The State Of The Passenger's Bill Of Rights
Time magazine has an article about the state of the passenger's bill of rights that is currently attached to the FAA authorization bill and is making its way through the Senate.
According to Time, the Senate has added a loophole for the airlines that will allow airlines to keep passengers on planes more than 4 hours.
If the airlines file "contingency plans" to the DOT that explain how they will handle future delays, the airlines would not be required to deplane passengers after four hours on the tarmac (though they would still have to ensure sanitary conditions on the planes)."This new wording does seem to negate the original purpose of the Bill of Rights, [which was] to make sure passengers aren't stranded on tarmacs," says John Gentzel, press secretary for Senator Snowe.The clostrophobe inside us is rooting for the Passenger's Bill of Rights. The rest of the Time article is really nothing new, more harping on JetBlue and American Airlines and heaping helpings of self-congratulation concerning all the successful "negative publicity" that the mainstream media has heaped upon the now-prostrate airlines.
Will airlines toe the line just because Time and CNN will write mean things about them if they screw up? Time seems to think so. We're less sure. —MEGHANN MARCO
Is a Passenger's Bill of Rights Wrong? [Time]
(Photo: mojojornjorn)
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Comments:
When my Southwest flight was delayed at the gate, the attendants gave out temporary passes saying "We let you off the plane. We're not JetBlue." You can't pay for that kind of marketing.
When my Southwest flight was delayed at the gate, the attendants gave out temp
I would just like to express my heartfelt thanks for your proper use and spelling of the phrase toe the line.
@ Miss Anthropy and Meghann: yeah, amen.
Claustrophobe, not clostrophobe.
You know, I think I am a lucky one... I have no problem whatsoever waiting on a plane for hours. I just put on my headphones and lean back. You know, if everyone could just be relaxed when on a plane we wouldn't have these problems. Take a breath and calm down people.
Note that sometimes being stuck on the plane is better than the alternative...
I was stuck on a plane from JFK to SFO on Friday night: between weather issues, the ATC computer crash, a semi-emergency landing on another runway, construction, etc, we were stuck on the plane for 3.5 hours before we took off.
However, as we were finally rolling into line to actually take off, the pilot explained "If we returned to the gate, we would have had to cancel the flight, and all flights to SFO are full until sunday or monday anyway"