cancelled flight

[gaby]

does anyone know why continental cancelled the flight from aruba to newark yesterday afternoon? there was the storm by haiti but the flights from kennedy arrived in aruba. that scares me.

[Andrea J.]

there could be a few reasons:
air crew had exceeded their hours?
maintenance on aircraft?
sometimes they never disclose why a flight has been cancelled or they make up a story.
we had a flight cancelled a number of years ago due to unavailability of flight crew....
we were told it was a maintenance problem.

what scares you? your flight could get cancelled in december?

[~Amy~®]

Some flights for this fall are being cancelled by Continental. Couple of people from another Aruba bulletin board had their Wednesday flights for Oct. cancelled on CO.

If I were flying CO this fall, I would keep an eye on your itinerary and watch for changes.

[arubashadegirl]

There has been a Continental Sickout in the news the last week or so...we flew back on Continental from AUA to Newark and the flight was fine, but getting luggage was crazy. Lots of flights were cancelled over the last week for Continental.

[Andrea J.]

so maybe with the "sickout " of the weekend, the "timing caught up with the flight crew". the availability of a flight crew from AUA to NEWARK may have been the cause.

Originally Posted by arubashadegirl

There has been a Continental Sickout in the news the last week or so...we flew back on Continental from AUA to Newark and the flight was fine, but getting luggage was crazy. Lots of flights were cancelled over the last week for Continental.

[gaby]

thanks everyone. but what do they do with the people, they have to fly out the next day? i wouldn't mind so much coming home but I would be extremely mad going out. hopefully it will be resolved by december, lol....

[Arubalisa]

People who have had their flight cancelled will be put either on another airline or the same airline WHEN they have seats next available.

Say a CO flight is cancelled on Wednesday and Thursday's flight is full. Wednesday's passengers would NOT bump Thursday's passengers off their flight. Thursday's passengers have priority. So then you go back to flying passengers out on another airline.

My in laws a few years back had their returning flight from St. Martin to Newark cancelled due to a snow storm. The soonest Continental could get them off the island was one week later. My in laws were anxious to come home so instead were able to get a flight to Philadelphia (in stead of Newark) four days later and then paid, on their own, for a rental car to get them home to NJ.

[jeffnev]

Keep in mind there are very different rules-now laws I believe-based on if the cancellation is weather realted or due to the airline itself (maintenance or crew issue). Airlines must provide accomodations and food if they cause the cancellation but not much if it is weather related or out of their control.

It is good to know your rights before these cancellations happen as the airlines are often not very forthcoming with this information.

[Andrea J.]

http://www.insuremytrip.com
if one ends up having to pay out of pocket for housing, car rental etc re: a cancelled flight
trip insurance comes in very handy for reimbursement.

also too, if the flight is cancelled due to weather, as lisa says, they try to put you on a flight even if it is on another airline.

if it is a weather related cancellation, the airline does not have to pay for your accommodations/inconveniences.

if the flight cancellation is due to a sick out, mechanical issues or non weather related issues, they do have to house the passenger on aruba til there is a flight available.

so, if yesterday's CO flight cancellation was caused from something other than weather, those affected were either put on another flight or were put up on aruba til a flight is available.

typically flight cancellations are weather related.........but the "job action" by CO employees is not unheard of.

[Chadd]

The "sick out" with Continental really doesn't meet the generally accepted industry levels to actually be called that. It was a staffing/crew availability issue that Continental is trying to blame on the pilots during contract negotiations that have gone very poorly. Pilots refusing to fly over and above their scheduled hours or for being fatigued after they do fly extra hours is not a "sick out." A real "sick out" would ground hundreds of flights per day, not a dozen.

Almost every airline is running very thin on pilots right now as they will need fewer of them when they reduce flying for the fall. Most airlines are looking to reduce flights by 4-5%, and some by more.