Huge Delays At MUC

s5daw · Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:28 pm

MUC is totaly paralysed due to heavy snow. Flyghts are canceled, queue at the transfer desk is around 100m long!

I was happy to see my flight department on time... Boarded the plane and the captain informed us we are 26th in line for engine start clearance... Estimated wait time 3 hours, with passengers already on Board!?

Sorry for the terrible iPad fat fingers mistake in the title... Should be "delays"

[Edited 2013-01-17 12:31:40]

migair54 · Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:36 pm

Quoting s5daw (Thread starter):
I was happy to see my flight department on time... Boarded the plane and the captain informed us we are 26th in line for engine start clearance... Estimated wait time 3 hours, with passengers already on Board!?

Yes, you need to have pax on board and be fully ready to start otherwise you can request start and join the queue, problem in the situations is the duty time of the crew, specially if they are coming from another flight, then you need to find another crew and the mess starts.

Birdwatching · Thu Jan 17, 2013 9:08 pm

I really hope there won't be too big of a Dekana in Stuttgart tomorrow as I'm flying to Hamburg around noon. My final destination is Zagreb and apparently they are having their most severe snowfalls in decades, so that could mean another huge Dekana

Soren

s5daw · Thu Jan 17, 2013 9:21 pm

Quoting migair54 (Reply 1):

According to the FA they requested a slot in the queue as soon as they contacted MUC approach.
So they knew there is going to be a delay, but still decided to start boarding.
And since the flight was supposed to last only 40 minutes there's no real food on board (and I dont have my own as I was not inforned of the delay while in the terminal). Sucks.

darkroast · Thu Jan 17, 2013 10:46 pm

Quoting s5daw (Thread starter):
Sorry for the terrible iPad fat fingers mistake in the title... Should be "delays"

I don't know about that. I mean, this thread is probably getting a ton of views just because of it.... I know I came here thinking "WTF is a dekana"

deltaflyertoo · Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:03 pm

Quoting darkroast (Reply 4):
"WTF is a dekana"

This is awesome, I too came here for that reason, read the posts and then decided it must be German word for blizzard.

tharanga · Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:21 pm

Quoting darkroast (Reply 4):
I know I came here thinking "WTF is a dekana"

me too - maybe we should keep the word alive as a anet neologism

Rdh3e · Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:24 pm

Quoting tharanga (Reply 6):
me too - maybe we should keep the word alive as a anet neologism

x4, I like it.

faddypainter · Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:27 pm

There might be serious Dekana at LHR tomorrow if the weather forecast is to be believed.

Wingtips56 · Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:48 pm

I like "dekana". Seems to consolidate Delays and CF/cluster f***

Birdwatching · Fri Jan 18, 2013 12:38 am

I'm flying through BRN (Berne) on Saturday (finally getting the Do328 for my log!), so what about Switzerland, will that area be affected by any Dekanas over the weekend?

Soren

PI4EVER · Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:19 am

I think in some form of interpretation dekana means powerful, strong or forceful.....and is used here to describe this snow/weather event occurring in Germany, Austria and apparently westward to the U.K.

qf340500 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:38 am

i love this new word creation!!!

On a serious note, hope they get this sorted, must be a mess in contionental europe at the moment..

B747forever · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:01 am

The SFO flight is delayed till noon tomorrow, a delay of 20hrs. Surely it must be something else than the "dekana"

dcann40 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:11 am

I came to the thread thinking a Dekana was some sort of large, top-secret aircraft that was stranded (or got lost) because of the snow.

s5daw · Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:33 am

Well, the "Dekana" (oh my, what have I done) stranded about 1100 passengers yesterday here at MUC, myself included.

It was quite frustrating, at midnight (all local times) the captain told us we were #6, but at 00.30 the airport closes for regional flights. At 00.20 it was clear we were not going to make it, so we returned to the gate and spent the night here (all the hotels were supposedly full). Kudos to whoever designed the seats here, they are quite comfy for sleeping

Birdwatching · Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:36 am

Quoting PI4EVER (Reply 11):
and is used here to describe this snow/weather event occurring in Germany, Austria and apparently westward to the U.K.

Actually the German word Dekana means "Freezing / icy thing of horror". The Dekana was also an experimental aircraft in the 50s but it can't be in MUC now as the prototype crashed near Dresden in 1959.

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PanHAM · Fri Jan 18, 2013 6:42 am

Dekana is not a German word. In Slovenaian it mans, according to Wikipedia, the deans induction..Besides that, I never hoid of it and I'm old like a pig.

Nice to notice BTW that MUC airport stayed oipoen at least until 00h30 making some departures and arrivals possible. A big advantage over FRA.

Condor will station 2 B767s in MUC later this year, moving from FRA.

s5daw · Fri Jan 18, 2013 10:16 am

Dekana means absolutely nothing in Slovenian.. it was fat fingers + fatigue

What really surprised me at MUC was this:
1. HUGE line for the passenger services / rebooking to other flights. You can't really see from the photo how long the line was, as it stretches around the corner https://twitter.com/jernejkase/status/292159437773344768/photo/1

2. Empty passenger services booths: https://twitter.com/jernejkase/status/292159471394889728/photo/1

enginebird · Fri Jan 18, 2013 10:40 am

The situation in Munich seems to be almost back to normal, no more "dekanas" out of the ordinary there. It's southern Germany, after all, these guys at MUC know how to handle snow.

Quoting PanHAM (Reply 17):
I'm old like a pig

Talking about language: That's actually a German exclusive for somebody who is ancient.

PanHAM · Fri Jan 18, 2013 10:50 am

The local farmers step in with their tractors. Part of the deal made when the land was bought back around the 80s.

aqs to your other question, there are plenty. "Alt wie ein Schwein" is just one. Bit scary as pigs usually don't get old.

konrad · Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:05 am

Quoting s5daw (Reply 18):
What really surprised me at MUC was this:
1. HUGE line for the passenger services / rebooking to other flights. You can't really see from the photo how long the line was, as it stretches around the corner https://twitter.com/jernejkase/status/292159437773344768/photo/1

2. Empty passenger services booths: https://twitter.com/jernejkase/status/292159471394889728/photo/1

This is not good for Lufthansa operations. From my experience transferring at MUC is flawless most of the time. I would expect them to be better prepared to handle a dekana at their major hub. Especially since Munich is not exactly Atlanta - 6 inches* of snow in winter shouldn't be all that special.

(*15 cm of snow in Munich yesterday, this is what I found from a local weather service)

enginebird · Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:20 am

Quoting PanHAM (Reply 20):
The local farmers step in with their tractors. Part of the deal made when the land was bought back around the 80s.

aqs to your other question, there are plenty. "Alt wie ein Schwein" is just one. Bit scary as pigs usually don't get old.

Yeah, I know, I spent a long time in the area around MUC (and flew into and out of Riem) when I was young, many many moons ago...
But, in general, the farmers seem to do a good job.

Wasn't so much a language question as an attempt to explain the expression to non-Germans. Saualt (literally 'sow old') or steinalt (literally 'stone old') would probably also work for you then

TW · Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:25 am

I hope there won't be too many dekanas at FRA tomorrow, arriving at 1355 from GRU and departing at 1720 to BRU, but on separate bookings so I suppose I have to recheck my bag, can anybody confirm this?

PanHAM · Fri Jan 18, 2013 12:06 pm

Quoting enginebird (Reply 22):
Saualt (literally 'sow old') or steinalt (literally 'stone old') would probably also work for you then

That would rather be Bavarian. Check my nick

Quoting TW (Reply 23):
I hope there won't be too many dekanas at FRA tomorrow, arriving at 1355 from GRU and departing at 1720 to BRU

you will most likely not have a problem. It is cold, snow is on the ground but real bad weather is predicted for Suunday. Even if, BRU is about 3 hours by ICE train, all the way from FRA airport station and your boadring pass/ticket is valid for the train.

Wingtips56 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 10:31 pm

Quoting s5daw (Reply 18):
Dekana means absolutely nothing in Slovenian.. it was fat fingers + fatigue

Well congratulations. You've created a new word that we are all instantly embracing. Let's see if we can get it into common airline Industry language and eventually the New Oxford Dictionary.

FI642 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:32 pm

Quoting Wingtips56 (Reply 25):
Well congratulations. You've created a new word that we are all instantly embracing. Let's see if we can get it into common airline Industry language and eventually the New Oxford Dictionary.

I may see if I can get the plates on my car to say that!! Perfect!

Wingtips56 · Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:43 pm

Oh too bad ... he changed the name of the forum.