United Airlines 787-10 crew “time out” forced to divert Newark-bound flight from Athens

United Airlines was forced to divert a Newark-bound flight from Athens, Greece to Iceland because the pilots and flight attendants ‘timed out’ after a lengthy delay in Greece.

Flight tracking: ATH-IKF https://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL125/history/20220814/0925Z/LGAV/BIKF

IKF-EWR https://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL125/history/20220814/0925Z/BIKF/KEWR

Once on the ground in the Icelandic capital Reykjavík, a new crew of pilots and flight attendants took over and after a further three-hour delay, the flight eventually took off for Newark again.

The unexpected diversion occurred on Sunday after United Airlines flight UA125 from Athens to Newark was delayed on the ground in Greece by around five hours for an unrelated issue which meant that the crew didn’t have enough hours to fly all the way to Newark.

The maximum number of hours that pilots and flight attendants are allowed to work is managed by a system called ‘flight time limitations’ which is designed to prevent aircrew from working when fatigued.

With the normal flight time from Athens to Newark stretching to nearly 10 hours, the long delay on the ground pushed the pilots and flight attendants beyond the maximum FTL threshold.

United had limited options – either send the crew to a hotel for rest and try again the next day or despatch the flight but with a stopover for a crew change. United opted for the latter option, positioning a completely new set of crew from the United States to meet the plane in Iceland.

Not everyone on the flight was particularly happy with United’s decision, however. On Twitter, one passenger said “one stupid decision after another got us from Athens to a small airport in Reykjavik with no infrastructure to support this flight”.

Another described the delay in Iceland as a “total mess” after United had initially said the diversion would result in just a “quick stop”.

Although the diversion made for a very long journey for the passengers aboard UA125, the only other option would have been an even longer delay in Athens so that the original crew could get some much-needed rest. www.paddleyourownkanoo.com