United Flight to Rome Canceled After Nearly 12 Hours of Delays
Canceled a Washington-to-Rome flight after passengers waited nearly 12 hours on board and at the gate amid mechanical problems, thunderstorms and crew changes…
WASHINGTON — Weather and mechanical trouble turned an overnight trip to Rome into a prolonged wait for United Airlines passengers. Flight 884, scheduled to leave Washington Dulles International Airport on Oct. 2, was canceled after nearly 12 hours of delays, with crew time limits preventing the flight from departing.
The cancellation pushed travelers’ arrival in Rome more than 25 hours past the original schedule. United said it arranged an extra flight, which departed on Saturday evening.
The flight was due to leave at 5:35 p.m. on Oct. 2 for Rome’s Fiumicino Airport. Instead, passengers faced a series of disruptions, including a cockpit malfunction, severe thunderstorms, crew changes and further mechanical inspections, according to reports cited by Fox News.
Long night. No takeoff.
United told Fox News Digital that Flight 884 returned to the gate after taxiing so the aircraft could take on extra fuel for a longer route planned because of the weather. A new crew arrived, and maintenance resolved an issue before the plane pushed back again. The aircraft then needed another mechanical inspection.
“The flight was then canceled due to crew time limits,” the airline said. “We rebooked customers on an extra flight that departed on Saturday evening.”
Repeated delays ended in cancellation
The Boeing 777-200ER returned to the gate around three hours after taxiing to refuel, according to several reports. Passengers eventually had to leave the aircraft because the first crew reached its legal duty-time limit after a six-hour delay.
A replacement crew began work, but another mechanical issue meant passengers had to deplane again before United canceled the flight at around 4 a.m. the following morning. The Aviation Hub blog reported the series of operational problems. Aviation blog Simple Flying said a faulty door seal and an incident involving the aircraft’s pushback tug may also have contributed to delays.
United’s statement described the fuel stop, crew replacement and inspections, while the additional possible causes were reported by aviation publications. The airline said the cancellation stemmed from crew time limits.
For travelers, the immediate consequence was a missed overnight departure and a delay stretching into the next day. Passengers were rebooked on another flight that left Dulles just before 7 p.m. on Saturday, according to Fox News. They were then headed to Rome more than 25 hours later than originally planned.
The disruption also left passengers weighing the delay against safety rules governing crew duty. One passenger complained in the United Airlines MileagePlus Experts Facebook group that the ordeal had tested travelers’ patience. Another user argued that such limits exist for safety, writing that the rules were “written in blood.”
United said it rebooked the affected customers on the extra flight. It did not give further details in the statement quoted by Fox News. The rebooked service departed Saturday evening, more than 25 hours after Flight 884 was scheduled to leave Washington.
Source: foxnews.com
