I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced the hell of being trapped on an airplane against your will, but I have on numerous occasions. Years ago I was trapped in a plane in Boston for 6 hours. We were even at the gate, but they literally would not let us off the plane although it was after midnight and we would rather just stay the night there.
I’ve also been trapped for over two hours for a flight that was only scheduled for 40 minutes. And I can’t think of how many times there have been 1-2 hour delays where the airplanes sit on a hot Texas runway with little or no air conditioning going. With ALL passengers complaining – just to save a little fuel.
Well, the US Transportation Department says they can no longer hold passengers hostage on delayed planes for hours on end. Starting in April, there will be a three-hour limit for planes stuck on tarmacs. And I for one think this is an idea whose time has long since come. (Here is the official government document in PDF.)
According to the Washington Post:
U.S. Department of Transportation regulators ordered airlines to stop the practice of holding passengers for hours on grounded airplanes. Under the new rules, airlines will have to get travelers in the air within three hours or let them off the plane. Airlines could face fines of as much as $27,500 per passenger for violations.
The new rules also say that airlines must provide adequate food and potable water for passengers within two hours of an aircraft being delayed on the tarmac. Additionally, airlines must maintain “operable lavatories” and provide passengers on delayed aircraft with necessary medical attention. The rules go into effect in about three months, officials said.
In a statement Monday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the rules would “require airlines to live up to their obligation to treat their customers fairly.”
Airlines have strongly opposed a hard time limit on tarmac strandings. They say forcing planes to return to gates so that passengers can get off could cause more problems than it cures. They predict more flights will be canceled, further delaying passengers from reaching their destinations.
Last month, the department fined Continental Airlines, ExpressJet Airlines and Mesaba Airlines $175,000 for their roles in a nearly six-hour tarmac delay in Rochester, Minn. On Aug. 8, Continental Express Flight 2816 en route to Minneapolis was diverted to Rochester due to thunderstorms. Forty-seven passengers were kept overnight in a cramped plane amid crying babies and a smelly toilet because Mesaba employees refused to open a gate so that they could enter the closed airport terminal.
The LA Times quotes the Business Travel Coalition’s online survey showing that:
…82% of travel professionals, business travelers and others support legislation to let passengers off a plane that sits on a tarmac for three hours or more.
Heck, even the pilots don’t like what the airlines are making them do!
“Pilots don’t like the idea of keeping passengers in the conditions that the airlines are imposing,” said Jason Goldberg, a 12-year veteran pilot for American Airlines and a representative for the Allied Pilots Assn.
Rules enacted include:
- Airlines barred from scheduling chronically delayed flights, and will require carriers to assign staff to monitor problems with delays.
- Airlines must provide access to bathrooms as well as food and water on domestic flights within two hours of a delay.
- After three hours, passengers must be offered a chance to disembark.
Keep in mind that the $27,500 per passenger fine equates to a potential penalty of $5.5 million for a jet with 200 people on board. But the Transportation department will be relying on customers to report all infractions of the rules! So set your stopwatch when your plane pulls away from the gate!
(Photos courtesy of Rick Kimpel and hugovk.)
This is good news, for sure, but I still cringe at having to wait upto 3 hours on a plane. People are talking like having this time limit is so great, and yes of course it’s better than what’s out there now, but come on, 3 hours on a plane? That’s rediculous. The only way I would feel happy about hearing this news is to know that they plan on further reducing the time limit by at least another hour or so.
In China, where I am at the moment, at most it’s 20 minutes. From the time the plane taxis themself out on the tarmac, and awaits the final clearance to take off, the most I had to wait is around 20 minutes. Naturally there is a lot more travel done by airplanes than here, but as with anything, once demand increases, so should all the other stuff. If it isn’t, then it’s clear to see what the result will be.
The airline industry there really needs to wake up and stop looking like bums on the street asking for money and crying poor.
Even if I’m trap in a lift I’ll be super panic..
cannot imagine how if i trap in a plane.. hohoho scary..
Thank the Lord for some common sense. I have faced this frustration several times, and the worst of it is that they never just come clean and tell you that it’s going to be x amount of time. They make it seem as if take-off is imminent, so the frustration mounts by the minute.
I think this is a good move, you cant trap them like this and suffocate them.