Domestic

Finally: An End to Tarmac Torture?

With Congressional action pending, some airlines have moved to alleviate the pain of waiting endless hours on the tarmac during flight delays.

When financial fraudster Bernard Madoff went to jail, the media described the harsh punishment of being locked in a 7-by-8-foot jail cell. But one doesn't need to pilfer billions to know about confinement, says Kate Hanni. Just try being locked in a 21-by-34 inch space for 13 hours.

Hanni suffered this fate aboard an airliner during a nearly 13-hour ground hold. She recently described her experience to cable channel C-SPAN.

"There was no food or potable water. Toilets were overflowing, babies screaming, diabetics going into shock. The pilot finally decided to pull into the gate without permission, saying he could lose his job for doing so."

Hanni's experience led her to found the website Flyersrights.org, dedicated to mandating that airlines treat their onboard passengers better during long delays. There were 1,232 such slowdowns exceeding three hours in 2008, reports Flyersrights. Other sources put that number closer to 20,000.

According to Hanni, new laws are needed. "Once that door closes, passengers have fewer rights than prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention," she says.

Several bills now in Congress are designed to reverse that situation, and there's a proposal to allow passengers to sue carriers operating chronically delayed flights for conducting "unfair and deceptive practices," by stating they'll get you there on time. But some of the airlines themselves have now moved to create a more reasonable standard.

One is Continental (along with Continental Express). A recently enacted policy gives passengers the right to deplane after a 3-hour ground delay, if it's technically possible to do so. "Portable stairs can be brought out to the jet and customers can ride a bus back to the terminal," reports The Houston Chronicle. Hanni notes, however, that the policy is not part of Continental's contract of carriage, the document which legally binds airline behavior.

Southwest's policy is for crew to "take the temperature of the customers" after two hours, says airline spokesman Chris Maintz. This would be followed by a decision on whether to continue the wait or return to the gate. Jetblue, meanwhile, whose 10-hour delays three years ago ignited the debate about long ground holds, now mandates deplaning after 5 hours on the tarmac.

Other airlines have been less proactive on the issue, noting the difficulty of turning a plane around once on a taxiway, and the desire to protect the rights of those who wish to wait it out rather than face further delay in remounting the flight at a later time. "The vast majority of our customers would rather arrive late than have the flight canceled," says Continental's Julie King.

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