Holding VS Delay Vectors

EDUC8-or

Well-Known Member
On arrival today we were given some serious delay vectors and a reroute due to traffic from the center that added almost 200 miles to our flight plan. Apparently there was some sort of computer glitch that caused the problem. The controller didn't say in so many words, but you could sense he was irritated with fact that he is encouraged to give vectors instead of assign holding because once holding has been assigned a delay goes down on the airport.

We didn't have an alternate and the flight was only scheduled to be 200 miles, so the distance was now doubled. I told the controller to give us holding so we could be close to an airport of our choice in case a diversion was necessary due to fuel issues. After that he had holding for about 5 other airplanes that were getting vectored all over the East Coast.

So my question is this, why all the delay vectors instead of holding? It's pretty common to see in some major airports. I know often the vectors are minimal, but sometimes we might as well hold.
 
Just out of curiosity, were you heading to Canada on that flight? Reason I ask there was a major "glitch" on the same day for all USA-Canada flights
 
On arrival today we were given some serious delay vectors and a reroute due to traffic from the center that added almost 200 miles to our flight plan. Apparently there was some sort of computer glitch that caused the problem. The controller didn't say in so many words, but you could sense he was irritated with fact that he is encouraged to give vectors instead of assign holding because once holding has been assigned a delay goes down on the airport.

We didn't have an alternate and the flight was only scheduled to be 200 miles, so the distance was now doubled. I told the controller to give us holding so we could be close to an airport of our choice in case a diversion was necessary due to fuel issues. After that he had holding for about 5 other airplanes that were getting vectored all over the East Coast.

So my question is this, why all the delay vectors instead of holding? It's pretty common to see in some major airports. I know often the vectors are minimal, but sometimes we might as well hold.

The FAA does not care about logging the delay ... and a hold is not logged unless it is over 5 minutes. They get creative and pass the buck, say it was due to wx or equipment.

You most likely got the vectors because the sector you were in was not "officially" in a hold to whoever they were feeding. They probably were trying to get spacing or set up a sequence... they then may have been told it'll be a while and decided to hold. Holding A/C can be a PITA, it's sort of a last ditch thing to do. I might be able to speculate better if I knew what your destination was and what center was working you.
 
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