I was on UX 3725 last night, Feb. 7, from ORD to ATL and experienced a 3 hour 52 minute weather delay at ORD. At least half of this delay, and possibly the entire delay, could have been avoided, if Uniteds deicing practices were up to the standard that I remember from previous winter flying through ORD.
We boarded by 4 pm, just as it was just beginning to snow. After our planes front door closed on time, we waited 45 minutes for the deicing trucks to arrive. By the time the deicing was done, visibility had dropped below 500 feet, which coupled with snow falling was below minimum acceptable conditions for taking off. We sat for another 60 minutes waiting for the snow to stop, or the visibility to improve, or both. The jetbridge was reconnected and pax were allowed off to look for food and drink, or other travel options.
When conditions improved, our plane was reboarded and the front door closed. After our pilot called for a second deicing, she was told that the deicing trucks were all back at their base being refilled with fluid. We waited another hour for the trucks to get back in service and get to our plane.
There seem to be a shortage of both deicing vehicles and management know-how about how to deploy them at ORD these days. Why couldnt the trucks have been refilled during the hour long hiatus in take-offs, when they would not have been servicing aircraft? I dont remember deicing being such a constraint on winter weather operations at ORD before. Except for blizzards, planes came and went perhaps with an hour spent on deicing . Has the merger changed ORD's deicing practices and procedures, standardizing on those that might work at IAH, but wont cut it in Chicagos winters? What have others experienced?
We boarded by 4 pm, just as it was just beginning to snow. After our planes front door closed on time, we waited 45 minutes for the deicing trucks to arrive. By the time the deicing was done, visibility had dropped below 500 feet, which coupled with snow falling was below minimum acceptable conditions for taking off. We sat for another 60 minutes waiting for the snow to stop, or the visibility to improve, or both. The jetbridge was reconnected and pax were allowed off to look for food and drink, or other travel options.
When conditions improved, our plane was reboarded and the front door closed. After our pilot called for a second deicing, she was told that the deicing trucks were all back at their base being refilled with fluid. We waited another hour for the trucks to get back in service and get to our plane.
There seem to be a shortage of both deicing vehicles and management know-how about how to deploy them at ORD these days. Why couldnt the trucks have been refilled during the hour long hiatus in take-offs, when they would not have been servicing aircraft? I dont remember deicing being such a constraint on winter weather operations at ORD before. Except for blizzards, planes came and went perhaps with an hour spent on deicing . Has the merger changed ORD's deicing practices and procedures, standardizing on those that might work at IAH, but wont cut it in Chicagos winters? What have others experienced?