Why was Delta Air Lines flight 745 stuck on the tarmac 392 minutes?

It seems like avoiding JFK would also be a good idea.

Timbo, me and you both! I’ll brandish my Medic-Alert bracelet and start screaming lawsuit! LOL.

Well, at least the delay got logged as “air carrier” instead of “ATC” (usually self-inflicted, especially at NYC airports) or “weather” (no such thing as a seven-hour “weather” delay.)

But hey, according to the airlines, regulation won’t fix anything, and they should be allowed to “self-regulate” tarmac delays, and put in “model plans” (that don’t have to be followed), and create commissions, task forces, and blue-ribbon panels to study the problem.

The time for all that is over.

SirWired

With three events at the same airport on the same day, I wonder what else was happening.

As many times as I’ve been stuck in the “penalty box” at Detroit Metro waiting for an assigned gate to clear, I wonder how much of this has to do with the airlines not being able to, or wanting to, take the plane to an unassigned gate. Is there an extra cost if they do that? Do they have so few gates now at JFK that they physically could not get the plane to a gate?

There are too many questions and not nearly enough answers. I agree with other commenters.. once you’re on the plane, the flight attendants and pilots are not going to put up with ANY back talk from the passengers. They are too willing to use the federal marshals and regulations as a billy-club to beat passengers into submission. We need a passenger bill of rights, either enacted into law or adopted by all airlines, that proscribes this type of behavior BEFORE it happens!

@Eric Smith… can you elaborate on why it would be illegal to call 911 from a plane sitting on a tarmac. Why wouldn’t you be able to call the police to tell them you’re being held against your will, after say 4 hours?

Hold me hostage on a plane and I’m suddenly going to come down with “swine flu.” Or maybe “chest pain.” Or a “panic attack.” Or maybe my “Tourette syndrome” will start acting up. The plane will return to the terminal, pronto.

you should not try to regulate airlines just let the free market do it. this is a capitolist soceity. if u do not like the airlines then dont fly.

this is all borat hussein obamas fault because he iz a muslim communist who was born in kenya and is trying to indoctrincate my kids by telling them to stay in school and learn his liberal agenda.

big business is more efficient then government. they should be alowed to operate unregulated and do whatever they want to passengers because its a free country. you choose to get on the plane so yuo suck it up.

george W bush is a hero because he made flying safer and created TSA which is better thenn whoever did securty before.

all these liberals trying to give our country away to the muslims is the reason flying is dangerous and flight attendants have to be strict. if it wasn’t for liberals we wouldn’t have tarmac dellays.

if you call 911 and lie you should go to jail for filing a false report 911 is only for emergencies. there needs to be more personal responsibility in this country. people in bad situations its there own fault.

i am worried about teh direction of tihs country because obama is so scary.
he hates amerika.

oh, and PS – no one has suggested at this point that perhaps a few passengers simply asking the flight crew to return to the gate to let me off, and simply indicating that they had exhausted their patience, would not be met with the attitude that ok, we’ll take you back.

In order to be ‘kept against your will’ you need to tell the person whose is detaining you that you no longer consent to being detained. At THAT point, after a reasonable period of time, you can call the police to be rescued. You would NOT be ‘interfering with flight crew’ because the flight crew need to performing lawful duties. . . and detaining you against your will is not a lawful activity.

Have we ALL become wimps? Is the threat of an overbearing government truly reached the point where everyone is a sheep now?

How about expressing your displeasure. Firmly stating: “I no longer consent to being on this aircraft, please return me to the gate.” See what they say. If they refuse, POLITELY state that unless you arrange for me to leave this aircraft I will treat it was an unlawful confinement and take steps I deem appropriate up to and including contacting police and taking self-help measures.

@Meg, why do you have to wait 4 hours? Personally, if I am being held in a plane and my water has run out or I need to use a toilet and the crew won’t let me, that is the end of my patience. I have been very puzzled by Chris’ comments in the past that anything longer than 3 hours should not be allowed. Perhaps I am not such an experienced traveler as others on this site, but I think anything longer than an hour is too long. AND you shouldn’t be forced to sit in those uncomfortable seats for an hour, but be allowed to walk around–terrorists be damned! If everyone is so afraid of terrorists, then no plane should be left sitting on the tarmac. Period.

Perhaps I feel this way because I remember flying TWA in 1982 (my first plane trip) when people still dressed up, refreshments and food were served, and seats were actually comfortable. Since the airlines decided to change their business model from an unprofitable one to a sometimes profitable one, air travel has become a nightmare, necessary only because of the places I like to travel. Of course, if my employer offered unlimited vacation time, I would travel by ship to my destination, but that is not an option. I still don’t understand why it is legal to hold passengers captive on a plane.

Yes, it is acceptable. Well, that is if they pay me my hourly wage for any time in excess of 20 minutes. Now do that for all passengers and the wait time will go down dramatically. It was inexcusable.