Narrative:

Inbound to denver on the quail arrival; we were being vectored west for trw avoidance and sequence into denver. The controller had issued a descent clearance (below FL180); and when passing through FL230 in open descent; she asked us to level at 230. We advised her that we had already passed that altitude; and she asked us to level at FL210. Since we were already close to that altitude; I disconnected the autopilot; leveled off; and reconnected the autopilot. We were then told that denver had cut off arrivals; so I began looking at alternate and local weather (gjt and cos were our alternates). ATC then instructed us to hold on the publication 080 degree radial 20 DME fix; left turns; 15 mile legs. This sounded like an abnormal clearance; so I asked the co-pilot to clarify the holding instructions. The frequency was congested; so he began to build what we concurred we heard while waiting for clarification. I noticed that we were almost right on top of the holding fix; so I began to manually fly the pattern as the co-pilot struggled to build it (FMC2). Once he had it build; I engaged LNAV. We were clear of all weather in this pattern. On our inbound leg; a different (male) controller asked about our holding pattern; and stated that we were supposed to be holding south of the publication 080 degree radial 20 DME fix on its 180 degree radial; left turns versus our understood pattern. We stated that we were holding as instructed. He then politely asked us to continue to the publication 080 degree radial 20 DME fix; and hold south on its 180 degree radial; left turns; 20 mile legs. (Whew). He asked if it looked like it would keep us out of the weather; and we concurred. We rebuilt the holding pattern; and entered it upon our arrival. We were then given an updated efc due to the fact that denver had cancelled all arrivals for nearly one more hour. During all of this; I had sent an ACARS message to dispatch to have them call me to look at alternates for diversion; since gjt was no longer an option due to weather and fuel. I was unable to reach him on any of the assigned VHF frequencies; so I had to resort to ACARS during all of this. (I had given the pilot flying/ATC duties to the co-pilot). Dispatch wanted to know whether or not bff would work; but we had far too much thunderstorm activity to try to pick our way through that route with the remaining fuel; so I coordinated with ATC to divert into cos; which was just north of our holding fix. We received an almost immediate clearance to cos; followed by vectors for a visual approach. Dispatch was notified of our diversion.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A319 Captain reports entering holding after Denver arrivals were stopped due to weather. The frequency was busy and holding instructions were copied incorrectly. After correcting the holding pattern per ATC instructions the flight diverted to their alternate airport for fuel.

Narrative: Inbound to Denver on the QUAIL arrival; we were being vectored west for TRW avoidance and sequence into Denver. The Controller had issued a descent clearance (below FL180); and when passing through FL230 in open descent; she asked us to level at 230. We advised her that we had already passed that altitude; and she asked us to level at FL210. Since we were already close to that altitude; I disconnected the autopilot; leveled off; and reconnected the autopilot. We were then told that Denver had cut off arrivals; so I began looking at alternate and local weather (GJT and COS were our alternates). ATC then instructed us to hold on the PUB 080 degree radial 20 DME fix; left turns; 15 mile legs. This sounded like an abnormal clearance; so I asked the co-pilot to clarify the holding instructions. The frequency was congested; so he began to build what we concurred we heard while waiting for clarification. I noticed that we were almost right on top of the holding fix; so I began to manually fly the pattern as the co-pilot struggled to build it (FMC2). Once he had it build; I engaged LNAV. We were clear of all weather in this pattern. On our inbound leg; a different (male) controller asked about our holding pattern; and stated that we were supposed to be holding south of the PUB 080 degree radial 20 DME fix on its 180 degree radial; left turns versus our understood pattern. We stated that we were holding as instructed. He then politely asked us to continue to the PUB 080 degree radial 20 DME fix; and hold south on its 180 degree radial; left turns; 20 mile legs. (Whew). He asked if it looked like it would keep us out of the weather; and we concurred. We rebuilt the holding pattern; and entered it upon our arrival. We were then given an updated EFC due to the fact that Denver had cancelled all arrivals for nearly one more hour. During all of this; I had sent an ACARS message to Dispatch to have them call me to look at alternates for diversion; since GJT was no longer an option due to weather and fuel. I was unable to reach him on any of the assigned VHF frequencies; so I had to resort to ACARS during all of this. (I had given the pilot flying/ATC duties to the co-pilot). Dispatch wanted to know whether or not BFF would work; but we had far too much thunderstorm activity to try to pick our way through that route with the remaining fuel; so I coordinated with ATC to divert into COS; which was just north of our holding fix. We received an almost immediate clearance to COS; followed by vectors for a visual approach. Dispatch was notified of our diversion.

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.