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Businesstraveller
7th Sep 2009, 10:15
BMI Baby (BHX-EDI) was marginally late leaving this morning. This was noted by the pilot in his welcome when he announced 'I apologise for the late departure of this service. This is due to your bus driver seeing imaginary planes, so refusing to cross the apron'. I thought us pax had the monopoly on feeling that bus drivers are uber cautious when driving airside (all the vehicles coming in the opposite direction had finished crossing before he decided to make a move).

Any other novel excuses (sarcastic or not)?

angels
7th Sep 2009, 12:09
Not planes, but a friend was irked when his train from Tunbridge Wells was cancelled, "because the driver has forgotten his sun glasses."

Avman
7th Sep 2009, 12:15
Well, I can understand that. He may have been blinded from seeing leaves on the line :}

marsie
7th Sep 2009, 14:45
The one that gets up my nose is '...because of the late arrival of the incoming aircraft', which is just a roundabout way of saying 'it's late because it's late'.

ArthurBorges
7th Sep 2009, 16:32
Well, I can understand that. He may have been blinded from seeing leaves on the line

Leaves, foreign objects or folks about to throw themselves under your train -- not that trains can stop on a dime anyhow, mind you.

Businesstraveller
7th Sep 2009, 17:17
Yeah - that's so informative when I'm sitting at the gate and can blatantly see the inbound aircraft is late! It's as insultingly useless as being told the reason you're in a traffic jam is because the car infront isn't moving.

Final 3 Greens
7th Sep 2009, 17:30
"For operational reasons"

Well, we didn't think the airline was having a laugh..... or did we?

west lakes
7th Sep 2009, 17:48
Possibly startling in it's apparent honesty.

Aircraft loaded and ready for departure.
Captain announces that we may be delayed up to 30 mins as Handling Agents had neotiated the wrong slot time, but that they (the crew) were negotiating with ATC. Came back on within a couple of minutes to tell us it had been successful and at the same time we began pushing back.

frontcheck
7th Sep 2009, 18:12
Not everyone is sitting at the gate watching the aircraft come onto stand, therefore the announcement is for the benefit of all passengers, some of them may be at other areas of the terminal.
The majority of complaints received during times of delay/disruption refer to "lack of information" , having said that is does not matter how many announcements are made or how informative they are, there is always someone who is oblivious to them.

WHBM
7th Sep 2009, 18:38
The one that gets up my nose is '...because of the late arrival of the incoming aircraft', which is just a roundabout way of saying 'it's late because it's late'.
Be thankful you are not using Stansted, who regularly put up "Boarding", followed by "Final Call", when the incoming aircraft has not even arrived on stand yet.

I queried this once and was told that the displays are 'automatic'. So what idiot bought a system which does automatic displays in such a situation.

James 1077
7th Sep 2009, 22:25
Was flying Virgin when the plane failed a pre-flight test as it was taxiing. We headed back to the terminal and sat on the plane until the issue with an engine was fixed. The Captain told us that it was only a small part but normally they would remove the engine ... they were, however, hoping to fix it without removing the engine so were looking for an engineer with "very small hands".

Bealzebub
7th Sep 2009, 22:50
The one that gets up my nose is '...because of the late arrival of the incoming aircraft', which is just a roundabout way of saying 'it's late because it's late'

No not even a roundabout way, it is a direct way of saying just that. This isn't meant to insult your intelligence, but look at it from the pilots viewpoint. When we make a PA on stand prior to pushback, it is often under a severe time constraint. Usually we are pushing an imminent departure slot that if we fail to make, may result in additional delays, and sometimes substantial delays. Very often we do not have the detailed history of what happened to the aircraft yesterday, or overnight, that caused it to be consequentially late for this departure. Even if we do, the detail is often of precious little interest to most of the passengers, who are more concerned about getting on with the journey they have contracted for. It is often a case of people consuming the sausage rather than wanting to know the detail of how it was made. So the reason for the delay is the late arrival of the inbound aircraft. This differentiates the cause from mechanical dealys, ATC slot delays, Loading delays, Late arriving passengers and other security delays etc. Any of those things might have happened yesterday, but the majority of people (including the crew) simply want to know when the flight will depart and their delay will end.

On top of this explanation (however brief) there are welcomes, routine information and safety reminders to incorporate into the minute or two that might be available. Communication is important, and most people appreciate clear, informative and positive communication from the flightdeck. In many cases it might be the first straightforward explanation they have been given concerning an irregularity.

There are rare occaisions when some oddity or bizzare event has caused a delay, and there may be a degree of humour that can be extracted from the situation, but most of the time it is fairly mundane stuff, and of course the late arrival of the inbound aircraft.

Eboy
8th Sep 2009, 00:54
I had a new one on United last week. Five minutes before departure, we were told that maintenance just realized that the flight data recorder was supposed to have been swapped out before the flight. A half-hour later were were on our way.

I am also curious about delays "waiting for the paperwork" following minor repairs, where waiting for the paperwork takes five times as long as the repair.

Wannabe Flyer
8th Sep 2009, 05:56
- Because a politician is stuck in traffic the aircraft has to wait for him.
- Dogs on the runway that need to be cleared
- The terminal roof just collapsed and is blocking the gate
- The bus bringing passengers to the aircraft has just collided with a tractor :confused:
- The Male chauvinist in the front seat is not happy with 2 female pilots and wants to get off
- Moron flying for the first time decides to see what happens when he pulls that red handle on the door that says emergency.
- Nervous flier calls in a bomb hoax to get of the plane
- Passenger on previous flight decided to :mad: of in his seat cause he liked the air hostess. Disinfection in place.
- We have run out of parking space! on the tarmac
- Air Force One................. is landing. :ugh:

Mr Quite Happy
8th Sep 2009, 07:31
"There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 out of this airplane."

Pilot - "Folks, we have reached our cruising altitude now, so I'm going to switch the seat-belt sign off. Feel free to move about as you wish, but please stay inside the plane till we land... it's a bit cold outside, and if you walk on the wings it affects the flight pattern."

The pilot during his welcome message, "We are pleased to feature some of the best flight attendants in the industry... Unfortunately none of them are on this flight."

Upon landing hard the pilot gets on the Public Address system, "Sorry folks for the hard landing. It wasn't the pilot's fault, and it wasn't the plane's. It was the asphault."

"Smoking in the lavatories is prohibited. Any person caught smoking in the lavatories will be asked to leave the plane immediately."

"Remain in your seat with your seatbelt fastened and your seatback and tray upright until the airplane comes to a full stop at the gate and we extinguish the seatbelt sign. There are television cameras in the cabin, so if you get up before we stop, your picture will be transmitted by sattelite to a Flight Attendant Central, and you will never get another bag of peanuts again!"

"If your carry-on baggage won't fit in the overhead compartments, please, ram, cram or jam it under the seat in front of you."

"Last one off the plane must clean it!"

"Your seat cushions can be used for flotation; and, in the event of an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with our compliments."

On a delayed South West flight the flight attendant came on with an announcement, "We're sorry for the delay. The machine that normally rips the handles off your luggage is broken, so we're having to do it by hand. We should be finished and on our way shortly."

An arrival announcement, "We'd like to thank you folks for flying with us today. And, the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you'll think of us here at US Airways."

On a Southwest flight (SW has no assigned seating, you just sit where you want) passengers were apparently having a hard time choosing, when a flight attendant announced, "People, people we're not picking out furniture here, find a seat and get in it!"

On a Continental Flight with a very "senior" flight attendant crew, the pilot said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants."

On landing, the stewardess said, "Please be sure to take all of your belongings. If you're going to leave anything, please make sure it's something we'd like to have.

"Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride."

After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms in Memphis, a flight attendant on a Northwest flight announced, "Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as hell everything has shifted."

From a Southwest Airlines employee: "Welcome aboard Southwest Flight 245 to Tampa .. To operate your seat belt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight.. It works just like every other seat belt; and, if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised."

"In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with more than one small child, decide now which one you love more."

"Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but we'll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you, or your money, more than Southwest Airlines."

"As you exit the plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses."

Another flight attendant's comment on a less than perfect landing: "We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal."

An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the Passengers exited, smile, and give them a "Thanks for flying our airline." He said that, in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally everyone had gotten off except for a little old lady walking with a cane. She said, "Sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?" "Why, no, Ma'am," said the pilot. "What is it?" The little old lady said, "Did we land, or were we shot down?"

After a real crusher of a landing in Phoenix, the attendant came on with, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Capt. Crash and the Crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt against the gate. And, once the tire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silenced, we'll open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal."

Heard on a Southwest Airline flight. "Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is on the wing and if you can light 'em, you can smoke 'em."

A plane was taking off from Kennedy Airport . After it reached a comfortable cruising altitude, the captain made an announcement over the intercom, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to Flight Number 293, nonstop from New York to Los Angeles . The weather ahead is good and, therefore, we should have a smooth and uneventful flight. Now sit back and relax... OH, MY GOD!" Silence followed, and after a few minutes, the captain came back on the intercom and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am so sorry if I scared you earlier. While I was talking to you, the flight attendant accidentally spilled a cup of hot coffee in my lap. You should see the front of my pants!" A passenger in Coach yelled, "That's nothing. You should see the back of mine."

Malone
8th Sep 2009, 09:35
"Bill Clinton is having his hair done"
:cool:

davidjpowell
9th Sep 2009, 20:53
On a Go Flight from Belfast, where loading SLF had been erratic - they called the back rows, but did not bother to call any of the fronts, leaving passengers to sort of guess that they should go.

Captain, tore around airport (I exaggerate, but the Flight Attendants were having a difficult time staying up right) and got us in the air.

Came on to apologise for not saying hello, due to the "incompetent ground crew". Pulled no punches.

angels
10th Sep 2009, 13:13
Just remembered one I had a couple of years back.

"There will be a small delay while the aircraft equivalent of 'alt, contol, del' is carried out."

Never figured out what that is, but it took about 10 minutes.

PAXboy
10th Sep 2009, 18:15
angels, that could be the one where they power down the entire aircraft, wait for 30 seconds and then slowly power it back up in the correct sequence? I recall one where the excuse was that it was needed to reset the pax video system so that we would have it working for the 15 hour sector back to LHR from Kai Tak. If you have a lot of computers on your aircraft and they all need to be talking to each other in sweetness and harmony, you will need the occaisonal Ctrl-Alt-Del. If you are not sure which aircraft it was on, the manufacturer's plate might have been in French. (Just a guess, you understand) :oh:

Scumbag O'Riley
10th Sep 2009, 21:28
remember one delay where the pilot was brutally honest about a piece of the airframe not working, and said it didn't really matter anyway, it just added drag, and they could just land a few hundred miles early if looked like they didn't have the fuel to get to the destination. And if they thought they did have enough fuel when half way, they they would just carry on and go for it.

Even worse, in my mind, was they were talking about the horizontal stabiliser, and not long earlier an aircraft had gone into the sea off LA because a similar piece of the aircraft started to misbehave and added a little too much drag.

Too much information one thought, sometimes it's better to be economical with the truth and blame ATC.

tom775257
11th Sep 2009, 08:50
As we told the passengers last night before our night Zakynthos flight:

"Ladies and Gentleman, the 20 minute delay in our departure tonight is due to waiting for the turtles to finish their business on the beach next to the airport....." or words to that effect.

Zakynthos closes at night, opened this morning at 3 Zulu due to the turtles needing their breeding time. If we had departed on time, we would have arrived 20 minutes early - and whilst they apparently will let you land without question, they will then fine the airline heavily :ugh:

con-1988
11th Sep 2009, 09:19
thats true about zante, the greek coastguard wasnt happy about us going to near them in the sea, and that was on a pedalo.....

WHBM
11th Sep 2009, 11:05
If you have a lot of computers on your aircraft and they all need to be talking to each other in sweetness and harmony, you will need the occaisonal Ctrl-Alt-Del.
An increasing problem across the transport world as standardised computing, yes, just plain Windows, gets put into more and more on-board areas (although not in the critical flight-control systems on the Airbus and similar, who very much do their own thing). Had a similar delay on a train which was stopped for 10 minutes to do this. The old retired train driver in the coach said to the conductor "this never happened in the days of steam locomotives .....".

PAXboy
11th Sep 2009, 14:17
It happened on a bus.

BCN, taking the airport bus into the city one Friday evening for a long weekend. At a particular stop - the driver closed the double doors in the middle of the bus and they immediately re-opened. He closed them. They opened themselves. This went on for some minutes but he could not move, because the doors were open.

My lady said quietly, "Boot the bus". Eventually he did. Shut down the engine and all electrics off. Wait 20 seconds. Switch on electrics and start engine. Doors close and off we go.

It was almost certainly not windows (Windows? In a bus? Geddit? Oh, well please yourself) but was still a computer ...

nicolai
12th Sep 2009, 08:25
It happened on a train.
Class 365 Cambridge/London, and we were clearly (to me) not achieving the performance we should have been. After a couple of stations the driver announces that the train can only achieve 50mph and he thinks restarting it will help, and this will take a few minutes.
Everything went quiet, then started up again, the display panel ran a lot of self-tests, and about 5 minutes later we started off. This time we achieved the usual performance of up to 100mph (depending on the track) and so were only slightly delayed instead of very delayed.
I'm not sure rebooting the train is in the normal drivers' repertoire of fixes, and in any case I wished to compliment the driver on his efforts, but he was deep in conversation on his phone with what sounded like train-maintrol, so I left him to it.

Northbeach
12th Sep 2009, 16:57
I’ve enjoyed the comical tone of this thread thank you for the entertainment. As to being told useless information about being late because the arriving jet was late; here is some more information for you to sift through.

Let’s say you and I show up at the departure gate for the flight. You are the paying passenger and I am one of the pilots. Our jet is an hour late. For me to find out why the jet is an hour late I have to pick up the phone and start making calls. The answer may be as simple as they had to fix a flat tire at the last airport, or it could be much more complex. For example it could be the delay started fourteen hours, three time zones and two working shifts ago. To trace the reason for the delay down the person I am talking to will have to spend an inordinate amount of time hunting down the past. And answer my question they must putt aside their own pressing current work load.

When I make such requests I expend valuable personal “capital”. My coworker has to respect me enough to be willing to extend their limited energy and time to hunt down the now distant reason for the delay. If I repeatedly make these kinds of requests/demands I will rapidly gain the reputation of being a real pain in the neck to work with. As such, I can expect much less cooperation with my future requests. Much of the time the work environment is extremely busy and people are tasked with completing demanding and sometimes complex tasks.

You and your travel experience are important. Delays are bad for you and bad for us. However, there are times when finding out the exact cause of the flight delay is more trouble than it is worth (to me); especially since there is nothing you or I can do about the already late arriving jet. I cannot change the circumstances. By doggedly pursuing the underlying cause of the delay I can add a tremendous amount of work to a coworker who is already task saturated.

If the jet is late I will probably ask my dispatcher why we are late. If the dispatcher doesn’t know they will offer to transfer my call to maintenance control. At this point in the conversation I need to make a decision. Is the time spent on hold and/or waiting for a call back worth the possible added delay and increased work load on others. Usually it is not, and takes away from what I should be doing to get my current flight out without incurring any added delay.

Respectfully

Curious Pax
14th Sep 2009, 09:02
Can you not just ask the inbound crew, or is it now deemed such a security risk that you aren't allowed near them? Many years ago when I was turning aircraft round the outbound crew would normally be waiting in the gate for the aircraft to arrive if it was running late, so they could achieve a quick turnround.

Most sensible passengers (are there many of us left?) would accept that a detailed investigation to get a relatively trivial piece of information is over the top, but it's a nice-to-have if it's readily available. Except maybe if the delay is due to the engineer doing a Heath Robinson repair with a mile of gaffer tape ;)

Malone
14th Sep 2009, 11:33
Again, a train announcement so not really on thread but quite amusing.
"The cause for our being late is a delay." :}

Glamgirl
14th Sep 2009, 12:47
Curious Pax,

We don't always get a chance to talk to the crew...

A lot of the time I find that passengers don't believe what they're told anyways. Years ago, we diverted due to the airport we were going to (XXX) being fog bound. We sat at alternative airport for quite some time due to many aircraft diverting to the same airport. We told the passengers exactly what was going on, but plenty of them told us there was no fog at XXX (!). It does make me chuckle when passengers think we delay them just for the hell of it, as if we don't have anything better to do...:rolleyes:

Plenty of times, I've had passengers ask me for the "real" reason for the delay when we've already announced the reason.

Gg

Ancient Observer
14th Sep 2009, 16:41
Gg.

In some airlines, that use the place to which some planes are diverted to for special reasons, those airlines have been known to use fog as the excuse for them being somewhere else.

I realise that Big airline doesn't use that place, so you might not have come across it.

PAXboy
14th Sep 2009, 23:11
Northbeach THANK YOU. A wonderful example of PPRuNe at it's best. Thanks for taking the time to explain why you often cannot take the time to explain!!

Capot
15th Sep 2009, 18:01
Northbeach

I think that what many people are trying to say is that if handling staff and/or aircrew have no better information to offer than "the delay is due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft" (ie delayed because it's delayed), they should say either nothing or something like "We don't know the reason for the delay".

"...delay is due to late arrival of incoming aircraft" is an insult to passengers' intelligence; that's what winds people up so much.

Di_Vosh
15th Sep 2009, 23:55
"Late due to late arrival of inbound aircraft". I think that you're being a bit precious if you consider that to be

an insult to passengers' intelligence

How is that insulting? I consider myself to be a pretty smart bloke, and when I get that (when I'm an SLF) I accept it as a valid reason. The only emotion I'll feel is if the lateness affects what I'm doing at my destination.


Was the inbound aircraft late?

If YES, then "Late due to late arrival of inbound aircraft" seems perfectly appropriate. If we say otherwise we'd be lying to you.

Or would you prefer that? :rolleyes:

Say nothing? Not an option. People don't like to be kept in the dark, so if we know the reason we tell them.

In all my airline career (only a couple of years, I'll admit) I've NEVER had a passenger complain about the "Late due to late arrival of inbound aircraft". While we get plenty who complain about not being told of any reason for the delay.

And in Australia you'd better not try the "It's late but we don't know why", unless you really want passengers (who up until then didn't care much) coming up to the service desk and asking "Why don't you know?" And I'm guessing in the UK you'd get a similar reaction.




You want to know why the INBOUND aircraft is late? IME, no passenger asks that question either. Certainly no-one has ever asked me that apart from other flight or cabin crew.

IME, there are many reasons for why the inbound aircraft was late. They can include:

1) Aircraft slowed down to fit into a traffic pattern.
2) In-flight diversion due weather, which can then lead to (1), due to new slot time.
3) Lack of air traffic controllers, which can lead to (1), as the traffic pattern is streamlined.
4) Weather or maintenance at your airport reducing the number of available runways, resulting in (1) due to streamlining of the traffic pattern.
5) Weather at the remote airport (fog, thunderstorms, dust, squalls) delaying departure (or arrival) of that aircraft.
6) An aircraft technical problem.
7) Crew flight and duty issues, or crew late to board (plenty of valid reasons for that, also).

I'm sure that there are others; these have all happened on flights that I've operated.

FURTHER, the delay may not have happened on the inbound flight. In my airline, it could have happened to any one of SEVEN flights previously in a given day (or even the last flight of the day before). This is due to minimum turn-around times (20 minutes at outports; 30 minutes at hubs).

No airline will EVER make an announcement like:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard our 7:00 pm flight to xxx. We apologise for the delay, but this was caused by a delay to the flight last night, which required that the crew who flew the first flight of the day to be 15 minutes late to work due to flight and duty considerations. Because we don't operate with a backup crew, we couldn't avoid the 15 minute delay. Because we have minimum turnaround times at all of our airports, we've not been able to make up the 15 minutes in the 7 sectors today that the aircraft has flown. So are 15 minutes late now, etc"

So we say "Late due to late arrival of inbound aircraft". It's NOT a lie, and doesn't burden the passengers with a lot of stuff that most of them either wouldn't understand or care about.

Cheers,

DIVOSH!

Jofm5
16th Sep 2009, 00:26
"Late due to late arrival of inbound aircraft"


I personally dont see it as an insult - it tells me:-

The plane has not gone tech.
The plane assigned for my particular sector was late arriving and another is not available.
No pertinent information is available as to why the inbound flight was delayed.
And back on topic for the thread....

The strangest announcement I had was when our departure from ST Lucia was delayed.....

"We are going to be a delayed a few minutes as the handler has loaded our cargo of bananas into the wrong hold and they would freeze if we do not move them"

scr1
16th Sep 2009, 07:29
a few years ago ezy a/c unable to depart due to atc having a break. capt said on tannoy "we are wating for the controller to finish his cup of tea"

radeng
18th Sep 2009, 09:41
The one you don't often hear is the one that appeared at Kings Cross in the early 1960s. Gerald Fiennes, the Eastern Region General Manager was irritated by a series of delays to a train, and wrote down the announcement. The lady refused to read it out, so Fiennes did it himself:

"British Railways wish to deeply apologise to passengers for the delay in the arrival of the train from Doncaster. This was caused by management incompetence."

Now there's honesty for you!

boardingpass
18th Sep 2009, 11:51
This was caused by management incompetence

Love it, I'll add it to the list of things to say on my last day...

angels
18th Sep 2009, 12:19
Many years ago the train I used to catch into London Bridge each morning (0618 Norwood Junction to London bridge IIRC) had a wannabe pilot as a driver.

The Tannoy would come on. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are presently at about six feet above ground level and are on our final approach to London Bridge. The weather is sunny with a bitter north wind," and so on. He would then add something along the lines of, "Weren't England awful last night? My granny could tackle better than that lot."

Everyone would get off the train with a smile. Naturally when the authorities heard of a driver with a human touch that 'customers' liked and appreciated, he was transferred to freight....

ReadyToGo
18th Sep 2009, 12:51
Not exactly an excuse, but it made me smile all the same,

"Apologies ladies and gentlemen, just waiting for preceding aircraft to depart, one of the disadvantages to us being early, is that we wait at the runway rather than in the nice warm terminal, but what the hell, sit back relax, and I'll leave you with this thought...
What exactly are the other uses for multi-purpose compost?"

RTG!

redsnail
18th Sep 2009, 20:18
I once made a PA on a QFlink Dash 8 about apologising for a delay.
I did say that I did not know why it had been delayed as I'd had been on a day off and just got called in.

5 min later, the FA told me that a passenger was on the inbound flight and knew why it was late. :ok: I then told the rest of the pax.

Every one was happy. People like the truth. :ok:

Bigmouth
20th Sep 2009, 06:33
The strangest announcement I had was when our departure from ST Lucia was delayed.....

"We are going to be a delayed a few minutes as the handler has loaded our cargo of bananas into the wrong hold and they would freeze if we do not move them"

What is so strange about that?

HandyAndy
20th Sep 2009, 10:41
CX departure from Cebu, Philippines last Friday night, the aircraft suffered a brake malfunction and we returned to the apron. After a brief announcement from the FD to advise us of the issue, the ISM (I think it was the ISM) came on the PA and sang a ditty to the melody of the famous John Denver song - "We're not leaving on a jet plane, engineers please fix our brakes" (and so on). It must have relieved any tension that some pax might have been suffering due to the non-departure and it received a warm response and round of applause from all the passengers.

Sadly, after 3 hours (an a nice dinner on the aircraft!) the problem couldn't be solved and we deplaned. Well done CX Cebu (as usual) for the superb handling under difficult circumstances. Everyone was well looked after and dispatched to hotels until the morning when the spares arrived. They really showed how it should be done. :D :ok:

Cyrano
20th Sep 2009, 12:55
No airline will EVER make an announcement like:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard our 7:00 pm flight to xxx. We apologise for the delay, but this was caused by a delay to the flight last night, which required that the crew who flew the first flight of the day to be 15 minutes late to work due to flight and duty considerations. Because we don't operate with a backup crew, we couldn't avoid the 15 minute delay. Because we have minimum turnaround times at all of our airports, we've not been able to make up the 15 minutes in the 7 sectors today that the aircraft has flown. So are 15 minutes late now, etc"

So we say "Late due to late arrival of inbound aircraft". It's NOT a lie, and doesn't burden the passengers with a lot of stuff that most of them either wouldn't understand or care about.

Cheers,

DIVOSH!

Well, on EI on at least one occasion I've heard (after boarding a delayed afternoon flight in Dublin) something along the lines of "Ladies and gentlemen, sorry for the delay. This aircraft has just returned from AMS. It picked up a delay first thing this morning due to fog in XXX, which in turn led to an ATC delay on its way into AMS earlier this afternoon, and despite our best efforts it hasn't been possible to make up the time."

Now for this SLF at least, that's a perfectly reasonable explanation, infinitely better than "late arrival of incoming aircraft". Of course that level of detail may not always be available, but if it is, it does away with my feeling that basically no-one gives a damn [I'm not referring to EI here, more a general rant about uncaring customer service] and they're trotting out the "late arrival of incoming" line the way they would mindlessly say "we apologise for this 2-hour delay and hope that it has not caused you any inconvenience..."

Bluebeard
30th Sep 2009, 09:58
On an Easyjet flight, Nice to LTN, in Autumn 2002.

Everyone on board in good time, all in their seats and behaving themselves and the doors ready to be shut 10 mins before scheduled departure time. Since I was on my way home from a v. nice holiday, this was great as obviously going home is the hard bit.

Sat there for a further 20 mins, then Captain emerges from flight deck. Picks up the PA mic and announces, somewhat sheepishly, that he, the crew, us, and all our luggage are on the wrong aircraft. The one we were on had to be in Liverpool for a scheduled maintenance check that night - 'our' aircraft was the EZY one at the next gate!:uhoh:

To his credit, and by his own admission, he didn't want to hide on the flight deck to give us the bad news. To EZY's credit, we were all swapped over and ready to go in about 45 mins.

This is a true story, I kid ye not.

Dubaian
30th Sep 2009, 10:29
EK out of Tehran a few years ago. Taxiway was extremely bumpy. Might have contributed .....
Lined up for TO, revved up, immediate shutdown. Belgian Captain announced in heavily accented English that he'd lost the nose wheel steering and we'd go back to the terminal using the aviation equivalent of handbrake turns.
Eventually he came back on and said it couldn't be fixed there but Airbus procedures permitted both TO and Landing without it. Most of the PAX didn't speak English at all ( far less Belglish ) so were blissfully unaware of what was going on.
My most gentle landing ever in DXB :Dand a tow in all the way from the end of the runway