Because we love nothing better than a "We're Mad As Hell And We're Not Going To Take It Anymore" story, we give you this story, about a local Bay Area woman who got stuck on a tarmac for nine and a half hours when her flight got diverted from it's point of destination. The flight she took was supposed to have been from SFO to Dallas (as in Dallas, Texas, not Dulles-- we always get them confused and boy, nothing says "we're an idiot" like getting on the wrong plane) but the flight was diverted to Austin because of tornado warnings in the Dallas area. And so her plane sat. And sat. And sat some more. For nine and a half hours. Finally, they were allowed to fly off and fifty hours after they left, they finally made it to their destination. Let's hope it wasn't for a long weekend.
Says Kate Hanni, one of the passengers, "there were people getting ill, the toilets did begin to overflow." We've done a lot of flying and can thankfully say, we've been through some bad things but never that bad. We can't imagine why anybody would think that it would be a good idea to have a plan stuck on the tarmac for nine hours. Isn't that something the Administration would do and then totally deny and then attack anybody who dared suggest they do it up until they point they admit to doing it?
So after getting pretty much nothing but finger pointing from the people involved, Kate went to go do something about it. Like everyone else these days, she started a blog. Actually, she did more than that-- she started the Coalition for Airline Passenger's Bill of Rights and sent a letter to Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. What they want and what they want now is a whole bunch of things, not the least of which is making it so people don't get stuck on tarmacs for more than they have to. And if people are, airlines have to guarantee food, sanitary conditions, and medical help if needed. Also requested are more information about which flights get delayed the most, better compensation for bumped passengers and passengers delayed by more than twelve hours and a Passenger Review Committee to oversee all of this.
A similar measure was brought up in 1999 but quickly shot down by lobbyists for the airline industry and the politicians they had bought off. Hopefully, the same thing won't happen this time.
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I can understand that people were bored, frustrated, and upset. But I've read reports of people becoming ill, people describing the situation as subhuman, etc. I think the expectations of passengers need a major readjust. If you're getting on a flight, no matter how short, you should be prepared to be on that plane for five or six times the flight's duration (obviously not if it's a long haul). Bring plenty of stuff to keep you entertained and just resign yourself that you are in a situation that you cannot control. This is the emotional part that people just don't get. It causes anxiety, and in my experience, pretty childish behavior in my fellow passengers. And if being on a plane for 10 hours will make you sick, then you really shouldn't be flying, should you? Oh, I don't work for the airlines, I'm just a frequent flyer who gets delayed a lot and just f**king deals.
Tarmac.