u/OkCloset

I fly a lot, but this question has arisen for the experts: Who verifies an airline's reason for flight disruption? Here's what I mean.

My recent connection thru LAX arrived 20 minutes early, then sat on the tarmac 45 minutes because, as our pilot said — twice — the (United) plane at our gate was delaying pushback to wait for some passengers who were late making their connection.

The pilot also said not to worry: the connecting flight to ORD (mine) would be held until 11:38 p.m. I was the first passenger on my flight to the connecting gate — at 11:35 p.m. The plane was there with the doors closed. The gate agent said they were never told to hold it. I worked overnight in the airport because United claims it was... an air traffic control delay, which is not United's responsibility.

Of course, that means no accommodations and no compensation for affected passengers.

Except our pilot twice said United was holding a plane in our gate to accommodate late-arriving passengers. Which is not an ATC delay, it's a United ops decision. And United also did not hold our connecting plane as promised, which is also a United ops decision.

So...What prevents United from saying "ATC delay" to save the company money, etc, when it was really a United decision that kept a plane in our arrival gate?

The last living "witness tree" outside of Abraham Lincoln's Springfield, Illinois, home was destroyed during severe storms that hit the area on Thursday night, and it cannot be saved, an NPS employee said. It was the last tree in the area that was alive when Abraham Lincoln lived at the home for the 17 years immediately before becoming President.