not getting the experience you paid for'; charge back for those customers if they ever saw an opportunity in the money hungry US airlines.
@WestCoast1
DL plays "the social media game" better than anyone-- but there's hundreds of actual, operational problems with their system, hubs, "rules" and management that make them only mid-pack when operating out of reasonably competitive hubs/regions.
Flying a lot out of LA and DC airports? Nobody treats you worse, on a bad thunderstorm day in ATL than DL. They are terrible at IROPS.... and that horror ripples across their entire network.
Most of the "unending love" for DL is about the sweet credit card deals, not actual flying.
So, with the end of the credit card era? And the continual devaluation of SkyPesos? DL turns out to be Spirit-with-a-better-paintjob.
you do realize there is lots of data that actually measures these things?
Whether you like it or not, Delta runs a better operation than any other US airline when all of the measurable operational metrics are tallied: on-time, fewest cancellations, baggage and wheelchair mishandling ratio, invol oversales, consumer complaints.
And NONE OF THAT MATTERS because the issue is that UA TOUTED that someone could travel "back in time" which was a risky thing to promise given that flights DO GET DELAYED.
Making big hype and not delivering IS THE ISSUE.
As much as some people want to throw stones, Delta doesn't make flight-specific claims and they DO LIVE UP TO their position of operational leadership on a consistent basis.
Being nice does not mean glossing over facts, Santa Barbarian
My friend and I booked this flight back February and planned a trip around it. Guam is far away and not cheap, so yeah, we're pretty upset about it. At least we had a good time in Guam! But we'll have to try again another year.
Non-critical teams are off for the holidays and even if not, it would be an industrial-organizational miracle if PR and Ops could pull off a coordination like this. In most companies the only thing those two orgs have in common is nothing.
I booked my ticket on this flight a year ago they say they went on sale, and flew from the Caribbean all the way to Guam for this bucket-list item.
We did have a countdown on the plane as we were flying over Kawaii. There was also a spectacular view of the fireworks on Oahu. It wasnt a total disappointment!
Regardless of the two new years, I did have a lovely time in Guam and am planning to enjoy my visit to Hawaii.
It's a long way to go just to say you did it! For a few minutes of fun in two places you get to fly for 7+ hours. Forget about the cost... just drink a lot of NYE and have someone reset all your clocks back a day once you're asleep. Then go out for a picnic or event day so you're not reading future headlines on the web or listening to future news 😉
I've given romantic helicopter tours, one of which was the "double sunset" tour. Cruise east of the mountains and watch the sun set, then crest over the mountains and watch the sut set again (over the horizon, not the mountain). Most people were pretty much over it having too much fun with the first sunset to care 😉
It’s not the airlines fault people made a stupid decision and now you think they are owed something. You’re one of those, aren’t you?
If I recall, UA had a similar delay a last year. LAX-SYD diverted to PPG due to an engine issue. It took nearly a day to get another place and basically caused people to completely miss New Years (midnight). Departing 12/31 3am, arriving 1/1 4am.
Hope no one was on both flights, that would be bad luck