NC Flyer

UA 955 LHR-SFO yesterday delayed almost 2 hours because the shower in the Captain's hotel room wasn't working.

We all sat in the plane at the gate with no air-conditioning for 2 hours so that the Captain could smell sweet. His hotel room shower would only produce cold water and by the time they found him a new room and some shower gel there was a 777 full of not-so-sweet smelling passengers waiting for him to drive us across the pond. Not to mention the heap of missed connections that resulted.

I realise that the plane is not going anywhere without a pilot and that there will be some contractual obligations regarding crew accommodation but what a crazy way to run an airline. The guy could only just bring himself to make a token apology.

yofra

He announced that that was the reason for the delay???

lucky9876coins

Wow, if that's really the reason/what was announce, that pilot needs a talking to. I have a feeling there's more to the story, but ya never know....

undersky

if that's what he said, it could possibly be a joke! maybe he had shower problem earlier in the morning, which resulted in some transportation problem, etc. etc. like for example, if because i had to buy a box of cereal last night and used up all my quarters, and this morning i found out that i had no quarter to park at meters, i asked my friend to loan me some quarters, but when i asked him for the quarters, my friend was shot by an assailant and i had to report to the police. i might tell u that because i had to buy a box of cereal last night so i am late to work. @:-)

dimramon

What was the exact announcement?

Maybe he meant it as a joke and it didn't really happen.
Last week, I was stuck on the tarmac in DEN for two hours due to rain in PHX. The pilot said they didn't know what to do when it sprinkled in PHX so they closed the airport. We all knew that was a joke, so maybe that is what happened in your case.
Of course, if the pilot was serious, that's a different story. However, I do believe anyone would be that arrogant...

italiancal

My husband and I were on the flight and we can attest that the scenarion was very strange. No explicit explanation was given beyond "a problem at the hotel" whcih seemed very vague and strange. The inbound flight was late by an hour however the flight was indeed ready to leave on time. Passengers had completed the boarding process and we were wating for the cockpit crew.

Can the original poster please let us know where this information was heard?

SAT Lawyer

If nothing else, couldn't the Captain have grabbed a quick shower at UA's Arrivals Suite at LHR rather than dilly-dallying for two hours at his hotel? Couldn't he have taken a shower in one of the rooms occupied by one of his fellow crew members?

I think it is inexcusable for any airline to start boarding an aircraft when the crew is not at least within striking distance of getting on board the aircraft themselves. And as someone who has sucked it up and taken more than a few cold and unpleasant showers of my own, I have little sympathy for the Captain's behavior given the disruption to hundreds of customers' travel plans (if, of course, the account is accurate).

undersky

ok, a "problem at the hotel" could be anything! billing, loss of credential, missing passport, theft, security breach, food poisoning, etc., and the shower could be used as a semi-joke or cover-up. if he really just wanted to shower, if he REALLY just wanted to shower and make everyone to wait for him on the flight, i REALLY doubt he would tell that to the whole cabin, unless of course, his colleagues MADE him to. but again, i don't think his colleagues would make him to do that. they should report him to the company, not making it a scene. by making it a scene, they could get in trouble as well. so that precludes colleague's motive. then it must be a joke then


edit: OR, he had some reasons that he HAD to shower. for example, maybe he was covered with some spillage from the breakfast? or kiss marks from his girl friend? who knows.

Grace B

Sounds like more pilot "chaos" if you ask me. There are several threads I have seen recently which point to more and more of this kind of thing happening. Another 'summer of 2000' experience is on it's way it seems.

And you think it couldn't happen? It is happening.

BTW, I've stayed in hotel rooms where there was only hot water coming out for the shower. Didn't cause me to miss anything...

Axey

The only thing "happening" here is someone posting unfounded nonsense.

mudba

Doesn't the flight deck need to do pre flight checks before passengers are boarded?

CTAnderson

Nope, often flights are boarded without the pilots. However, there must be a certain number of FA's on board in order to board pax.

cl.lurker

^^

Besides, do you really need ac in January in London??...

Doug 1029

We need a whole lot more information on this thread before I can take it seriously.

camachinist

Maybe he got "lucky"

Likely not, but I have sat on the tarmac at numerous cold weather locations in the dead of winter with the APU off and snow all around sweating like a pig because of it being a clear crisp cold day. All that UV coming through the a/c windows can warm things up quick, not to mention all the bio-chemical heat being made by me and the other pax.

So, was the captain smiling when he made the apology?

Pat