Passengers on United Airlines Flight 884 from Washington Dulles International Airport to Rome spent nearly 12 hours dealing with delays before the flight was canceled without leaving the US.
The flight was due to depart at 5:35pm on October 2, but a cockpit problem, thunderstorms, refueling, crew changes and further maintenance checks kept the Boeing 777-200ER on the ground. United canceled the flight at about 4 am. Saturday because of crew time limits.
Passengers were later moved to another flight, which left Saturday evening, more than 25 hours after the original scheduled departure. According to Fox News, United confirmed the cancellation was linked to crew time limits.
United Airlines Flight 884 hit several problems
Passengers began boarding Flight 884 at about 4:30pm, according to Rebecca Bliden, who spoke to 7News. A technical problem in the cockpit delayed the start. Thunderstorms then added another problem as the aircraft waited at Dulles.
About three hours later, the plane returned to the gate to take on more fuel because of the weather. Passengers had to get off, and the airline also replaced the catering after the food had been sitting for too long.
After about six hours, the first crew reached its duty-time limit. Passengers had to leave the aircraft again while United arranged another crew.
United Airlines brought in a new crew
The replacement crew eventually arrived and passengers boarded again. But the aircraft still needed more work. A door was reportedly not sealing properly, leading to another maintenance inspection.
The plane later started to push back from the gate when passengers heard a loud sound. The pushback tug had a problem, and the aircraft returned to the gate for another inspection.
United said the tug incident itself was not the direct reason for the cancellation. Instead, the extra inspection took enough time for the replacement crew to reach its own duty limit.
“United flight 884 from Washington Dulles to Rome returned to the gate after taxiing to take on additional fuel for a longer planned flight due to weather,” United Airlines told Fox News Digital.
“During this time, a new crew was brought in and a maintenance issue that arose was resolved. The aircraft then pushed back from the gate, but then required another mechanical inspection,” the airline said.
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United Airlines rebooked passengers on another flight
United cancelled Flight 884 at about 4am Saturday. The airline then rebooked the affected passengers on Flight UA3028, an extra service that left Dulles shortly before 7pm Saturday.
That meant passengers who had expected to fly to Rome on Friday evening were finally on their way more than 25 hours after the original scheduled departure.
United also said: “The flight was then canceled due to crew time limits. We rebooked customers on an extra flight that departed on Saturday evening.”
Rebecca Bliden later said United gave her a $175 voucher as a goodwill gesture, but she was seeking a full refund.
