If the pilot of an airplane tells you that the departure is going to be delayed because some mechanical ?

Question

problem, would you demand another airplane or wait until the problem get resolved?

Answer 1

alot of the time the flight is given a plane that is currently not in use but air worthy

Answer 2

It is completely idiotic to trust the pilot and maintenance crew to assure a safe plane in the first place and then not trust them to fix a problem. That's what they do all day long, and what they would be doing if you don't get told there's a problem.

Answer 3

I fly frequently, both with the military and in business. I have had at least ten incidents with the plane being delayed because of equipment not passing the pre-flight. It happens, my last delay was in a brand new Boeing C-17 Cargo jet. It was leaking oil from an engine. It was repaired and we had a nice flight.

Anyway, it is the pilot's job to report any thing that is wrong during the preflight, and it is your job as a passenger to not act like a spoiled brat and demand another airplane. They just do not have standby aircraft waiting to whisk you away if you are inconvenienced.

In regards to the SpanAir crash, I just want to throw a couple of curves here. The intake heating valve reported malfunctioning is irrelevant to the crash. The crash was caused by the right engine exploding and burning causing the plane to veer to the right and overshoot the runway. The airline had had engine maintenance problems for months because the airline is broke and the cheapest help they can get are servicing and repairing the airplanes. Then the Spanish Aviation inspectors are not paying any attention to maintenance procedures being bypassed or omitted.

Answer 4

You can demand another airplane until your face is purple, but it won't get you anywhere.  Wait until the problem is resolved.  The airline won't allow the plane to fly unless it is safe and legal to do so.

Answer 5

As a passenger, you can demand anything you want but you're probably not going to get it.  An airline has to manage many many airplanes.  Airlines don't just keep spare airplanes sitting around.  They all need to be somewhere at a certain time.  If you take one of them out of the picture (say to replace your broken plane), it messes everything up.  Many other flights could get delayed or canceled because of it.  Sometimes it's better to delay one flight by a lot than it is to delay every flight by a little bit less.  There's no reason to think that you're plane is somehow unsafe.  Airplanes are mechanical devices.  You can't expect them to never ever break.  If the plane is not airworthy, it won't be flying.

As a former captain, I sometimes would try to get another plane.  If I knew it would take 2 hours to fix my plane, but there was another plane sitting around that wasn't scheduled to leave for 3 hours, I would try to get dispatch to give me that one.  Usually they said no because I didn't see "the big picture", but sometimes they agreed.

Answer 6

Will American Airline just got heavily fined for flying unsafe planes. And were told that if doing so again could severely damage there ties with Atlantic companies especially in britain with British Airways and also it is part of the one world airlines association. Never demand another flight because if you do either the Police or TSA will take you away due to breech of the peace. So my advice is stay calm but remember always continue to keep updated and always informed in what's happening and don't take Mechanical for an answer ask what is up. While on my Delta flight from New York JFK to Orlando they said it was mechanical but it turned out the aircraft had been struck by lightning and they needed to take a part of a nose front from another New York airport to JFK very annoying!I spent hard time so please vote mine as best please!

Answer 7

if u "demand" another plane ,you better call ahead and tell them you will be a day or two late!

Answer 8

First ,You need to determine if that is the actually what is going on. It seems the like to use that one all the time and actually nothing major is going on.  

Answer 9

By all means demand another aircraft and do it loudly and do it often!

Tell them what kind of aircraft you want, color, ipod adapter, internet

access, etc.

... and tell them it must be brand new.

make enough of a scene and you won't have to worry about airline delays or safety because you'll be driving to your destination.

Me, I sit and wait. The airline and the crew wants to get going too!

They'll do it as quickly as they safely can.

Answer 10

Commercial aircraft are scheduled so they fly as much as possible so if there is a problem it's very unlikely another plane is available make the flight. You are SOL until can be fixed or seats on an on another scheduled flight are available.  

Answer 11

Wait until the airplane is fix the airline will not get another plane and rearrange the flight plan and the airline won't be able to get another plane if that's not the airlines hub. Also the pilots will not do another plane inspection and that is from a personal point of view.

Answer 12

I believe you asked what I would do. If the pilot is the one telling me about the delay, then I must have already boarded the aircraft. That means that the problem was probably discovered during engine start or electrical checks. If that is correct, then I would try to wait patiently while they attempt to fix the problem. It could be as simple as an indicator light that has burned out and did not check properly during the preflight procedure. That will take a few minutes to replace, and is not a cause for concern. If the problem is more serious, then I would trust the pilot. He knows if there may be something else wrong. I trust him for the rest of the flight; I can certainly trust him during preflight. He will not endanger the aircraft to meet a schedule. the last thing I would do would be to start making demands of the flight crew. They have their hands full with the folks on the aircraft that really need help; they don't need more headaches from me.

If safety considerations call for another aircraft, it is the flight crew that must make that decision; it is not an open question subject to a passenger vote by folks who have no technical understanding of the issues. This is why pilots are paid (ADDED: and probably not enough).

Answer 13

You can't demand another airplane, you have to wait until the problem is resolved. The captain and the airline will make the determination whether you change planes or not.

When there's a mechanical delay, it could be something very small, like a light thats on or even a burned out lightbulb. Either way, in most cases, it most be looked at by a mechanic. Airline pilots are generally not allowed to do anything to fix the airplane.

Trust me, pilots don't have death wishes. We don't take airplanes with serious problems into the air. We want to get you to your destination safely and get back to our families and homes too.

So if your flight is delayed or returns to the gate for a mechanical problem, you can be annoyed (because the flight crew is too, it throws us off schedule and your flight might be the one that takes me to my home or base) but just be patient.

Answer 14

Demand what you want.  It's not your call.

Answer 15

Do the same thing you would do if it were a Taxi or private hire bus.  Or you could be magnanimous and say wow thanks for finding something to affect my longevity.

What I do see is you have an interest. Maybe you don't believe you have the opportunity but you can if you are willing to apply yourself

Answer 16

I won't be riding on that airplane.. no freaking way

Answer 17

You can demand another airplane but the airline is going to do what it wants regardless of what you do.