Comments on: Why is it legal to keep passengers waiting on the tarmac more than five hours?

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 05:04:08 +0000

Alex, maybe people should start doing that to force the airlines to smarten up!

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:55:52 +0000

There’s an easy solution to waiting more than 2 hours on the runway – keep some ipecac syrup in your carry one – at 1 hour, 55 minutes into the tarmac delay, take two swigs – at the two hour point the plane will be back at the gate with a projectile vomiting medical emergency ;-)

By: Wm Hope

Wm Hope — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 19:31:50 +0000

Excuses of having no gate are probably bogus; after all, I fly only abt a dozen times per yr, and even at that freq., I’ve had flites at major airports that were boarded/deplaned via stair/ramp, just like back in the 60’s. It might be a bit of a trial to the airline/airport staffs, but it would work. Oh, and if they say we’re unable to get close enough to terminals, what abt the buses that run interterminal airside at major airports? Once, when my wife was just limping post-op, at ATL they devoted the entire bus just to transport us to a domestic gate after we cleared customs at an int’l arrivals gate in a different terminal (we’d just asked for a wheelchair, expecting the customary golfcart at most>). These airline excuses may have a lot of reasons, some valid, but it is hard to avoid a conjecture that laziness in the customer service ethos is part of the problem a lot of time

By: AspenDew

AspenDew — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:12:30 +0000

I’m not sure how much control the airlines have over this. If there’s no gate, they can’t just let passengers off the airplane onto an active part of the tarmac. Seems to me some sort of solution involving the airlines *and* the airports in question needs to be found?

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:18:32 +0000

@deborah It was an emergency family situation and not my kids! Long story leading up to it, but I did not expect to be on a plane with small children that day

By: Deborah

Deborah — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:58:28 +0000

@J- With an infant and a toddler on a plane, why in the WORLD wouldn’t you bring AT LEAST snacks for them? Seriously. I am an adult, but always have water and protein snack in my carryon- in case of just this instance.

I can’t imagine travelling with children without supplies.

By: Ed

Ed — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:02:36 +0000

@Dave
“Apparently flight attendent union regulations did not allow them to stay in the plane after a certain number of hours without taking off. We had to taxi back to the gate and wait another 4 hours for a crew to be flown in from Chicago.”

Isn’t that funny…the flight crew is protected by their union, but the passengers have to endure false imprisonment.

By: Linda Snow

Linda Snow — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:43:58 +0000

In response to “Nobody”, who suggests a “Lets Roll” approach to tarmac stranding:
Are you kidding? People these days are being kicked off planes, arrested or even shot for anything interpreted as disruptive behavior – complaining, taking videos of surly attendants, even coughing loudly. We’re afraid to fight back, and justly so.

By: Alan Fiermonte

Alan Fiermonte — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:05:39 +0000

A great new term for forced, extended tarmac strandings would be
“tarmacboarding”…the act of being blindfolded, having a barf bag stuffed in your mouth, taxied out to a tarmac, and having incessant delays, misinformation, starvation, and personal discomforts poured down your throat until you begin to drown in your own severe mental anguish, frustration and claustrophobia. Tarmacboarding…take a taxi-way to the dark side. Coming soon to a airport near you.

By: Ernest

Ernest — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:26:38 +0000

I was recently stranded on a plane on the DFW tarmac. We were waiting for take off when a severe storm blew in although I think they were trying to beat it. All the planes on the runway access turned into the 60mph winds and shut down the engines for about 1 hour. The stewardess served drinks and we were allowed to move around while waiting. It was actually the most enjoyable ‘wait’ that I have ever experienced on a aircraft, expecially since it was on an American Eagle (AA) flight back to Lubbock. Those guys hold the worlds record (according to me) in being jerks on the plane but this time they actually came through. I was only 3 hours late getting home. One of my best AA times yet.