30 minute delay announced, departed after 12 and left passenger behind

dcsprior said:

An analogous situation at an airport is where there's a delay before boarding. In this case the screens typically display something like "Delayed to 20:30" / "Gate Info At 19:40" on a cycle. I have often wondered what'd happen in that case if the passenger next looked at the screen at 19:41 to discover the delay had come forward significantly and the plane had already taken off. At Stansted the screens go one further and also say "Relax" when a gate isn't announced or about to be announced, it'd seem very reasonable in that case to say that the screens were telling you not to look again for gate info until 19:40

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Unlikely. If a time scheduled is brought forward there would be announcements, and final call for missing pax. That's of course if they are still in the airport, with lengthy delays it's possible they could leave and then find their flight took off without them, however leaving means going through security again on return.

43096 said:

If they’re used to Amtrak then it might be a 4hr delay or more!

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Other than when physically in the train, I've never met a single person in the USA who has used Amtrak.

dcsprior said:

An analogous situation at an airport is where there's a delay before boarding. In this case the screens typically display something like "Delayed to 20:30" / "Gate Info At 19:40" on a cycle. I have often wondered what'd happen in that case if the passenger next looked at the screen at 19:41 to discover the delay had come forward significantly and the plane had already taken off. At Stansted the screens go one further and also say "Relax" when a gate isn't announced or about to be announced, it'd seem very reasonable in that case to say that the screens were telling you not to look again for gate info until 19:40

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That actually happened to me a few months ago - the aircraft was going to be delayed for 3 hours while a new tyre was sourced and fitted, but then they found another aircraft to use instead and we went barely 40 minutes late. It's a bit different in an airport because you can't easily leave without a load of faff (so nobody will for a 3 hour delay) and they will wait for you to some extent if you have bags in the hold due to the delay caused by offloading, but I bet quite a few restaurant meals had to be quickly abandoned.

It's more likely at a base where spare aircraft might be available, but sometimes they do do swaps that could make it happen anyway - they are motivated to do so if doing a swap might give them 2 flights delayed each by 90 minutes rather than one by 3 hours, because that means no EU261 compensation needs to be paid.

Even with the low cost carriers there is some time from the start of boarding to the gate being closed- if a passenger is airside then they should be able to make it onto the aircraft.

In the case of the situation in the first post it seems that (most) passengers were still on board and the new crew left as soon as they are able, ushering the few people on the platform onto the train would take minimal time compared with boarding an aircraft.

mark-h said:

Even with the low cost carriers there is some time from the start of boarding to the gate being closed- if a passenger is airside then they should be able to make it onto the aircraft.

In the case of the situation in the first post it seems that (most) passengers were still on board and the new crew left as soon as they are able, ushering the few people on the platform onto the train would take minimal time compared with boarding an aircraft.

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Boarding an aircraft really does bring out the worst in the human race. Some people obviously can't count to 30 odd, since the last time I was sat one row from the back I had to pass a passenger who was sat behind me (he had boarded via the front door).

Grumpy Git said:

Boarding an aircraft really does bring out the worst in the human race. Some people obviously can't count to 30 odd, since the last time I was sat one row from the back I had to pass a passenger who was sat behind me (he had boarded via the front door).

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Getting a bit OT, but I saw on the news that Easyjet and Gatwick are trialling a new system where they call each seat individually on the gate screen, so the passengers board in the right order - no waiting for the person ahead of you to put their bag in the rack, take off their coat, get something out of their bag, and then turn around and look surprised at the huge queue waiting for them to clear the aisle. If I remember right, it saves 10 minutes boarding time. Probably doesn't work where they put you all on a bus to get to the plane.

Greenboy said:

Hissy fit? Passengers like to be kept informed so that they can plan ahead.

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Sometimes though the truth is that there is no timescale being given for a delay and traincrew or station staff giving any figure are just making educated guesses based on prior experience and limited information about an incident . I always make this point clear when telling people such

underbank said:

Sorry to go against the grain here. But if there was an official announcement that the train would depart 30 minutes late, then they need to stick with that, even if circumstances change. Whoever made such a specific announcement is at fault.

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Surely depends on the wording of said announcement , whenever I announce any delay I always say "expected to be " or "estimated delay" . Even so if the original information is that there is to be a 30 minute delay but then a situation is resolved so that the train can actually depart with a 15 minute delay surely that is better for more people than anyone that decides to offload themselves ?

Andy Pacer said:

When I've been in a similar situation I would explain the disruption but avoid giving specific time information, just my opinion (which has no reason to be invalid on this forum).

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Unfortunately I find fairly often people will press you for a specific time or complain when they dont get given a specific time .

As above I dont mind making educated guesses but stressing that any times given are such .

Bletchleyite said:

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will be delayed here for approximately 30 minutes while an engineer attends, however please do be aware that we could end up with the problem solved sooner than that, or it could take longer. If you leave the train, please therefore do not leave your luggage unattended[1], take it with you, for both security reasons and in case we get cleared to leave earlier, as we will not be able to wait for you in that case, and if left unattended it may be removed and destroyed[2]. If you hold an Advance or similarly restricted ticket, please note that if you do get off and the train goes, you will have to buy a new ticket. Thank you."

[1] See It, Say It, Sorted points there
[2] More SSS points

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Being honest with you I think by the time you get past the words "while an engineer attends"people have switched off to your announcement .

Reminds me of one of my first notable mistakes as a relatively new start on the railway. Body had been found in-between our station and the next so all lines were blocked and control had advised staff on site in 45mins and told us to expect delays of longer than this while police investigated etc. We had a train sitting in the up platform that looked as if it would be there for a while and me being new and having less experience than I do now thought it would be best to under promise and over deliver when it came to expected departure time of said train. "Not likely to be less than 45mins" was (in short) my advice to most pax including one couple who were already on the train when it arrived (although I didn't register this as they were on the platform when I was speaking to them). They then decided to go for a wander out of the station for some fresh air (they didn't tell me this otherwise I would have advised them not to). Around 30mins later train departs (lines weren't reopened yet but the incident was quite far away so they were getting trains moved closer ready for reopening) and about 10mins after that they pax return and find me to ask where the train has gone. Told them it had left earlier than expected but not to worry as I would pass them on the next (about to roll in). They had left their suitcases and bags on their original train... They were less than impressed.

Grumpy Git said:

Boarding an aircraft really does bring out the worst in the human race. Some people obviously can't count to 30 odd, since the last time I was sat one row from the back I had to pass a passenger who was sat behind me (he had boarded via the front door).

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He might not have paid enough attention to realise he could board through the back door.

Belperpete said:

Getting a bit OT, but I saw on the news that Easyjet and Gatwick are trialling a new system where they call each seat individually on the gate screen, so the passengers board in the right order - no waiting for the person ahead of you to put their bag in the rack, take off their coat, get something out of their bag, and then turn around and look surprised at the huge queue waiting for them to clear the aisle. If I remember right, it saves 10 minutes boarding time. Probably doesn't work where they put you all on a bus to get to the plane.

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Also won't work where people want to board together (and just because someone might not be able to think of a scenario where people need to board together, doesn't mean they don't exist).