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UA SNA - nowhere

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vikkyvik 09 Nov 19, 18:35Post
So we (wife, son, and I) were supposed to fly UA from SNA to IAH yesterday (Friday) for my cousin’s wedding. Flight 1106, departing at 1020am.

We arrived at SNA around 830 - plenty of time to park, check luggage, etc.

8 hours later, we drove back home, having gone nowhere.

The intervening events went something like this:

915 - Get to gate, no airplane, which starts to worry me.
1000 - Flight delayed by 1 hour to 1120. The incoming flight had to divert due to a sick passenger. It diverted to....ONT....all of 40 miles away. Still, no big deal.
1100 - Flight delayed an additional 2 hours to 120. Apparently once on the ground in ONT, the airplane itself wasn’t feeling well and developed a mechanical issue.
1200ish - The screens now display a departure time of 250pm. No announcement.
215ish - Pushed to 350pm. Airplane still isn’t up for making the 40-mile journey to SNA.
330 - Pushed to 445 (maybe). New part has been installed and airplane needs to see if it’s now feeling OK. Then they have to get a new crew from LAX over to ONT, who will then fly the possibly-better-feeling airplane to SNA.

At this point, having been entertaining a 10-month-old in an airport for 7 hours, starting to run low on baby food, and not wanting him to be awake hours past his bedtime (we’re pretty militant about his schedule), we decide to see what UA can offer us for Saturday flights. Well, not much that will work for the three of us. So given that our baby has been so good during a long day at the airport, and not wanting to mess up his schedule totally, we decide I’ll fly to the wedding alone on Saturday.

Grabbed our bags, got on the road home during the middle of rush hour.

So that was fun.

Oh, on the way home, wife checked and the flight had been pushed to 600pm.

Maybe I’ll do another report for my new trip LAX-IAH. All you need to know right now is that this 739 is incredibly uncomfortable, and now I remember how awful flying out of LAX can be. Thank god we’re almost to Houston.
Lucas (netAirspace ATC & Founding Member) 09 Nov 19, 19:20Post
That's some real hosing they gave you with that streak of stunts. Also, it is amazing to me how much I prefer, say, an E175 to a 738/739. And don't get me started on AA's Oasis config...my butt felt better on Frontier. {crazy}
Zak (netAirspace FAA) 10 Nov 19, 12:40Post
Travelling can be a burden, as I was reminded myself over the last few days.

Ironically, getting out of LAX was the easiest part of my trip - at least on the day KLM finally decided to get me out of there.

Also, the last-minute cancellation of my AMS-HAM flight (we were already boarded when the obviously-not-amused pilot told us that the 738 had arrived with an inop flight computer and the previous crew had decided to play the "let's see if they will notice" game.

Getting us out of the aircraft, to a new gate and into another 738 took KLM less than 90 minutes. Of course, it helped that this happened at their hub.

And yeah, I'll take an E175/E190 over a 738/739 any day. My sample size is limited to KL's birds, and their E-Jets are more comfy than even their longhaul fleet. Outside KL, I flew the E-Jet only with UA once, about 2 years ago, IAH-QRO. I cannot compare it to their 737 product, though.
Ideology: The mistaken belief that your beliefs are neither beliefs nor mistaken.
vikkyvik 11 Nov 19, 15:43Post
Lucas wrote:Also, it is amazing to me how much I prefer, say, an E175 to a 738/739


I'll take an E175/190 or an A319/320 over any 737 any day.

Had an A319 on the way back, and it was so much better.

Also finally looked up Friday's UAL 1106, and it ended up departing at 6:58 PM - which is an 8 hour 38 minute delay.

I imagine there were probably 10 people on the flight.
ShyFlyer (Founding Member) 11 Nov 19, 16:01Post
vikkyvik wrote:Also finally looked up Friday's UAL 1106, and it ended up departing at 6:58 PM - which is an 8 hour 38 minute delay.

That's insane. Seems they should have just started to take the initiative re-accommodate passengers a lot earlier.



As for the narrowbody debate, EJets all the way. I'd even take a CRJ7/9 or even the Q400. All of those experiences, though, were in what United at the time called Premium Economy.
Make Orwell fiction again.
Mark 11 Nov 19, 23:56Post
Air travel is getting to be a physical pain... Both because of the compression of schedules and crappy accommodations.

I just got back from the chiropractor's office after my last cross-country flight. Damn, I was hurting, even a week after the flight. I could feel the tight spots at the T2 and C7 vertebrae. These new aircraft seats suck immensely.
Commercial aircraft flown in: B712 B722 B732 B734 B737 B738 B741 B742 B744 B752 B753 B762 B772 A310 A318 A319 A320 A321 DC91 DC93 DC94 DC1030 DC1040 F100 MD82 MD83 A223 CR2 CR7 E175
Lucas (netAirspace ATC & Founding Member) 12 Nov 19, 01:38Post
Mark wrote:Air travel is getting to be a physical pain... Both because of the compression of schedules and crappy accommodations.

I just got back from the chiropractor's office after my last cross-country flight. Damn, I was hurting, even a week after the flight. I could feel the tight spots at the T2 and C7 vertebrae. These new aircraft seats suck immensely.


I'm young, but my own butt and back hurt after a quick MIA-DFW flight with AA in their Oasis Max. It was worse than Frontier. Just incredible.
symphonicpoet 12 Nov 19, 06:19Post
My only experience on the E175 was Skywest STL to SFO for United a few years back. Was a perfectly good plane and a nice experience. No complaints. I've flown a great many more MDs, 73s, and even A32s. My favorite of the single aisle bunch is still the MD, but the E175 compared pretty favorably. The 3+3 kinder are all pretty cramped, but you live with what you have to live with.

Anyway, sorry that got scrubbed so badly. I hope the Saturday trip went at least halfway okay and that the return went better.
Mark 13 Nov 19, 19:42Post
Lucas wrote:I'm young, but my own butt and back hurt after a quick MIA-DFW flight with AA in their Oasis Max. It was worse than Frontier. Just incredible.


Due to major life changes in career, living situation, and finances, I didn't fly between 2014 and 2019. In 2014, I flew on one of the last DC9 flights and that plane's interior looked and felt like that of a near-the-end FL B712. I've flown coach three times in 2019... once on a regional CRJ2, once on a UA B739, and once on an SY B738 (whatever they're classified as now) and all were equipped with appeared to be one-inch-thick closed-cell foam cushioned seats with molded soft vinyl or worn-out leather seat covering material. Hard as a rock. After each 2019 flight, I ended up with a numb ass, tingling legs, and a sore upper back and neck that eventually required chiropractic intervention to correct.

I fly SY again from MSP to AUS in a week and back 4 days later and expect the same seats that I previously experienced. I've already made a chiropractor appointment for the day after I return home.
Commercial aircraft flown in: B712 B722 B732 B734 B737 B738 B741 B742 B744 B752 B753 B762 B772 A310 A318 A319 A320 A321 DC91 DC93 DC94 DC1030 DC1040 F100 MD82 MD83 A223 CR2 CR7 E175
 

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