Comments on: “Now I know what it’s like to be in hell”

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 06:23:36 +0000

Now that this is a year later and they have been fined….we all know it was an inexcusable ordeal.
I don’t know about the rest of the readers, but I dont’ think the fine was enough. I think that whomever was responsbile should have been fired. They should also have been imprisoned for the number of hours the plane was on the tarmac times the number of passengers on the plane – and then “doubled” for punitive damages.
Each passenger should have received $1000 in compensation plus $20,000 in punative damages.

The reason I feel this way is because it is so completely absolutely unacceptable to me for them to have done this that extreme punishment needs to be meted out. A fine..the airline would get over it. Putting the person who decided this in the slammer for awhile certainly would make people think twice about doing such a thing again.

For those who said “walk away”, you can’t take your laptop down the slider and they would have instantly “found” the cops, you would have been in a restricted area, and the whole bunch of people at the airport would have tunred it into something that was the passengers fault.

I do not know what happend as far as the passengers are concerned, but I do hope they have launched civil lawsuits in addition to the fines levied. I know they now limit the delays to three hours, but this needs to be punished. It is not forgotten. I have flown 38,000 miles so far this year. 1000 of it was on Continental, which I would have preferred to have avoided, but I certainly do not want to be rotting on one of their aircraft all night – ever.

By: Government issues “precedent-setting” fines against two airlines in Rochester incident

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:11:10 +0000

[...] last summer’s overnight tarmac stranding incident in Rochester, Minn.? The government does. This morning it issued what it called a [...]

By: Tarmac delay hall of shame: US Airways loses in latest month

Tarmac delay hall of shame: US Airways loses in latest month — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:11:55 +0000

[...] might think the the ExpressJet Airlines flight 2816 would be a standout. Not quite correct. Here’s the full list: 1. ExpressJet Airlines flight [...]

By: Transportation Department shifts blame in tarmac incident to Mesaba

Transportation Department shifts blame in tarmac incident to Mesaba — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:18:45 +0000

[...] the Continental/ExpressJet tarmac incident earlier this month? Everyone was quick to blame the airline for holding passengers overnight [...]

By: “I have never seen such chaos on an airplane”

“I have never seen such chaos on an airplane” — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:39:07 +0000

[...] Steve Steinberg says he was trapped 5 1/2 hours on British Airways flight 269 from Los Angeles to London. It all happened on Aug. 17, a little over a week after a Continental/ExpressJet incident in which passengers were forced to spend the night on a plane. [...]

By: Julie

Julie — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 04:32:59 +0000

“The airline industry and its apologists are pushing for a final version of the bill that leaves it up to airlines to determine when to roll back to the gate. They say this “common sense” approach allows them to be flexible and keeps the government out of the airline industry, which is where they say it belongs.” I’d be happy with this, if interfering with a flight crew in this instance were not a crime. I would want OFF of this flight.

By: Business travel group supports turn-back law for airlines — who will join it?

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:29:56 +0000

[...] fallout from ExpressJet Airlines 2816 disaster: The National Business Travel Association has thrown its weight behind a “turn back” [...]

By: Continental Airlines faces $27,500 fine in tarmac stranding incident

Continental Airlines faces $27,500 fine in tarmac stranding incident — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:48:40 +0000

[...] this morning a sent a letter to Continental Airlines inquiring into the circumstances of its recent Continental/Express Jet flight 2816 extended delay. So what’s next? I asked Transportation Department spokesman Bill [...]

By: DN

DN — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:57:58 +0000

@Logan: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-915&tab=committees

I think this shows the House committees but read this notice: Furthermore, if your Member of Congress does not sit on any committee relevant to this bill, you generally have no opportunity to voice your opinion on the bill while the bill is receiving its most important consideration.

By: Lyngengr

Lyngengr — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:53:57 +0000

I suspect that a number of factors combined to hold these people hostage on board the aircraft. Because the plane arrived around midnight, it would have been difficult to get alternate transportation arranged at that time, and there would have always been the issue of who was paying for it.

I should point out this was a regional jet, with a door that is also a stairway. It is not difficult to open this door. I think after a couple of hours, I would have politely informed the FA that if she didn’t open up the door and let me and the rest of the passengers off this plane, then I would do it for her.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:34:08 +0000

Diverted aircraft cost the airlines $billions each year in fuel, landing & gate fees, and on-the-clock cabin and cockpit crew. No airline wants this to happen. No airline wants to trap customers – they want them to come back and fly with them again. No airline wants negative national publicity. No pilots and flight attendants want to suffer in a small plane for 9 hours, stuck with 40+ angry people. These things happen very rarely and there are always reasons – most of them good, some of them not.

By: srfrgrl1

srfrgrl1 — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:12:19 +0000

Richard, you are so right!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:48:24 +0000

Justin, I think you are grasping at straws trying to find a reason that this plane was isolated. Yes, there are situations were a quarantine or isolation might be warranted. But in this case the TSA has said they didn’t require one (they weren’t even involved) and there has been no indications of a health issue that would require isolation/quarantine. The only reason other than those is that they were being kept isolated as possible witnesses to a crime. If that was the case, then I guess Continental was being good and making sure the witnesses against them didn’t disappear.

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:41:32 +0000

James,

One would like to think there was a good reason to keep people waiting that long. I WOULD HOPE there was anyway. Should there not have been, then I say something needs to be done and investigated. Keeping people on a plane this long is uncalled for. To add insult to injury, detaining them against their will, is plain malicious. Assuming there was a reason, then this hard take isn’t valid. However, if no GOOD REASON can be found (and we don’t know ourselves as we weren’t there), then yes. Let these airlines pay for their HORRIBLE HANDLING of the situation! I’m all for punishing bad behavior.

Justin

By: Fresh From Twitter : The ChipCast || by Chip Mahaney

Fresh From Twitter : The ChipCast || by Chip Mahaney — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:24:19 +0000

[...] ExpressJet Airlines flight 2816 passenger: “Now I know what it’s like to be in hell” http://bit.ly/6LvXiBad Photoshop; Sad Story? That or those are some REALLY SMALL kids. http://bit.ly/1XxIXz @kmartRT [...]