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jonsconspiracy t1_j9a7iuo wrote

All of that seems doable in this unique situation. It's one flight on one day. I'm certain they could have figured all of that out. Flying to IAH and handing over passengers to their Star Alliance partner United would have been very possible. Crew flies back on the next flight as passengers. None of this is ideal, but it prioritizes their hundreds of passengers on board instead of a few crew that would be inconvenienced.

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maverick4002 t1_j9a89wb wrote

They made the decision. It could be done but you have no idea of availability on United. It's a process to get all those people rerouted.

Plane going back the next day causes a ripple effect on the schedule as well. Because normally it would go to Newark and fly back within a few short hours with ANOTHER crew. Now you need this same crew to get its mandatory rest period, you need to scramble to get them accommodations and then you fly the plane back empty later than scheduled.

Almost all of the flights in the air turned around and went back where they came from btw. Only a few continued on and those were probably already past the point of being able to return

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