400 Stranded On Airplane For 7 Hours (Plane Never Left The Gate)

[matcom]

:eyes:

<snip>

Nearly 400 passengers were stranded aboard a Cathay Pacific Airways jet for more than seven hours Tuesday at San Francisco International Airport, adding yet another planeload of angry consumers to a growing industry backlash.

Passengers boarded Flight CX873 to Hong Kong just after midnight Tuesday for a 1:20 a.m. departure. But the Boeing 747 never left the gate.

"We sat there three hours before they said anything," said Mark Valenta, a newlywed for whom the flight was to have been the start of a dream honeymoon to Asia. "Then the PA system went down, the lights were going on and off, babies were crying. It was a nightmare."

And it lasted the entire night.

It wasn't until 7:30 a.m. that the flight finally was canceled due to equipment problems and passengers disembarked.

more....

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/06/20/MNGSLQIDEN1.DTL

[begin_within]

1. I think there should be a federal law that,

if the plane does not take to the air within 30 minutes after the scheduled departure time, every passenger must be refunded an amount equal to seven times what they paid for their ticket. No matter WHAT the cause of the delay was. Money is the ONLY thing that would make the airlines clean up their act.

[Puglover]

2. Dear Bob

What a novel idea! And what would be your solution when ATC stops departures and strands the a/c out on the tarmac due to weather. In case you don't know, ATC is run by the feds and the airline companies have no control over it. Period. This happens every single day due to traffic or weather. I can't wait to hear.

Even better. Why not give every pissed off passenger a cadillac? :eyes:


All this said Cathay was totally fucked here. Those people have every right to reasonable compensation.

[havocmom]

4. Add that some carriers seem to be looking for financial set-backs

so they can argue for even MORE concessions from their workforce.

The airlines wouldn't absorb the penalties, their workers, investors and customers would. The brass would still be golden.

[begin_within]

7. Who the hell's side are you people on for Christ's sake?

[Puglover]

10. Um Reality? n/t

[havocmom]

14. Yep, reality and common sense

You want to punish air carriers for things they can't control?

If lots of delays are due to improper maintenance, yeah, crank down on the carriers. But to set some arbitrary standard for any delays? That is just plain ridiculous.

[begin_within]

6. Who the hell's side are you people on?

[grace0418]

3. I understand the frustration but imagine the kind of chaos

a law like that would cause. Airlines who didn't want to have to pay up would be rushing planes with equipment problems out of the gates, or spacing take-offs too close together. That's a huge tragedy waiting to happen.

When I'm going to be 40,000 feet in the air I am TOTALLY FINE with them taking all the time they need to make sure the plane I'm on isn't going to crash. Having said that, a situation described in the OP is completely unacceptible. THREE HOURS before they even said anything?! Good grief!! No, there absolutely should've been some kind of announcement at no later than 30 minutes after the scheduled departure. And why didn't they just let the poor people off the plane after an hour? That's fucking ridiculous.

[begin_within]

8. Oh, I forgot to mention the other part: an automatic $100,000,000 fine for ANY crash.

[Puglover]

11. Ok...

:rofl:

[havocmom]

15. Guess some people flat out want air travel ended

;)

[Auggie]

5. I'd like to see a law where at least disclosure/updates are mandatory every 20 minutes.

What are they trying to protect by keeping people in the dark?

I'd say one hour would be a reasonable amount of time to wait.

[matcom]

12. I would go one simpler

1 hour MAX stuck on a plane. Then they are REQUIRED to let you off until it is fixed. At LEAST give passengers the 'courtesy' of access to bathrooms, food, etc...

[Gormy Cuss]

13. Especially when the plane is at the freaking gate.

It wouldn't have been that hard to let the passengers off, now would it?

[pitohui]

17. bob, your law would kill people

you NEVER create a financial incentive for an airline to send off a flight while there are doubts about the ability of the craft to operate safely

never, never, NEVER

there is a reason that pax don't receive compensation for weather delays and air traffic control delays, the reason being that airlines must NOT be encouraged for financial reasons to fly in dangerous weather or aga. ATC instructions

next question?

[fudge stripe cookays]

9. I would have been pissed...

but I would have been even more pissed if they weeren't running the air. Much of the time they sit there, the power is barely on.

If I don't have air blowing on me, I'd pass out (I'm heat sensitive from the MS), THEN there'd be a lawsuit.

[Arugula Latte]

16. Why do the airlines keep doing this??????

Jesus!!