Us Phl-sea Tuesday, January 6

[USFlyer]

Anyone know why BOTH evening PHL-SEA flights made a 30 minute stop in MSP tonight? And why the morning PHL-SEA flight made a 30 minute stop in GEG? Was this for fuel?

 

[BoeingBoy]

Purely speculation (I'm at home & have no access to specific info) but 30 minutes sounds about right for a fuel stop. Any idea what type of plane was involved?

Jim

 

[USFlyer]

All three were A319s.

 

[tadjr]

They were fuel stops. It was noted in landings that Westbound could expect fuel stops and Eastbound would be making up about 30 mins of time off scheduled. The morning flight that went to Spokane also appeared to be caught in the ground stop that SEA had this morning. I checked out the flifo at work earlier tonight ( Earlier today I had emailed my former travel partner and coworker who is with Alaska now in SEA and she said they got hammered this morning with snow) and it appears that the plane was off the gate in GEG for about 1 1/2-2 hours after being refueled before it got airborne again and on its way. AA had a flight inbound to TPA tonight (via DFW) and it was showing about 1 1/2 hours late as well. Not a nice day in the Pacific Northwest.

 

[BoeingBoy]

This from company website for flt 105:

Comments: This flight was scheduled to operate from Charlotte, NC to Philadelphia, PA to Seattle Tacoma, WA. It has been rerouted to Minneapolis St Pl, MN. The flight is operating behind schedule because the aircraft for this flight was affected by an earlier delay. Due to weather conditions moving through the Seattle Tacoma, WA area some flight arrivals in Seattle Tacoma, WA have been delayed. For information about your party please contact US Airways Reservations at (800) 428-4322.This flight arrived in Seattle Tacoma, WA at 9:23pm.

The same comment is shown for flt 115.

Although it doesn't say so, it sure sounds like a fuel stop due to delays into SEA that I assume developed after the plane left PHL. This has happened to me once on a flt from PHL to DFW when thunderstorms moved into the DFW area - we landed in MEM to add fuel.

Maybe someone else will have more definitive info.

Jim

 

[USFlyer]

Not a nice day in the Pacific Northwest.

Well, I'm sitting in a Seattle hotel now. It's bad because they aren't used to it. No way Boston or NYC would have shutdown the way Seattle did today. I had to chuckle, though, the NBC footage used today had a taxing US A319 at SEA.

Thanks for the info, though!!

 

[Kev3188]

Both PDX & SEA are getting hammered with bad WX today. PDX has had freezing rain for about the last 10hrs. now. U doesn't fly here (of course), but UA cancelled all their flights yesterday except for a couple to ORD. I would expect more of the same for today & tonight, then it's back to good old fashioned rain for us.

 

[Capecod]

My guess is that the fact that the winds aloft were out of the west at 165kts last night didn't help. The combo of bad weather and really really strong head winds is a recipe for a fuel stop on a flight this long with a 319. -Cape

 

[ITRADE]

The 319 on the 5th which made up my outbound flight had a fuel stop.

 

[A320 Driver]

That's really unusual. In over five years of flying the AB, I've only had to completely fill the tanks twice. Both times on the A321.

A320 Driver B)

 

[phllax]

I was on US 11 Saturday night from PHL-LAX on a 757. Dispatch originally gave the crew a flight plan to DFW only. The pilot was on with dispatch for over an hour asking for more fuel and for a flight plan to LAS, so if we had enough fuel we could re-file and continue to LAX without stopping. They also estimated that our stop in DFW would be about 90 minutes with traffic. Eventually we got a few thousand pounds more fuel and made it all the way. The plane had 16 open in the back and 8 open in the front. Even still we had a VERY long takeoff roll and they didn't throttle back from t/o power until way after the noise abatement proceedure. It also seemed like we were halfway to Baltimore before we got to 10,000.

The flight at the gate next to us was a full 321 going to SAN. They also departed latefor the same reasons we did.

 

[PoorPropDriver]

Given the incredible power to weight ratio of the 757 (some pilots who have flown both the 57 and the 320 tell me the 75 can outclimb the 320 on 1 engine) It probably wasn't what it seemed. Climb rates in excess of 5000 fpm are routine.
More than likely PHL departure and center kept them down low.

 

[autofixer]

There is so much traffic out of PHL, U and ATC have come up with escape routes. This is a procedure where the aircraft that would normally be ground stopped due to flow outbound, are released on a flight plan at 10,000. It is up to the crew to refile enroute, when far away from PHL. Maybe this is why the fuel stops...coupled with winds aloft.

 

[dknn]

My friend's flight from PHL-SAN (91) on Jan 5 had a fuel stop in PHX.

 

[N607P]

SEA was closed for a time yesterday afternoon. All flights were delayed at least 1 1/2 hours yesterday and this morning due to snow and freezing rain. And no, we aren't used to it here, and we're proud!

It sure makes for some fun watching the crappy drivers on the news...