Narrative:

We were late departing for passenger issues and were assigned a reroute by ATC; which allowed thunderstorms time to develop and move into destination by the time we were on the arrival. We were assigned holding on the arrival. When center extended our efc we determined that we would not have enough fuel to hold until our new efc time. We sent several ACARS messages to dispatch to come up with an acceptable alternate that would possibly allow us to hold longer; and also noted that our filed alternate was no longer acceptable because of the weather between us. We suggested ZZZ2 because we had just flown over that airport on our reroute and knew we could get back there without encountering weather. Dispatch suggested ZZZ; which was closer. I questioned whether ZZZ operations was capable of servicing our aircraft; and dispatch assured me it was. So we determined a new bingo fuel with ZZZ as the alternate; and held until then. At this point it seems dispatch stopped receiving our ACARS messages; but we were receiving theirs. We received a message asking if we had enough fuel to go to ZZZ1; to which we responded no; because we were already approaching bingo fuel to ZZZ which was less than 50 NM away. We received another message telling us to change our destination to ZZZ1; to which we responded unable and we were diverting to ZZZ at that time. In the same message we asked for operations info at ZZZ and requested that ZZZ operations be notified. Dispatch responded with another message telling us to change destination to ZZZ1; at which point we were too busy preparing for the approach to ZZZ to get on commercial radio and clear up the plan. We arrived in ZZZ and communicated with operations there on the CTAF. They informed me that they could fuel us; but did not have the capability to bring up air stairs without calling out maintenance. They also did not have the capability to service our potable water or lavatories. At this point passengers had been on the plane almost 5 hours. So I briefed the flight attendants to leave the doors closed and armed; make the passengers as comfortable as possible with everything left in the galleys; and that they would have to remain at their positions by the doors while being refueled. After being refueled; operations had to bring us new dispatch paperwork by climbing a ladder and handing it to me through the flight deck window. ACARS was in no comm status; so we had to hand out our release and weight and balance paperwork the same way. We conferred with dispatch via cell phones and center via radio to determine when it would be smart to depart for destination again; and left almost 2 hours after arriving in ZZZ. By the time we had blocked in at destination; the passengers had been on the aircraft for 7 hours.it seems that ACARS is too slow and unreliable for time critical communications such as determining new alternates and bingo fuel numbers. I should have used commercial radio as soon as we were assigned holding and realized we could not hold until our efc time. Also; I believe ZZZ should not be considered a reasonable alternate except in an emergency. While ZZZ operations personnel were very helpful and accommodating as possible; it would have been much better to divert to a station that could deplane passengers normally; provide galley supplies and food; and service water and lavatories that were running out.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB170 Captain describes a difficult flight due to weather that resulted in the passengers spending almost seven hours on the aircraft; for a planned two hour flight.

Narrative: We were late departing for passenger issues and were assigned a reroute by ATC; which allowed thunderstorms time to develop and move into destination by the time we were on the arrival. We were assigned holding on the arrival. When Center extended our EFC we determined that we would not have enough fuel to hold until our new EFC time. We sent several ACARS messages to Dispatch to come up with an acceptable alternate that would possibly allow us to hold longer; and also noted that our filed alternate was no longer acceptable because of the weather between us. We suggested ZZZ2 because we had just flown over that airport on our reroute and knew we could get back there without encountering weather. Dispatch suggested ZZZ; which was closer. I questioned whether ZZZ Operations was capable of servicing our aircraft; and Dispatch assured me it was. So we determined a new bingo fuel with ZZZ as the alternate; and held until then. At this point it seems Dispatch stopped receiving our ACARS messages; but we were receiving theirs. We received a message asking if we had enough fuel to go to ZZZ1; to which we responded no; because we were already approaching bingo fuel to ZZZ which was less than 50 NM away. We received another message telling us to change our destination to ZZZ1; to which we responded unable and we were diverting to ZZZ at that time. In the same message we asked for operations info at ZZZ and requested that ZZZ Operations be notified. Dispatch responded with another message telling us to change destination to ZZZ1; at which point we were too busy preparing for the approach to ZZZ to get on Commercial Radio and clear up the plan. We arrived in ZZZ and communicated with Operations there on the CTAF. They informed me that they could fuel us; but did not have the capability to bring up air stairs without calling out maintenance. They also did not have the capability to service our potable water or lavatories. At this point passengers had been on the plane almost 5 hours. So I briefed the flight attendants to leave the doors closed and armed; make the passengers as comfortable as possible with everything left in the galleys; and that they would have to remain at their positions by the doors while being refueled. After being refueled; Operations had to bring us new dispatch paperwork by climbing a ladder and handing it to me through the flight deck window. ACARS was in NO COMM status; so we had to hand out our release and Weight and Balance paperwork the same way. We conferred with Dispatch via cell phones and Center via radio to determine when it would be smart to depart for destination again; and left almost 2 hours after arriving in ZZZ. By the time we had blocked in at destination; the passengers had been on the aircraft for 7 hours.It seems that ACARS is too slow and unreliable for time critical communications such as determining new alternates and bingo fuel numbers. I should have used Commercial Radio as soon as we were assigned holding and realized we could not hold until our EFC time. Also; I believe ZZZ should not be considered a reasonable alternate except in an emergency. While ZZZ Operations personnel were very helpful and accommodating as possible; it would have been much better to divert to a station that could deplane passengers normally; provide galley supplies and food; and service water and lavatories that were running out.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.