Leaving JFK 7/8/07

Posting from Seattle right now, here's my review of my flight out from JFK. The morning was horrible. Getting there took about three hours from the rain and low visibility. Most of the highways were lakes. People were almost up to their windows in water on the Grand Central. Delta Flight 411 was scheduled to leave a 8:38AM. I got to JFK around 8:50.

The flight was delayed until 9:10AM, with most of the other passengers in the same predicament I was in. I boarded the plane around 9:00AM. The flight was then pushed to 9:45AM. Then to around 10:00AM. While we were waiting, we were informed that the APU of the 757 was inoperative so we had no A/C. They brought a portable A/C truck, but it did not make that big of a difference. Finally, everyone was onboard, and we were about to depart. They took the A/C truck away. They then informed us that since the APU was broken, they couldn't close the aft cargo door, saying that the motor of the door can only run on APU power, not ground, and not ship or engine power. The left engine was started up for A/C, but it was still like a sauna in the cabin. We got 8.5 oz. bottles of Dasani water.

They finally closed the door with manual hand cranking. We were given a chance to deplane, and we finally pushed back. After we passed through the takeoff queue for JFK and were finally rolling on the runway, it was in the afternoon. The time? 12:12PM.

Scheduled was 8:38AM
Actual was 12:12PM

We were not given any meals, save four crackers (literally), a granola bar and beverage without a can.

Again, this was Delta Air Lines Flight 411 JFK-SEA.

Is this from a month ago or yesterday???

If they said that the cargo doors on a 757 can only close with APU power, they are lying.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phil D.

If they said that the cargo doors on a 757 can only close with APU power, they are lying.

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Certainly isn't the first time I've heard an airline lie to passengers... Funny how everything isn't their fault.

It is an exlectric motor from my memory.

We open those doors with ground power all the time.

It is pretty similar to the Airbus narrow body if I remember correctly but the last 757 I touched was a CO 753 at SRQ probably almost two years ago.

Could it be that they're just telling us that and something else was causing the delay? We did lose ground power periodically "from the rain" as the captain called it, but it was surely steady enough to close the door.

If the aircraft is at a gate, ground power is usually hooked up, whether it be come a group power unit (GPU) or a ground power cable thats a part of the gate. Either way, when at a gate and while people are on the plane, there's power. If the lights in the cabin are on, then the aircraft has power coming from either APU or GPU, and that also means that they can close the cargo doors.

If they said they did not have the power to close the doors, they were lying.

So I'm back now, and here's my little rant for that. I was routed KSEA-KSLC-KJFK. The flight was full, so full that the pilot turned off the A/C and cabin pressure system during takeoff because of our high gross weight. Two kids behind me with nothing to do but punch my seat back throughout the whole flight, and some old guy that had some chronic lung disease or something that kept hacking up phlegm every 4 seconds or so. Not to mention that of the 5 pieces of luggage my family checked, only 3 came.

Delta's idea of a "meal" is four wheat crackers, a chocolate chip cookie and a couple raisins.

At least our flight was on time.

This was not the first time I've flown Delta, but it was by far the worst.