16-Hour Flight From Hell - "You Can Either Stay Onboard, Or Get Arrested"
A six-hour flight from Mexico to Seattle turned into a 16-hour ordeal after intense fog caused the flight to be rerouted to Portland.
There, the passengers sat on the tarmac for over four hours because there were not enough customs agents to process their entry. Some of the travelers became so angry that the police boarded the plane and told everyone they had two choices: stay on the plane, or get arrested. Eventually, the plane ended up getting sent back to Mexico, with the original passengers still on it. How about that Passenger's Bill of Rights, eh?
After 16 hours, passengers end up where they started [KING5] (Thanks to Caslonbold!) (Photo: FlyGuy92586)
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Comments:
Not clear (yet) that this is Mexicana's fault, or that the passenger bill of rights would have made a difference. If they were kept on the plane due to gov't requirements, then that's not really Mexicana's fault. If ATC let them take off for Seattle, and then diverted them to an airport where the passengers couldn't disembark, that's not really the airline's fault.
How long does one have to wait until they become the top priority of the customs agents? Apparently, more than eight hours.
"There are not enough customs agents." Is not an acceptable excuse to wait more than two hours, and that statement only applies when at a very busy international airport.
Not enough customs agents?
I have seen two agents process a train with about 100 people on it in 1 hour. Sure, there would be a line, but unless there was not a single customs agent at Portland's airport, that excuse seems implausible. My bet is that someone wasn't sure of the paperwork due to the flight being re-routed, and so left them there stranded.
It would be nice if all international airports had an area somewhere that was secure from a customs standpoint but still with basic services, chairs, restrooms, a TV where passengers could wait in this type of scenario.
It's a major, major problem that the air travel industry doesn't learn from its "mistakes"...in this case it wasn't really the airline's fault, but prior planning at PDX could have prevented this sort of thing.
Everyone loses here: the passengers first and foremost, as well as the airline (total waste of fuel, crew overtime, mad passengers)
If they got arrested, they still would have been able to enter the country. Bad decision...
stay on the plane, or get arrested? Am i hearing (make that reading) this correctly? Anybody else just speechless after reading that? Im trying to think of a witty remark but am at a loss of words.
"didn't have enough customs agents at the airport to process the flight. "
Enough, or any? Seems that 1 would have been enough. Sure seems preferable to flying them back to Mexico.
I would have chosen the arrested option, especially because they received no food, save for some burgers.
Hmm... getting arrested would've meant getting processed through customs? Especially if you were an American citizen, what are they going to do, deport you....? Oh wait. 8 hours after leaving from Mexico, especially if I was told I was going to be headed BACK to Mexico, I would be getting myself arrested :-)
@sourc3:
Also, in re-reading the article - I'll bet if that "Bill of Rights" makes it through the Senate, there will be a drastic reduction in the number of times this will happen, as Airlines will want to avoid the extra cost.
Wasn't there a similar, more extreme situation like this just last month? Seems to be getting out of hand. Is it that hard to call in people to work? Every other type of company does it.
That's what a third-world level of corruption and ineptitude will get you. US customs, not the Mexican airline.
This is all the more irritating because of the porousness of the US/Mexico border in general--and I don't mean just illegal immigration, I mean the freedom with which trucks and trains cross the border thousands of times daily, but somehow this airliner is a potential threat.
The article doesn't say who actually called the police--wonder if it was airline, airport, or passenger hoping it would help?
@JustThatGuy3: Just an FYI--ATC doesn't "let" aircraft depart, or make diversion decisions. In these cases, they can only advise pilots of situations and the captain makes the final call about if and when to depart and when, if and where to divert to.
A couple of passengers requiring medical attention were allowed to leave.
This is where I would have started complaining about "chest pains"
If you know what I mean.
@root4root: You can either stop posting or be arrested! Seriously, how can they not have had enough people to check their IDs and passports? This is unacceptable.
Why couldn't they just reroute them to another airport and process customs there?
@floraposte: The news report on TV said that the passengers were getting restless and some were getting loud in Portland... They wanted to leave the plane. The police were brought in to talk to people and that is when they told them to be quiet, stay on the plane or get arrested. A couple of passengers needed medical assistance and were allowed to get off the plane. Someone else (the firemen?) also brought on diapers, formula and McDonald's hamburgers.
So, let's review.
Mexico -> Seattle -> Divert to Portland -> Wait 4 hours -> Back to Mexico
I think I would have demanded to be arrested rather than fly back to Mexico. At least they have beds and food at the local jail.
And why did the pilots agree to go back to Mexico? I don't think Sully would have done that!
@huadpe: Even 1 agent could have processed them in less time than they spent on that plane. Not enough is no excuse, it was more like they didn't have any or they didn't care. There was absolutely no reason to make them sit there for 4 hours. On the one hand I'm with the government on not just letting them in. On the other they could have done something within an hour, like call some agents in. Some of those people could have been American born citizens and it's beyond cruelty to do the equivalent of deporting them.
@root4root: Racist much? Why are people and unknown baggage from Mexico worse than from anywhere else?
@root4root: Granted, I'm not sure what security measures they faced when boarding the plane in Mexico, however I guessing they'd already shown the requisite paperwork to get on the plane in the first place. And most of these people were probably just regular Americans coming back from vacation anyway.
I am wondering why the flight took off for Seattle as a destination since the fog was an issue. Don't they check the weather for their destination before take off? I've been on flights where they can't take off because of fog in San Francisco so the take off is delayed. A little preplanning might have gone a long way.
Seattle has been in deep, dense fog for the last 3 days. It is not the kind of fog that just clears quickly.
@alexburrito:
@Blitzgal:
Not really, I'm hoping this would have happened for a plane coming from any country. The idea is that terrorists etc may use a lawless nation such as Mexico as a conduit into the U.S. I very highly doubt that Mexican customs are as stringent as our own.
@Gokuhouse: simple answer- they weren't expecting an international flight from Mexico, so the full staff of customs officials weren't scheduled to work.
I think I would have opted for jail.
Ridiculous-- those passengers should have been let off the airplane to a secure area, pending processing. If its the baggage they're concerned about-- f*** the baggage,have the airline ship it to me- just let me off the plane!
Certainly any US Citizens who had proof of citizenship should have been allowed off.
@Ash78:
Like it or not, airlines are held to a higher standard these days. It's still a knee-jerk reaction from 9/11. You seriously think U.S. customs are more corrupt than Mexican customs? Sure we have corruption here, but Mexico is pretty much run by the drug cartels these days.
This is not the Airlines fault. They were diverted to another airport by ATC. They have no control over that. The article also mentioned the airport they were diverted to had no customs facilities. So it like they didn't have enough agents, it sounds like that airport didn't even have a customs area.
It is an int'l airport (nonstops to Japan, Germany, Netherlands, and Canada), but most likely that's only a few flights per day, and, for example, if those flights had already arrived and been processed, the CBP folks might have already gone home for the day.
@sourc3:
Extra cost of what? What exactly could Mexicana have done differently? Do you think the airline WANTED to (a) burn fuel and pay crew Mexico City-Portland-Mexico City and (b) piss off a bunch of passengers? Of course not. If they had known this would happen, they would have just cancelled the flight.
@Gokuhouse: If-- IF, i say-- Portland's airport were not an international airport, it would be entirely reasonable to expect that they would not have enouogh customs agents on hand. You divert an international flight from an international airport to a smaller regional airport, and it's not surprising that they wouldn't have the staff on hand to handle it. Moot point, of course, if Portland actually IS an international airport...
Just reinforces my conclusion that airplanes are flying prisons these days.
The fault lies with whoever routed the flight to an airport that couldn't take international passengers. How hard would it have been to divert them to Vancouver instead? Mexicana probably isn't at fault, and maybe not even the airport (although you'd think they'd have some kind of emergency protocol set up). The person who routed the plane (and maybe possibly Mexicana for not realizing the problem) really bungled this.
@sleze69:
That's my thought. Under federal law the baggage would have had to be removed from the plane as well. I'd rather take the arrest, stretch my legs, and then hop a plane to my next destination the next day.
@CRNewsom: Yeah, its nonsense. How hard would it be to say, "Hey Jim Custom Agent, could you come in today? We have this plane that flew in from Mexico and we're short on staff." Happens in restaurants all the time.
@alexburrito: Ignorant much?
Read some news. Do some research. The U.S. military recently released a report that concluded there are two nations in grave danger of collapsing. And guess what? Mexico is on that list. [www.elpasotimes.com]
Not to mention they've killed so many politicians and police officers. Thanks for asking for an explanation, but seriously, don't accuse someone of being racist when you know nothing about what he/she is talking about.
@Stanwell:
If-- IF, i say-- Portland's airport were not an international airport... Moot point, of course, if Portland actually IS an international airport...
@alexburrito: I apologize if I come off harsh... but when someone pulls the race card when it is in no way, shape, or form applicable, I get riled up.
@ConroyCotta: This summer coming back from cancun, they checked/ rummaged through carry-bags at the gate. After already passing through security checkpoint where bags are x-rayed and you go through a metal detector. They took away an un-opened can of coca-cola I bought at one of the shops past security AT THE GATE before I even got on the plane. Way more stringent then JFK or any other airport I've ever been to anywhere!
@picardia: A quick google search indicates that Portland does indeed house and International Airport (unless they have more than one), so technically as an ATC, they probably assumed that an Int'l Airport could handle an Int'l flight.
Seems more like a problem of the airport in question had already shut down customs for the day because they weren't anticipating any more flights to show up that required them.
On the other hand, I can't imagine that they couldn't find any customs agents willing to come in and help in the 4 hours the plane just sat there.
@menty666:
My guess is that after being arrested for an airplane-related incident the TSA or whatever useless arm of the air travel industry would make it very hard to "hop a plane" any time soon.
@alexburrito:
I would trust a planefull of people from England, Japan, Canada, Spain, and a few other countries before Mexico.
Why? It has nothing to do with racism. It has to do with the corrupt Mexican government and the fact that a great deal of our illegal drugs come from there.
Do I support Root's statement? No. But I think your response is flawed as well.
@Caslonbold: But "were brought in" by whom? Sounds like we're ruling out the passengers, but I'm curious if it was the crew that felt threatened, or if the airport didn't like the sound of what was going on from what they heard from the crew. (I heard it was the firemen with the hamburgers. Bless 'em.)
@sourc3:
That was my first thought.
"Officer, I'll choose to be arrested, thank you. Just get me off this damn plane."
I'll be sure to research the symptoms of deep vein thrombosis before my next flight. Wonder if exhibiting a few of those would expedite things a bit.
@TinyBug: Portland may be technically an International Airport, but it's small and understaffed. The vast majority of international flights in the Northwest fly through SeaTac rather than Portland.
@alexburrito: Come on man....racist? Nothing was said about Mexicans. If you don't think that country is now dangerous, you haven't read the news in 6 months.
Bah, customs officials! Every time I've been through customs or across the border, they hardly bother. I've only ever had bags ransacked on domestic flights. Shit, I get more scrutiny from cashiers at the cafeteria here at work.
America, Land of Endless Bureaucracy
It's too bad the people had to wait so long, but in this instance the gov't is right. Would you seriously want people/unknown baggage coming from Mexico (one of the most lawless, corrupt nations on the planet thanks to our drug habits) entering the U.S.?