Much like the A320 many years earlier. In the case of the Superjet the aircraft seems to have had nothing whatsoever to do with the crash. In the FL296 mishap it was a disconnect between the human and electronic elements, and that's the sort of thing that spooks me quite a bit.

I can't believe I haven't asked this question before now because it drives me up the wall when it happens.

I'm writing this while sitting on the tarmac at LAX because we "surprised" our gate crew with our early arrival. How for ****'s sake can a plane's early arrival be a surprise given that they have these magic devices on the plane that let you transmit signals through the air to distant places using a mysterious form of energy called electromagnetic radiation?!? As a passenger, the excuse that "they didn't know we were coming" INFURIATES me.

I guess that wasn't a question. The question is why do they keep using that line?

As someone who works with airport processes, it could be work shift related. You have a crew starting at 12:00 based on the scheduled flights, but a flight shows up at 11:45 could possibly find them without the manpower yet to service the flight.

I know that frustration and I've occasionally run into this situation. As you point out, they don't really have the excuse of not knowing, because we send a message via ACARS with our ETA and they respond with our assigned gate and its status (i.e., when it will be available for us).

Here are the possible scenarios which cause the problem:

(1) Even though they know when we're coming, the allocation of ramp personnel is so tight that they can't leave another plane they're working (at a different gate) to come park us early.

(2) Occasionally we are short of ramp personnel due to extremely inclement weather (resulting in excessive sickouts and/or guys just deciding that they won't put up with this crap for wages they could earn at Burger King). Super Bowl Sunday often sees ramp staffing problems.

(3) Early arrival which coincides with a shift change can cause delays. Not a very good excuse, but this is one I've been given when I'm on the radio wondering why I can't get parked.

(4) The crew that's supposed to park us is at another gate, still working a delayed flight (pick your issue: mechanical, passenger problem, cargo loading issues, the list goes on).

In my experience, this has been a fairly rare event. I used to see it much more when I flew for United Express and we were flying into a mainline United station. They tended to treat us like a red-headed step-child, and any mainline plane got priority over us.

FWIW, I never use the excuse that they didn't know we were coming.

If they told the truth (some version of the four scenarios you outlined) it would be fine. And I have been on flights where they explained the situation truthfully. But the lie that the ramp workers didn't know we were coming insults our intelligence.

I don't suppose any number of complaints to customer service would change this practice (I have written about it in a survey when I happenes to get one just after such an incident). I'm glad to hear you don't do it.

That explains the cause of problem. It doesn't excuse lying about it.

Prob was asked but should be pulled again this should be like an in thread sticky

-What is the secret to picking up a flight attendant (lady) ?
Like do they fall for well traveled men or men that fold their trays neatly, men that can take off their shoes without contaminating the cabin...

Is there A thing a play, a pass word to open the Sesame...

Just be your classy self.

Why can't the US, Korea and Turkey just use ICAO as guidelines? What makes you so special?

Booked a trip to Rome with the family. Return flight is through Toronto. Hope I don't get the shed.

The reason you gave make much more sense, and as a passenger I'd appreciate them more.

The other excuse is Safety. Often there sames to be a message that passengers need to choose between safety and timeliness. Yet, we paid for a safe and on-time flight.

Hah, you'll be fine. It's in the US pre-clearance area so only flights to/from the States use it. And I've only seen it used with smaller planes.

A severe case of wake turbulence...

http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.c...ke-turbulence/

Cute Air France pre-flight safety video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N3J6fE-0JI

Nice. But the winning comment is "Une pipe dans les toilettes, c'est chic!"

and a severe case of sensationalizing a story with a horrible image. it's obvious the image is flipped based on the clouds in the background and that plane is not an A380.

****ty image:


****ty image right side up:


actual A380:

It wasn't the 380 that got flipped. The 380 was the flipper. It was a Challenger 604 that got flipped. I'm guessing that picture is probably a Challenger 604. They may have had to use a stock photo since the guy driving the 380 probably didn't have a chance to snap a pic.

de captain is right, that's a 604 in the picture. It was flipped by the wake turbulence from the Airbus 380. REDeYe is also correct that the photo was just inverted for sensationalistic impact.

The author of the book "And Then You're Dead" told this story in the first hour of today's episode of Science Friday.

it's literally the first picture that comes up in google image search for "Challenger 604"

You spelled "lighting" wrong.

The plane's flying in the Southern hemisphere so the sun comes from beneath.

It appears that the auto banning @ 100 points is broke

Indeed!

What is the worst airpot in your opinion? One in the US and one outside the US (since im nor from there i wanna know)