Eurowings Discover’s Salt Lake City Flight Keeps Stopping In Canada

Eurowings Discover seems to be having some issues operating its new flight between Salt Lake City (SLC) and Frankfurt (FRA), as it has stopped in Canada multiple times. This would be an interesting topic to talk about.

Eurowings Discover having issues in Salt Lake City

EurowingsDiscover is a low cost carrier. The airline flies to a number of destinations in the United States, and I reviewed their business class service a few months back.

There have been some issues on the Salt Lake City-Frankfurt route recently. Four of the last five frequencies required a stop on the east side.

• The flight stopped in Halifax (YHZ) three times
• The flight stopped in Toronto (YYZ) one time

The 9hr30min flight is well within range for the A330-300 so why would a stop be needed? The flight from the west to the east takes longer than the one from the east.

The heat wave in Salt Lake City can affect aircraft performance. The airport is at a high altitude. The current conditions mean that an A330-300 needs to take off from Salt Lake City heavily weight restricted.

The airline could leave passengers behind, leave bags behind, or fly to an intermediate point to refill their tanks. The airline could change the flight so that it leaves later in the evening when the temperature is not as hot.

Two to three hour delays have been caused by Eurowings Discover adding a refueling stop.

Is Eurowings Discover to blame?

Local news stations often turn these stops into investigative stories. Here, you can watch that. A passenger on a flight from Salt Lake City to Salt Lake City was interviewing to take a cruise.

He missed his connection and his bags only arrived on the cruise 3.5 days after he missed his connection.

The news station interviewed a licensed air dispatchr who said that the airline shouldn't be surprised that it gets hot in Salt Lake City in July.

He said that passengers should file a complaint with the US Department of Transportation because the airline is marketing a flight as nonstop when it isn't. The DOT can do something about this according to him.

Eurowings Discover is more sympathetic to me.

• Yes, it can get hot in Salt Lake City in summer, but it seems that it’s especially hot right now; if this becomes an issue for a month or more then I think some serious schedule adjustments need to be made
• Yes, the airline could further restrict seats or luggage so that the flight could operate nonstop, but I imagine passengers wouldn’t be happy either if they were bumped due to this, or if their bags were left behind
• Travel to & from Europe is chaotic right now, and I think people have to prepare for things to not go as planned, especially if they’re boarding a cruise; in fairness, many passengers likely booked long before the summer travel rush

Maybe I am being too tolerant towards Eurowings Discover. The flights from Salt Lake City to London have not had any stops. Both Amsterdam and Paris routes are operated by the A330-900neo, which has better performance.

Maybe it's time for Eurowings Discover to fly the A330-200 to Salt Lake City instead of the A330-300 for these types of situations?

If you arrive at your final destination four or more hours late, you will be entitled to 600 Euro in compensation. Delayed bags are included in that.

Bottom line

Eurowings is struggling with its flight. The high altitude of Salt Lake City makes it hard for the plane to take off with enough fuel. The airline is making fuel stops in Canada rather than leaving passengers, bags, or cargo behind.

This might be inconvenient. It's absolutely true. I don't think it's high up there in the scheme of things.

What do you think about Eurowings Discover? Is it the airline's fault or is it a cost everyone has to pay?

There is a tip to Scott.