Captain ran out of hours - why?

[MitchT]

Last Sunday the OH and I were supposed to fly MAN to VIE at 17:15. We all made it as far as the waiting area at the boarding gate, the plane (inbound from BFS) rocked up at 16:45. All is good, I thought. Not so. By 17:20 we were all still waiting and some people in high-vis jackets perched at various points around the aircraft talking on their phones suggested that all was not well. Eventually we were told that there was a crew shortage and that they were trying to find a replacement. Then we were told our flight had been cancelled and bunged in hotels around Manchester overnight.

Our replacement flight was scheduled for 10:50, which then became 11:20 and we were finally on the takeoff roll at 11:50! Why the hell was it not scheduled to be the first out the following day? The captain of our eventual flight told us that the previous day's captain had run out of hours. How can this happen when the inbound flight was apparently on time?

We've lodged our compo claim so the blow will be softened a little, but I don't get how an airline can be so disorganised in the first place. Maybe some of the plane people on here can elaborate.

[MitchT]

48k said:

Your comments about the people around the aircraft suggest that the aircraft may have gone tech (had a problem). The captain (in fact - all the crew) can only work a certain number of hours before they must have a certain amount of rest. So if the aircraft could not be fixed in time for the crew to still be able to complete the outbound sector before going out of hours then another crew is needed.

I can appreciate it must have been a frustrating experience for you but I think calling the airline disorganised is a touch harsh.

If it had gone tech then why didn't they just say that? There was no mention of it going tech.

Also, I don't think calling them disorganised is harsh - they were a complete shambles. First, we were left waiting in the boarding area until 17:20 before there was an announcement that we were delayed by a "staff shortage", even though the flight was supposed to depart at 17:15. Second, the update we were promised in 15-20 minutes took half an hour to materialise. Third, We were then told the flight had been cancelled and that we needed to go back through immigration and baggage reclaim but not where to go after that. Fourth, we were also told that duty free would have to be returned, but not to whom or how to go about it. We didn't have any but numerous people did and they had no idea where they were supposed to take it. Fifth, when we'd got through baggage reclaim we had to guess where to go - the easyjet desk in the bag drop area seemed to be where everyone was going - there was ONE member of staff on the desk and it took us TWO HOURS of queueing to get to the desk and establish where we were going to stay overnight. Finally, the OH and I were told to go to The Clayton, "just out of the doors over there and to the right - you can walk from here" was the vague instruction. Well, it might well have been in walking distance but finding a way of getting there safely on foot with zero pedestrian facilities or crossings was another matter. Disorganised and short staffed. Stelios needs to open his wallet and employ some people. He can afford it.

[MitchT]

48k said:

You didn't provide any of that detail in your OP which is why it came across (to me) as harsh.

To be honest I think it was fair enough to accuse them of being disorganised when they simply failed to have a crew for a flight that was otherwise able to depart on time. That's their job when things are going normally - I'd expect them to get that bit right!

[MitchT]

MartG said:

I can see the OP's point - the SOLE reason the flight didn't leave on time was due to a lack of crew - the airline simply didn't employ enough people to crew all their flights that day.

Exactly. If the inbound aircraft had been delayed I could understand the crew running out of hours, but it wasn't, so it was nothing more than poor planning.

Anyway, the muppets are now covering themselves in further glory by offering £6 each for the evening meal which cost us £25 when the paperwork they gave us says we're entitled to "up to £25 each".