Anyone ever had this happen?

[Shannon G]

My cousin & her family were flying home yesterday. I think they were supposed to fly MCO - Chicago, then Chicago to Bdl, on Airtran. Her husband posted on Facebook that they got stuck spending the night in the airport in Atlanta. The reason they ended up in Atlanta is that the pilot didn't have enough working hours to complete the flight to Chicago! Why on earth would they ever allow the plane to leave Orlando, with a pilot they knew could not complete the flight?? I don't know if they've offered them any compensation, but they did not put them up in a hotel - they had to sleep (or try to) in the airport.

 

[sam_gordon]

My cousin & her family were flying home yesterday. I think they were supposed to fly MCO - Chicago, then Chicago to Bdl, on Airtran. Her husband posted on Facebook that they got stuck spending the night in the airport in Atlanta. The reason they ended up in Atlanta is that the pilot didn't have enough working hours to complete the flight to Chicago! Why on earth would they ever allow the plane to leave Orlando, with a pilot they knew could not complete the flight?? I don't know if they've offered them any compensation, but they did not put them up in a hotel - they had to sleep (or try to) in the airport.

Did they change planes? Regardless, the airline could have been changing crews. Flight crews (including flight attendants) have strict rules on how long they can work. If an earlier flight was delayed, that could affect how many hours the on-coming pilot had left to work.

The weekend following 9/11, we had to stay in Atlanta airport because while there was a flight crew, there wasn't enough flight attendants for our connecting flight. Even when I promised the pilot we wouldn't ask for peanuts , they couldn't leave.

 

[Shannon G]

Did they change planes? Regardless, the airline could have been changing crews. Flight crews (including flight attendants) have strict rules on how long they can work. If an earlier flight was delayed, that could affect how many hours the on-coming pilot had left to work.

The weekend following 9/11, we had to stay in Atlanta airport because while there was a flight crew, there wasn't enough flight attendants for our connecting flight. Even when I promised the pilot we wouldn't ask for peanuts , they couldn't leave.

No - they were not even supposed to land in Atlanta. They were supposed to fly MCO - Chicago, and then change planes. I understand that there are strict limits on how many hours pilots & fligth crews can work, but that doesn't explain why they would start a flight that they didn't have enough work hours to finish. Why not delay the flight in Orlando until they could get another crew? They had to know before leaving MCo how many hours the crew had left, and, if they didn't, someone screwed up.

Just to clarify - it's not that they were in Atlanta and their flight couldn't leave. Their flight originated at MCo and was supposed to fly through to Chicago. They left MCO, but then made an unscheduled landing in Atlanta, because the pilot didn't have enough hours to finish the flight that had already taken off.

 

[dantedisney]

Maybe it would cost the airline more to keep the plane waiting at the gate in MCO than for it to fly to ATL?

 

[vicki_c]

Maybe it would cost the airline more to keep the plane waiting at the gate in MCO than for it to fly to ATL?

Or they needed the plane in ATL the next morning and using that pilot's remaining hours was the most efficient way to get it there. But it is a strange situation definitely.

 

[DebbieB]

I never heard of a mid flight diversion for crew hours. From what I've heard is they have to be legal at pushback time if there's a delay. Atlanta is their main hub, they should have been able to get another pilot there. Unless they thought they could and it didn't work out.

 

[sam_gordon]

No - they were not even supposed to land in Atlanta. They were supposed to fly MCO - Chicago, and then change planes. I understand that there are strict limits on how many hours pilots & fligth crews can work, but that doesn't explain why they would start a flight that they didn't have enough work hours to finish. Why not delay the flight in Orlando until they could get another crew? They had to know before leaving MCo how many hours the crew had left, and, if they didn't, someone screwed up.

Just to clarify - it's not that they were in Atlanta and their flight couldn't leave. Their flight originated at MCo and was supposed to fly through to Chicago. They left MCO, but then made an unscheduled landing in Atlanta, because the pilot didn't have enough hours to finish the flight that had already taken off.

I apologize. I misunderstood. Maybe they (airline) had hoped they'd be able to get a replacement crew to Atlanta, but it didn't work out the way they planned.

It does seem strange to me.

 

[Shannon G]

The thing that really gets me is that they didn't even tell them until they were in the air. So everyone boarded thinking they were going to be flying to Chicago, and were told in the air that they were landing in Atlanta. I think they should have at least told people before the flight took off, and given them the option of booking on another flight. And aren't the airlines supposed to provide a hotel if an overnight delay is their fault? They just let them spend the night in the airport in Atlanta, and, last I knew, hadn't offered any type of compensation for the hassles.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

My cousin & her family were flying home yesterday. I think they were supposed to fly MCO - Chicago, then Chicago to Bdl, on Airtran. Her husband posted on Facebook that they got stuck spending the night in the airport in Atlanta. The reason they ended up in Atlanta is that the pilot didn't have enough working hours to complete the flight to Chicago! Why on earth would they ever allow the plane to leave Orlando, with a pilot they knew could not complete the flight?? I don't know if they've offered them any compensation, but they did not put them up in a hotel - they had to sleep (or try to) in the airport.

I have NEVER heard of this but....
The ONLY potential i can come up with is after they got in the air there was some type of weather or other "hold" put on the Chicago airport which caused them to have to divert to ATL. I have had diversions a lot. Then by the time that would have cleared the crew would have timed out.

Lot we don't know since we are getting this second hand. As for "hotels" well, even if AirTran had been willing things around Atlanta are pretty full as they try to clean out the mess over the past few days!

 

[Michigan_tinkerbell]

I work in crew scheduling for a airline. I schedule the crews for the flights. I have never herd of this before. Most systems won't let you crew a flight if they are not legal for the whole flight. If there was a diversion because of weather of issues with the p.ane as long as they are legal to start they are legal to finish. According to FAA rules you can't schedule a crew that is not legal for the flight. Makes me wonder if so thing else was up.

 

[Shannon G]

I work in crew scheduling for a airline. I schedule the crews for the flights. I have never herd of this before. Most systems won't let you crew a flight if they are not legal for the whole flight. If there was a diversion because of weather of issues with the p.ane as long as they are legal to start they are legal to finish. According to FAA rules you can't schedule a crew that is not legal for the flight. Makes me wonder if so thing else was up.

Interesting - they were told it was because the pilot had worked too many hours.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

....... And aren't the airlines supposed to provide a hotel if an overnight delay is their fault? .....

Not necessarily. You need to read your airline's Contract of Carriage for their policy on this.

Who knows what really happened?

If you know the flight number, you can go here to see if it shows what the issue was:

http://flightaware.com/

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I work in crew scheduling for a airline. I schedule the crews for the flights. I have never herd of this before. Most systems won't let you crew a flight if they are not legal for the whole flight. If there was a diversion because of weather of issues with the p.ane as long as they are legal to start they are legal to finish. According to FAA rules you can't schedule a crew that is not legal for the flight. Makes me wonder if so thing else was up.

I bet he had enough hours to fly MCO to Chicago, but not enough to do MCO to ATL to Chicago - and that the landing in ATL was not planned when they left from MCO.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Being the wife of a pilot, pilots can only fly so many hours a day.

 

[maddiebee]

We had basically the exact same thing happen to us a couple years ago. We were flying out of Boston with a connection in Atlanta. Our flight in Boston was delayed because the pilot had too many hours and they had to find another one to fly our plane! We ended up missing our connecting flight and they put us in a hotel in Atlanta.

 

[keishashadow]

we've had two early AT/SWA flights delayed from PIT in last year because the crew had to have X number of hours 'off' before starting the next day's schedule.

OP did your friends specifically ask for compensation either at the airport or via a phone call?

 

[LilyWDW]

I am better there is more to it.

Who told your friends that that was the reason?

 

[Michigan_tinkerbell]

There has to be more to it. Legal to start legal to end. Now if the delayed out of Mco and ran out of time or would have ran out of time they would have been replaced. They can't be put on a scheduled flight without having the time and to have a diversion because of that is really not going to sit well with the FAA or the safety department of the airline.
What could have happened is no parking g or Gates in Chicago because of the weather or not enough holding fuel.
. I deal with this kind of stuff 12 hours a night and if the pilot took the flight knowing he was not legal for the whole flight he would be in some trouble. The FAA looks at the diversion reports.

 

[Mom2Luci]

nevermind

 

[jayhawk74]

I can tell you as a SWA pilot that on Jan 4th the FAA started new rules that limited our flight and duty hours. One of the requirements is that we can't takeoff unless we have the required flight and duty hours to complete the flight. Since the flight was scheduled from Orlando to Chicago then those hours would have been what the flight crew, as well as crew scheduling, were looking at. However if the flight had to divert to Atlanta for any reason (weather in Chicago or a mechanical that developed enroute) then the legality of the crew would have been looked at again to determine if they could fly from Atlanta to Chicago. Under the old FAA regulations diversions didn't count against a crews legality, starting Jan 4th they do.