United Airlines reports fifth flight incident in a week as jet turns back due to 'maintenance issue'

[Wicked Blue]

CNN

A United Airlines flight was forced to return to Sydney just two hours into its nearly 14-hour journey to San Francisco, in the carrier’s fifth flight incident in seven days.

The Boeing 777-300 aircraft, carrying 183 passengers and crew, was redirected due to a “maintenance issue,” according to a statement from United Airlines.

“The plane landed safely, and passengers deplaned normally at the gate. We provided accommodation overnight for passengers and rebooked them to San Francisco,” the airline added.

The incident Monday on United flight 830 is the latest in a string of incidents to hit the US airline in recent days.


https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/12/australia/australia-united-airlines-sydney-san-francisco-intl-hnk/index.html

[róisín_dubh]

1. Jeez louise, wth is going on?

I am flying back to the US in a few weeks and I am so relieved that I'm not going to be on a Boeing over the Atlantic (I will be over the Irish Sea, but it's such a short flight).

[Johnny2X2X]

2. Don't airlines change planes all the time

Sometimes at the very last moment before boarding. You could book a flight that is listed as an A330 and by the time you board it's a 767.

[róisín_dubh]

15. Huge airlines yes I think so

Smaller ones might only have a fleet of Airbus or Boeing but not both. I’m flying Aer Lingus, which is an Airbus company.

[Initech]

4. Boeing putting profits over people is fucking things up big time.

[beaglelover]

6. These aren't boeing issues. These are United maintenance issues. They are NOT maintaining their planes properly.

[Initech]

9. Because again, all the money is going to the shareholders and CEOs.

This is really a Wall St. problem.

[beaglelover]

11. Agree with you on that!

[limbicnuminousity]

3. Yet for some reason

https://www.threads.net/@aaron.rupar/post/C4ZjNjDMXLZ

[beaglelover]

5. United definitely has issues with their aircraft maintenance. In October we flew from Palm Springs to Newark.

So, 2 planes each way since we had to transfer in Denver. Of our 4 overall flights on that trip, 3 were delayed due to a maintenance issue and one delay was so bad it required an unplanned overnight in Denver on our way home. That trip really left a bad taste in my mouth about United and this is after they were my preferred airline when I was traveling significantly for work and I accumulated a huge amount of miles/points with them.

[Chautauquas]

7. I had trouble with United about a month ago

My flight from Madison WI to LA was canceled due to mechanical problems so I rushed to Milwaukee and got a flight from there.

On the way home I flew from LA to Forth Worth and boarded a plane and sat on the tarmac for 90 minutes only to be told that flight was canceled, due to mechanical problems. An hour later I boarded another plane and sat on the tarmac for 60 minutes before being told that flight was also canceled, again due to mechanical problems. Finally boarded a third plane, and after boarding and sitting through a 30 minute delay, took off. I was scheduled to arrive home at 5 pm and actually got there at 3 am.

[Pachamama]

8. I flew last week on United - they had boarded us for a flight to Frankfurt and then stopped boarding

It was a 777-300ER and then we had to wait 4 hours until another plane could be used - the flight ended up leaving and they never said what the “technical issue” was.

This was March 2nd - would love to now the numbers of these aircraft


But this was the third time in last two months this happened

[orthoclad]

10. Boeing has already killed over 340 people

trying to save a few bucks, subbing crappy algorithms for hardware fixes.

We're just lucky the recent wave of accidents hasn't killed hundreds more.

And the whistle blower dies the night before testifying?

Bring back rail travel. Stop subsidizing air travel. Make the airlines and manufacturers pay the real costs of their enormous profits.

[Hekate]

13. People who only travel over dirt are so cute. This was to be a 14 hour flight over the Pacific Ocean.

[orthoclad]

14. Oh, a special case!

[Hekate]

12. When the bosses treat maintenance & inspection & the workers as a drain on their profits...

…and cut back to make the shareholders happy — well, what do they expect. “Leaner & Meaner” is the wrong paradigm for aircraft.

[helpisontheway]

16. Crap..My mom is joining us on a trip to Hawaii in a few weeks

United flight was cheaper so she asked me about United. I told her that we flew with United in 2022 and it was great. We had a short flight to Chicago and then 9 hours on the Dreamliner plane. Now she is stuck with United. Our situation is not much better. We booked our tickets on Alaska last year and now a door blew off. I’m surprised the FAA does not step in if United planes are not safe right now. Ground the planes and make them allow refunds. Any plane can have issues but that is a lot of planes over a short period of time.