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Everyone responding saying it doesn’t happen is wrong. It may not happen often to them. I have flown 500,000 miles. I have family and friends in the industry w

Everyone responding saying it doesn’t happen is wrong. It may not happen often to them. I have flown 500,000 miles. I have family and friends in the industry who pilot, work ground ops, maintenance, and are flight attendants. At an airline with over 300 departures per day things go wrong, crews time out, aircraft have issues on landing that somehow get ignored until morning, and many more examples then planes get swapped. They generally have very few planes on standby because it’s like flying them empty, it’s an inefficient use of money. It turns into wack a mole quickly and one flight steals a plane, gate, or crew from another until none are left.

RajT88 3y ago
Yeah, I mean, sometimes they find stuff wrong with the plane they can't fix. I've definitely swapped planes a few times after sitting in the plane for a while.
trbleclef 3y ago
It absolutely happens, I had a WN flight on a MAX 8 last week that was changed to a 737-800 the day before.
marcosdumay 3y ago
Aviation authorities would get upset if some airline has a routine of doing this. This is absolutely something they keep a track of. But yes, there's nothing stopping them from doing it for you flight. Or even from "permanently" doing it and undoing a day later.
- dcow 3y ago
  Why would authorities get upset?
  - marcosdumay 3y ago
    TBH, because they track it. They would have some good reasoning, because they don't make a fuss about exchanging equivalent planes, but if it's happening all the time, the planes must not be equivalent. But the actual reason is that somebody is always looking, and that somebody would get wary.
- pavon 3y ago
  Playing it safe by delaying a flight to swap out planes looks good to aviation authorities.
_puk 3y ago
Especially in Europe, where any delay over 3 hours results in a right to compensation [0]. It's quite usual to swap a technical fault out so then have time to fix it. Last few flights the poor staff have come from one airport and returned to another country.. 0: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-right...
dylan604 3y ago
I've personally been on a flight that was delayed because of an issue with a plane where the airline was waiting for a different plane to arrive. I don't know if it was a different model or not, but it was definitely a different plane. As hearsay, I've had a friend on a flight where they made everyone deboard the plane because of an issue so they could get on a different plane. After waiting for that plane to arrive and boarding it, they decide there's an issue with that plane too. Then, after all of that hassle and a long delay, they claim the original plane has been fixed and re-boarded that plane. Lots of things can happen
- jazzyjackson 3y ago
  I enjoyed the Disney+ series "Dubai International" way more than I expected partly because it illuminated all kinds of weird issues that pop up and the individuals whose responsibility it is to make a go-no-go call. Baggage was loaded but the passenger isn't at the gate, have to unload all the baggage. Plane that was supposed to be unloaded by now has a pallet that's jammed and needs to be hit with a sledge hammer for 20 minutes. Hydraulics sprung a leak, maybe it's a nut that needs to be tightened maybe the whole thing needs to be taken out of service. etc etc

RajT88 3y ago

Yeah, I mean, sometimes they find stuff wrong with the plane they can't fix. I've definitely swapped planes a few times after sitting in the plane for a while.

trbleclef 3y ago

It absolutely happens, I had a WN flight on a MAX 8 last week that was changed to a 737-800 the day before.

marcosdumay 3y ago

Aviation authorities would get upset if some airline has a routine of doing this. This is absolutely something they keep a track of. But yes, there's nothing stopping them from doing it for you flight. Or even from "permanently" doing it and undoing a day later.

dcow 3y ago
Why would authorities get upset?
- marcosdumay 3y ago
  TBH, because they track it. They would have some good reasoning, because they don't make a fuss about exchanging equivalent planes, but if it's happening all the time, the planes must not be equivalent. But the actual reason is that somebody is always looking, and that somebody would get wary.
pavon 3y ago
Playing it safe by delaying a flight to swap out planes looks good to aviation authorities.

_puk 3y ago

Especially in Europe, where any delay over 3 hours results in a right to compensation [0]. It's quite usual to swap a technical fault out so then have time to fix it. Last few flights the poor staff have come from one airport and returned to another country.. 0: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-right...

dylan604 3y ago

I've personally been on a flight that was delayed because of an issue with a plane where the airline was waiting for a different plane to arrive. I don't know if it was a different model or not, but it was definitely a different plane. As hearsay, I've had a friend on a flight where they made everyone deboard the plane because of an issue so they could get on a different plane. After waiting for that plane to arrive and boarding it, they decide there's an issue with that plane too. Then, after all of that hassle and a long delay, they claim the original plane has been fixed and re-boarded that plane. Lots of things can happen

jazzyjackson 3y ago
I enjoyed the Disney+ series "Dubai International" way more than I expected partly because it illuminated all kinds of weird issues that pop up and the individuals whose responsibility it is to make a go-no-go call. Baggage was loaded but the passenger isn't at the gate, have to unload all the baggage. Plane that was supposed to be unloaded by now has a pallet that's jammed and needs to be hit with a sledge hammer for 20 minutes. Hydraulics sprung a leak, maybe it's a nut that needs to be tightened maybe the whole thing needs to be taken out of service. etc etc