United Flight Unexpected Diversion to Canada

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Lindberg

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Lindberg
Lindberg said:
Probably a Boeing aircraft.

And once upon a time, the crew would not have just bolted and left all the passengers sleeping on the floor.
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According to the article, a 777.

The crew can not continue, with the replacement airplane, until they've had their required crew rest, which can not start until they leave the airport and reach a hotel. The operating airline contracts with a local airline to provide services for the passengers.

Canada's equivalent of our CBP made the decision to not process the passengers. That's out of the crew's, airport's and airline's hands. Normally, they would be processed and sent to hotels.
 
We had friends on that United flight, finally getting around to a Covid delayed milestone anniversary trip.

Two hydraulic systems malfunctioned. They said the situation was unfortunate, but not unbearable.
 
Lindberg said:
Probably a Boeing aircraft.

And once upon a time, the crew would not have just bolted and left all the passengers sleeping on the floor.

www.ctvnews.ca

United flight to Paris diverts to Newfoundland, passengers forced to sleep on benches and floor

Border agents in Gander, N.L., were unavailable or unwilling to process passengers on a diverted flight from Washington to Paris early Monday.
www.ctvnews.ca www.ctvnews.ca

Also, "Come from Away," is a very moving play.
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That once upon a time you mention was prior to FAR117. The crew could not resume the flight until they entered rest at a suitable facility for a period of time. The quicker the crew gets to rest the sooner the fight can resume.
 
Larry in TN said:
According to the article, a 777.

The crew can not continue, with the replacement airplane, until they've had their required crew rest, which can not start until they leave the airport and reach a hotel. The operating airline contracts with a local airline to provide services for the passengers.

Canada's equivalent of our CBP made the decision to not process the passengers. That's out of the crew's, airport's and airline's hands. Normally, they would be processed and sent to hotels.
Click to expand...

Jeff767 said:
That once upon a time you mention was prior to FAR117. The crew could not resume the flight until they entered rest at a suitable facility for a period of time. The quicker the crew gets to rest the sooner the fight can resume.
Click to expand...
Does the captain's responsibility for the passengers end when they land? I would have expected him to advocate for them. It seems Canadian border control had the personnel but just didn't want to go to the trouble of processing them all for one night. Perhaps he tried. But the way the story reads, the crew peaced out and left them. And wouldn't the replacement aircraft come with a crew?
 
Larry in TN said:
According to the article, a 777.

The crew can not continue, with the replacement airplane, until they've had their required crew rest, which can not start until they leave the airport and reach a hotel. The operating airline contracts with a local airline to provide services for the passengers.

Canada's equivalent of our CBP made the decision to not process the passengers. That's out of the crew's, airport's and airline's hands. Normally, they would be processed and sent to hotels.
Click to expand...
I had a similar situation in December '22. On a flight coming back from Mexico, we were diverted from MSP due to weather along with a number of other large international flights. We got sent to Fargo (KFAR), where US customs decided to refuse to allow entry for passengers on any of these planes. Several were at the gates, but most of us were just stuck on the ramp. Thankfully, after about 5 hours we were able to refuel and make the hop back over to MSP; of course, our connecting flights were all long-departed by then.

Given the nature of the situation, I place 100% of the blame on the Customs office. There really isn't much else that the airline or flight crew can do that would be legal, is there?
 
Lindberg said:
Does the captain's responsibility for the passengers end when they land? I would have expected him to advocate for them. It seems Canadian border control had the personnel but just didn't want to go to the trouble of processing them all for one night. Perhaps he tried. But the way the story reads, the crew peaced out and left them. And wouldn't the replacement aircraft come with a crew?
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It would have come with a crew but after flying in they might not be legal to depart. It would be better to put the original crew into rest immediately.
 
Lindberg said:
Does the captain's responsibility for the passengers end when they land? I would have expected him to advocate for them. It seems Canadian border control had the personnel but just didn't want to go to the trouble of processing them all for one night. Perhaps he tried. But the way the story reads, the crew peaced out and left them. And wouldn't the replacement aircraft come with a crew?
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It ends when the passengers are safely deplaned and handed over to the contracted customer service personnel. The Captain has no authority over the Canadian border control.

The replacement crew was on reserve so their duty-day is limited by the time that they started their reserve availability period. They may time-out before the original crew. Adding a second leg to the duty period further limits the allowable flight hours and duty period. 14 CFR 117 is where all of the requirements are listed. It isn't as simple as it was previously.

The longer the crew waits to enter rest, the longer it is before the flight can continue.
 
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