Will July 29, go down in history as airline traveler’s Stonewall? 120 passengers staged a protest aboard Continental Flight 1669 after waiting on the runway for over five hours.
So passengers began drumming in unison on the overhead bins. The crew freaked out, one steward admonished them “for destroying airline property,” and eventually the police were called, who boarded the plane and disembarked the passengers Continental had said were “becoming violent.”
70 of the passengers later signed a petition which said:
We did not have water, food, toilet paper.. The toilets were clogged and completely unsanitary. Moreover, there were a number of children and older and special-needs passengers, including a diabetic and a pregnant woman, who desperately needed attention.
So…how’s that Passenger’s Bill of Rights coming?
Right There on the Tarmac, the Inmates Revolt [NYT] (Thanks to Melinda!)
(Photo: FlyGuy92586)
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OMG – I was boarding a flight from Newark to LAX as the other plane was de-baording. I saw police get on the plane and disheveled passengers get off – I asked what was going on and a passenger confirmed they we stuck on the plane. After boarding my flight, and after the door was shut, our pilot informed us we would have to wait at least three hours on the tarmac due to weather. I immediately asked the attendant if we would have the option to de-board. The plane hadn’t left the gate yet, and after my second request, the pilot came on the speaker and said we could de-board if we wanted to. they brought the ramp back, and myself and one other couple got off. I was surpirsed more people didnt, but after talking to the passengers ont he other flight, i didnt want a similar experience. The flight was four hours late to lax that night. i had no trouble rebooking on the phone, and found my own hotel.
raise a stink people and force the airlines to comply.
I am pregnant, and flying in November, when I will be about 5 months pregnant. I have already started having nightmares about being trapped on the airplane. I have to drink water to stay hydrated for the health of both me and the baby – and my bladder will be squashed by the baby size and weight. Every time I hear about a situation like this, I get a little more afraid. I can sit anywhere for 5 hours if I have AC and access to a toilet – I’ll just read a book. But how the heck can any company, any airline, any flight attendant, any pilot, any airport, whose employees are HUMAN, deny any person, pregnant or not, a bathroom for that long a time? The only way to guarantee that this scenario will not happen to me is to cancel our much longed for vacation. We are all at the mercy of the airlines.
I am mightily afraid I will be in the situation that a simple polite request of “I am pregnant and need to use a bathroom, very soon, please.” will be met with refusal. In that case, I think I am going to have to start banging on my cargo bin, also. I don’t see any other way.
I recently had to fly internationally with two connections each way. Between the hours and hours flying, and then the hours and hours waiting in the terminal for my plane to begin boarding, I can certainly understand the frustration of passengers who are already ON the plane and aren’t going anywhere. 5 hours, hell 3 even, is an inexcusably long period of time for people to sit on a tarmac. If I was riding Greyhound or a public bus, I’d smash a damn window and hitchhike.
Yes, this was an international flight and those aboard would need to clear customs when they got off. But have you been to an international terminal lately? I haven’t flown into Baltimore, but there is plenty of space to keep them without actually going through customs and immigration.
Wow, just utter bull. I feel really sorry for those people but I also applaud their stand. That takes guts, esp. in the “post 9/11″ USA.
The lesson for us all here is this:
If anyone (corporations included) holds you against your will w/o access to the basics of survival (food, water, bathroom, etc.) that is inhumane treatment and you have a right to demand it stop.
Also, start bringing your cameras and camcorders w you in carry-on. If there is a delay, turn it on and start taping.
What’s the potential consequence of calling 911 because the stress is causing you to have a heart attack, but unfortunately as with so many other people it only ended up as being a panic attack?
Ok people , here’s the deal. I live in Mexico (and please leave racist comments out of this) and here, where a dollar is worth 10 times our currency there’s an airline which now advertises on tv that if you’re over 20 minutes late, they will refund your ticket, notice that you are at your destination, 30 minutes late, and you will get your ticket refunded. So how on earth are you guys, being richer and years ahead in technology and customer service can’t make that happen?
@AngrySicilian: Take Southwest from Midway instead.
@hc5duke: Uh, it’s called airstairs and a few buses. surely, that’s not that hard.
@LiC: I don’t know and you don’t know if they had international gates just readily available for them to stay in. And just because there is space to keep them there doesn’t mean that’s a good idea. From the airline’s perspective, had one of these people had TB or been a terrorist, and they had gotten out of the plane and went off somewhere, it’d be their asses on the line.
Yes, they need some policy where, if a plane is grounded for weather delays and whatnot, the airport should provide some sustenance and offer basic maintenance (bathroom), but again, this is in no way the airline’s fault. I feel sorry for the passengers who did not participate in these childish banging and chanting, and had to endure the same outcome.
@Buran: Yes, it is. I stress here again, it was an international flight. You cannot get these people off the plane and walking around before going through customs.
@hc5duke: No, customs is BEFORE THE GATE. Return to the gate and let the customers sit in the gate waiting area. No need to go thru customs again.
HC5DUKE,
Are you kidding me?????? There are reasonable limits to what passengers will and can endure. 5 hours is entirely too long; It equals a transcontinental flight and that is far to long for sitting on the run way.
Airline avoidance plan: charter flights.
@hc5duke:
No, it’s the TSA’s asses on the line and if one of those passengers had TB (LOL) or was a terrorist, the TSA already dropped the ball by letting them on the plane! Why would a suicidal terrorist – having already made it through security – sneak back into the country?!
@Troy F.: How is that TSA’s fault if they boarded the plane in another country?
There is not one solid excuse as to why passengers cannot be let back into the terminal. They are past customs and security, and would just have to re-show their boarding passes before reboarding. Give them a specific time by which they have to return to the gate. Let them sit at the gate until the plane is actually ready to depart.
Sounds simple enough.
@hc5duke: THought they were leaving from EWR. Who is responsible for security at the foreign end? I still don’t think it’s the airline.
JohnMC’s thinking is along what I was thinking…
Does anyone know what the guidelines are for false imprisonment? Is it a criminal or civil offence? Holding me for any period of time longer than I would (reasonably) desire would probably constitute false imprisonment. We definitely need a money-grubbing asshole-type lawyer (you know, an ambulance chaser) to file class-actions against the airlines each time one of these flights from hell happens.
While this was an international flight and that does complicate things a bit, especially if Baltimore’s not able to process international customs at that point, they still can bring them inside a PART of the terminal and rope/barricade it off. If you explain to the passengers the reasons behind things, I think you’ll find that things will move MUCH more smoothly.
“ON July 29, Continental Flight 1669, a 737-700 with about 120 passengers aboard, was bound for Newark from Caracas, Venezuela, when bad weather caused the plane to be diverted to Baltimore.”
When I read the plane came from Venezuela I laughed so hard, being from Caracas I know that we will not stand this kind of thing, and I completely understand the reaction of my fellow Venezuelans (and other nationalities onboard) *I love my country* (but not the president).
Even if it was an international flight no one likes to be in a plane 5 hours + the time of the actual flight, they could have let everyone back to the gate and wait in the terminal not inside the plane… but who I’m I to judge it was probably some high person in the terminal’s orders.
The reasons people get stuck on a airplane taxing out are too many to name but since I do this for a living I will chip in.
1.) The ATC system is outdated, overworked and understaffed. You can only work a system so hard before it starts to show stress. Anyone flying into the New York area sees that as EWR, LGA and JFK account for over 60 percent of ALL nationwide traffic delays. The airports are too close together, the airspace is too congested too move that much traffic around. has anybody ever noticied that EWR always has a Ground Delay Program in effect ater 1500 local. No matter the weather it is always in place, why because too many airplanes are coming into the region andd the ATC system cannot handle it.
There is a way to fix it though. Instead of being stuck on a specific route, let us fly direct using the GPS or IRS that is already on the airplane. Why can we not???? The system is not set up for that, so we fly on virtual highways in the sky and are all delayed at specific chokepoints.
2.) The airports are not big enough to handle the amount of traffic. Once you arrive at EWR, delayed I am sure, it takes along time to get to a gate, then you wait for a gate because the previous plane has not left the gate….thus they have a problem. Too many airplanes not enough gate space……
3.) As a crew member I get paid either way. I get paid a min flight time and extra if I fly more than my set amount over the month. Neither I nor anyone else wants to be on an airplane with people for hours doing nothing. But what are out options……..
You want to avoid the delays, do not fly late in the day and do not fly into the New York area. If you are going to New York use a feeder airport like White Plains. You will not have nearly the problems.
The ATC system is always in chaos. You cannot fight it so you might as well work around it.
Blaming the ATC system only goes so far. Airlines determine which cities their hubs are located. Airlines determine how many planes are going in and out of each city and at what times. Further, airlines determine the size of the planes being used, with smaller planes translating into more trips.
When airlines load up passengers on lots of small planes and schedule all their takeoffs at the same time, then of course there are going to be problems and delays. That is certainly not the fault of the ATC system, which only has a certain capacity. The airlines constantly push that capacity to the breaking point.
@Troy F. is absolutely right. Sooner or later, a plane is going to sit on the tarmac just a little longer than someone’s patience is able to bear, and that someone is going to go apeshit and someone will get hurt.
It’s going to take some captive dying to get something done about this.
Sad to say I don’t think that’ll even be enough. Instead, I suggest it will take some captive who is a close relative of a senator or a high-up federal official to get something done about this.
@etops777: This may be a stupid question, Etops, but is one particular time of day better to fly in than another? Are you less likely or more likely to encounter these kinds of delays if you leave, for example, in the early morning or late evening? Or is everything just so messed up that time doesn’t matter?
Mid morning is the best time for flying. The reasons are two fold.
1.) Early morning flight schedules can be disrupted by rest requirments for flight crews from the previous evening. Mid morning flights usually originate out of the hub city, thus the pilot base. Less likely to have problems.
2.) Weather has a less effect in mid morning flights. it avoids nasty thunder bumpers and it allows morning fog to burn off.
If I travel for pleasure I try to make it Saturday around 10am. I also avoid the New York area for connections all the time. Chicago is not bad as the ATC guys are REALLY good, they allow us to keep the speed up on arrival and depart multiple flights out at once with turns in opposite directions. Did I say they were good……Denver does good except for the occasional huge snowstorm but you can usually plan around those.
Good luck out there on your flights and try to remember the flight crews are stuck in the same position you are, so try to be nice. If you have a problem hop on the cell phone and call the corporate guys. If you are on AA the pilots usually have the number of the CEO handy for that reason.
Let’s have a requirement that all airline execs have to fly commercial…..IN COACH. It’s the only way to improve the airline industry.
Actually that’s stupid. We seriously need high speed rail….I’d be willing to travel 10 hours to take a non-stop bullet train from SF to NY.
@Wormfather: Then how about relieving the load on the big airports by having some smaller airports fly out to Europe/Asia?
@IRSistherootofallevil: (should have included both in a single post instead of double posting but can’t edit)That’s what the US really needs- effective high-speed rail links like Japan has. Maybe the monumental delays we face in the airports now will get Amtrak to start developing an American version of the Shinkansen. After all, in a train station the delay isn’t half as bad as it is in the airport.
@Cheve: “I live in Mexico and…”
Because the TSA is a United States malignancy?
Next time an airline holds a plane full of passengers hostage like this, one of the passengers should stand up and say, “Attention, everyone. I’m passing around a piece of paper and a pen. Would one person in each group please print their name and phone number legibly. When we finally get to our destination, I will contact a lawyer and ask him to institute a class action suit on all our behalves.”
Either the crew would FIND a way to get the bucket off the ground or the airline would get its ass handed to it down the road.
No “destruction of airline property,” no snarling dogs, just lawyers doing what lawyers do.
@Cheve: no racist comments coming from me! I hope you see this now that the post is a few days old… pray tell, which airline? And I hope they code-share with American!
Others: I’ve flown three different Mexican airlines that I can recall, and for the most part, they rulez! They’re about par on prices with the American carriers for the routes I fly, and the service is fantastic compared to what we’ve become accustomed to.
Mostly I do HMO (Hermosillo) and BJX (Bajia/Guanajuato), but I’ve connected in El D.F., Monterrey, and Guadalajara, and I’ve never had a bad experience on a Mexican airline.
I posit that the competition is truly more fierce in Mexico. Only 20-30% is middle class, and the motor coach (even luxury class) is still the predominant means of transportation. In the USA where 100% of the people are middle class (by Mexican standards), they’re able to treat us like sheep. Bastardos!
Aeromexico, Aerolitoral, and Mexicana are my Mexican experiences.
@ ZENETEC
Um the airlines are doing us a favor by being in business. If there were no airlines to transport us around quickly we would have to drive, ride a train, take a bus, or sit on a boat for weeks to get to our desired destination. So while you are paying the fee to sit in that cramped space it is your choice to do so, and they are offering a service that requires operators to spend thousands of dollars a year in training to become a pilot then must maintain their flight status.
I agree that sitting on the plane for hours is ridiculous without some kind of service. But if they need to start serving drinks then they may as well pull in to a gate, because they can’t take off with tray tables down and they have to stow all of the carts again. However in most cases it’s not the fault of the airline, the airports won’t let the planes take off, and if they return to the gate they lose any priority regarding when they can take off again. Delays have more to do with how the airport is run, not what the flight attendants or pilot is doing.
@Cheve
because for some reason, the American airline industry is buried in wealth and monopoly and the government simply has its head up its ass.
I don’t EVER recommend flying with an american airline. In May, I’m going to Italy, and luckily I’ve booked a CHEAPER flight with TAP Portugal out of Newark.
Dear Readers,
Interesting comments by all.
Please allow me to add my comments by first saying that it is most certainly obscene that the airlines (ALL AIRLINES) SOMETIMES (and that is a big sometimes!) treat passengers the way they do. I firmly believe that!
Please don’t forget the statement I just made in the previous paragraph. I will make several statements as to how and why, but the bottom line is that I completely believe that statement.
Some of you make valid, sensible and thoughtful arguements. However, other comments are written by, quite simply, the same idiots that none of us want to sit next to on a five hour flight. You know, the same people that check their brains with their bags when they walk through the front door of the terminal.
Sorry if I have offended some of you (and you know who you are). My purpose in posting here to tell you exactly why situations like this occur.
A few of the previous posters attempted to tell you, Dear Reader, why these situations occur but they didn’t tell you the complete story. Why? Hell, I dunno. Perhaps they have an agenda or perhaps they really don’t know diddly-squat. Who knows?
In any case, I am going to tell you EXACTLY why and how situations like this occur. How you decide to deal with the situation is your call.
Now, I am sure at this point, many of you are asking yourself “what makes him such the expert?”
I’ll tell you what makes me the expert. I have been flying airline transport aircraft professionally for over 23 years. I have an intimate knowledge of “the system” that is known as the United States airline travel industry and my expertise in these matters has been learned and honed by working in this industry for over 2 decades. This knowledge affords me the luxury (Ha, that’s rich!) to say without the slightest hesitation, I know how things work and I know why things can get so screwed up so fast.
I know why airline CEO’s do what they do, I know why politicians do what they do (and they share much of the blame for what happens in this industry), I know why the FAA does what it does, I know why passengers do what they do and I know why flight crews (pilots and flight attendants) do what they do.
In other words, I could write a book on the subject. But who would read it? Perhaps you will, perhaps not.
In any case, let us get to the task at hand and do so without delay (pun intened)! I would like to have a decent meal and perhaps a cocktail before I take my rest to fly you back from “Wally World” to your home. Don’t worry, I’ll be sober and legal for YOUR flight!
If the owners of this website want to read more of what I have to say, they need to approve me as a user. I will then happily and succintly tell you EVERYTHING I know and how it can be fixed.
Regards,
JMike
Three cheers for passenger chutzpah!
I was stuck on a CO flight to San Diego – ON the tarmac, for 8 hours! Five hours of waiting later, the following exchange happened.
ME: Can we have some snacks?
Flight attendant (FA): Sorry, the captain does not want us to serve dinner.
ME: This is ridiculous… It’s been six hours on the tarmac, and we are starving!
FA: I can sympathize, because I have not eaten in six hours either.
ME: Sir, YOU did not pay money to buy a ticket to travel on this flight – you work here!