New DOT rule limits airline tarmac delays

[DandyDon]

I've got 4 million miles with one airline and have never had the problem, but these days I do worry about getting stuck in a metal tube for hours on the ground. There are some loopholes here, but it sets a standard at least. It seems that foreign airlines may be excepted tho, and the recent Air Jamaica stranding involved a plane stuck in the snow anyway...

From New DOT rule limits airline tarmac delays - CNN.com

Washington (CNN) -- A Department of Transportation rule announced Monday prohibits U.S. aircraft on domestic routes from remaining on a tarmac for more than three hours with passengers aboard.
"Airline passengers have rights, and these new rules will require airlines to live up to their obligation to treat their customers fairly," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.
Exceptions to the three-hour rule would be allowed only for safety and security reasons or if air traffic controllers advise a pilot that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations, the department said.
U.S. airlines operating international flights departing from or arriving in the United States "must specify, in advance, their own time limits for deplaning passengers, with the same exceptions applicable," the statement said.
The rule goes into effect 120 days after date of publication in the Federal Register.

 

[mike_s]

I think airlines holding passengers "hostage" on a plane on the tarmac for 3-4 hours, or even overnight as they have done before also is just crazy.

They should be held accountable.


(and yes I've been stuck in a plane for 4-5 hours before on the ground. not fun).

Exceptions to the three-hour rule would be allowed only for safety and security reasons or if air traffic controllers advise a pilot that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations, the department said.

I see this is an "out" probably added in by airport and airline lobbies.



For example, they'll say there is a safety issue with sending the ground crew out in a storm to get passengers off the plane. (yet they have no problems leaving passengers on the plane in the storm.) I've seen them claim this before personally.

Or the "disrupt airport operations". They left passengers on a plane overnight at one airport because they said they didn't have enough TSA screeners to screen them before they let them back on the plane.


seems to me that this is just wallpaper to cover up the real problem.

 

[ps1mhd]

10 min on the ground and I'm clawing the windows trying to get out

 

[ScubaSteve]

Anybody that flies into Dallas frequently knows that spending time in a metal tube can easily become a reality.....my longest Dallas delay due to electrical storms was 1 hour. The longest I have been held on the tarmac was 2 hours and that was because we were diverted from Chicago to St.Louis due to weather but they needed us off the plane and clearing customs (international flight) so we needed to wait for them to open the airport.

No matter what gets written, the customer will still get shafted by the airline.

 

[mike_s]

most of my long delays (of over an hour or more) were in Dallas and due to the ground crews refusing to get wet and work due to so called "safety". (meaning it was cold, wet, and raining and they didn't want to get wet.)

so they sat inside, forced everyone to be late for their connections, while we sat in a metal tube.

 

[ScubaSteve]

most of my long delays (of over an hour or more) were in Dallas and due to the ground crews refusing to get wet and work due to so called "safety". (meaning it was cold, wet, and raining and they didn't want to get wet.)

so they sat inside, forced everyone to be late for their connections, while we sat in a metal tube.

My sister actually works at DFW and the contract that the ground crew have is very clear about what weather they will and will not work in. Electrical storms (which are very frequent) and a definite NO!

 

[ReefHound]

The one and only solution that would solve the problem is the one solution that was left out of these new regulations - passenger compensation. For a fraction of the $27,500 per passenger fine, the passenger would waive any delays just as they do with being "bumped" from overbooking.

 

[mike_s]

My sister actually works at DFW and the contract that the ground crew have is very clear about what weather they will and will not work in. Electrical storms (which are very frequent) and a definite NO!

yet their contract has no problems leaving passengers on the tarmac in a lightning storm...

go figure

 

[goaliemn]

yet their contract has no problems leaving passengers on the tarmac in a lightning storm...

You're probably safer in the plane than the crew is on the ground.. You're much more insulated from ground, so odds of a strike are pretty low.

I think there will be more cancellations of flights due to weather. Rather than risk a fine because of bad weather at the origin or destination, they'll just cancel. Since its a weather related cancellation, no compensation is needed to the passengers.

I think this is going to backfire bad and cause more delays.