From Paradise to Hellish Hours on the Tarmac

[question everything]

APRIL 28, 2009

From Paradise to Hellish Hours on the Tarmac

By SCOTT MCCARTNEY
WSJ

After several high-profile fiascoes two years ago, airlines promised to do more to avoid stranding passengers on planes for hours. But Delta Flight 510 is a stunning reminder that the problem persists. On Good Friday, April 10, what should have been a three-hour flight became a 13-hour ordeal for passengers heading home from a Caribbean vacation. When thunderstorms prevented Delta Air Lines Inc. Flight 510's scheduled landing in Atlanta, the MD88 diverted to Columbia, S.C., for nine hours. Passengers spent five of those hours on the tarmac without food or water. Airport officials say bathrooms turned foul, children got antsy and some passengers became extremely agitated. One woman called 911 because she needed food. Parents with small children ran short on essentials like diapers. Eventually the passengers were allowed off and held in part of the terminal, cordoned off with yellow police tape.

(snip)

Flight 510 could well restart an effort in Congress to impose a "passengers' Bill of Rights" that would limit how long airlines can hold passengers on planes sitting on the tarmac and require carriers to provide food and essential services during long delays. Knowing when to give up the wait for takeoff and go to a terminal is a tough problem for airlines -- and a major inconvenience for travelers. Sometimes the best option is to wait out storms and congestion, because the plane you're sitting on may be your only chance to reach your destination that day. As the busy summer travel season approaches, Flight 510 is a reminder that severe weather can quickly turn routine flights into strenuous ordeals, and fliers should be prepared. In the first two months of this year, 105 flights waited three hours or more to take off after leaving the gate, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. More flights gave up and canceled after long waits. Still more ended up diverted from their original destinations and either sat for long periods, like Flight 510, or waited until the next day to depart, leaving passengers scrambling for airport cots or hotel rooms.


(snip)

In most cases, bad weather triggers problems, but the inability of the U.S. air-travel system -- airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration -- to cope compounds passenger woes. Some flights get low priority or are seemingly forgotten even as other planes fly on. Rigid limits on crew duty time can leave passengers stranded. Airports that find themselves overwhelmed with lots of jets to refuel and service can compound delays.

All of those factors worked against Flight 510. The MD88 left Providenciales International Airport on Turks and Caicos Islands at about 2 p.m. with 134 passengers and approached the Atlanta area around 5 p.m., just as thunderstorms moved in and slowed landings. Because of a heavy load of luggage, the plane had only enough fuel to circle for 16 minutes, Delta said. More than 40 Delta flights, including 510, diverted to other airports, but others cruised in on time, according to data from FlightStats.com, showing just how hit-or-miss air-traffic control can be under stress. At the same time Flight 510 wanted to land, Delta 422 from San Juan, P.R., landed one minute early at 5:04 p.m. Delta Flight 536 from Cancun landed in Atlanta at 5:12 p.m., 17 minutes early. On the ground in Columbia at 5:44 p.m., Flight 510's passengers were kept in the hot cabin for five hours without food while Delta's crew hoped to get clearance for the flight back to Atlanta. The jet was refueled and ready to go at 6:20 p.m., according to Gary Edwards, Delta's director of flight control, and given a takeoff time of 7:01 p.m. But a second wave of thunderstorms hit Atlanta, canceling that plan. A new takeoff time of 7:55 was issued, but the crew ran out of time under federal duty limits at 7:45 p.m.

(snip)


Delta tried to redirect an MD88 crew to Flight 510 from one of the other flights diverted to Columbia, Mr. Edwards said, but by the time word reached the other crew, they already had clearance to fly to Atlanta. So another crew had to be flown in. Those pilots and flight attendants were put on an Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight from Atlanta to Columbia, which didn't arrive until nearly 1 a.m., more than three hours late. In Columbia, about 30 people opted to clear Customs and stay there because they happened to live in South Carolina or just didn't want to fly to Atlanta in the middle of the night. With the remaining passengers and new pilots, Flight 510 took off from Columbia at 2:45 a.m. and landed at 3:28 a.m.

ttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB124087571331061425.html (subscription)

Be Prepared

How to help yourself in case you are stranded:

* Bring food, diapers, medicine and other essentials on board with you.
* Have phone numbers for airport hotels in cities where you are making connections and general reservation numbers for major chains.
* If a flight is diverted or delayed, ask the crew how much time is left in their duty day. If they are running out of time, you may want to begin making other arrangements.


Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page D1

[Hekate]

1. "...and fliers should be prepared"...

Is this a bad joke?! We are so bleeping restricted in what we can take aboard that almost none of this applies. You can't bring food from home. You can't bring water or other liquids from home. And on and on and on.

There was no food, no water, no toilet facilities that weren't overflowing, no diapers for the infants -- and somehow they are surprised that children got "antsy" and some passengers got "agitated"?! Somehow this is the fault ("Be Prepared!") of the passengers?!

Hekate



> As the busy summer travel season approaches, Flight 510 is a reminder that severe weather
> can quickly turn routine flights into strenuous ordeals, and fliers should be prepared. >snip<
> Be Prepared
> How to help yourself in case you are stranded:
>* Bring food, diapers, medicine and other essentials on board with you.
>* Have phone numbers for airport hotels in cities where you are making connections and
> general reservation numbers for major chains.
> * If a flight is diverted or delayed, ask the crew how much time is left in their duty day.
> If they are running out of time, you may want to begin making other arrangements.

[renate]

2. you know those buses that some airports use to shuttle people from gate to gate?

Like if an airport terminal is shaped like a horseshoe, there are those great big buses--like ferry boats, almost--that take people across so they don't have to walk the whole circumference. Some are small, like train cars, but I've been in a few that could hold at least 50 people at once, maybe more.

Couldn't airports have a few big movable rooms on hand, so people on seriously (multi-hour) delayed flights could be deplaned into secure areas? They could have air conditioning, toilets, and food could be brought in. No need to go through security or examine luggage all over again, etc.

[question everything]

10. If they could be off the airplane this would be a great improvement

with or without extra facilities. The problem is that they are kept on the planes, to "preserve" their turn to take off. Otherwise the plane has to find a gate available, for people to disembark, probably get a crew to clean and to restock the plane, and then embarking and moving away from the plane. All would take close to an hour.

Last week we flew from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Atlanta. The plane was about 15 min late for closing the door. So far, OK. But then it had to vacate the gate and then we had to sit on the tarmac with conflicting reports: in 15 min, in 50 min, moving to this runway or that runway. And the weather was fine. Finally we left an hour late. I was glad that I planned three hours lay over for our next flight.

Four years ago we were stuck in Amsterdam for puny six inches of snow. At least, we never got on a plane and we spent the night in the airport, to be among the first for re-booking. But there were other travelers who actually sat on the planes for seven and nine hours before finally returning back to the gate.

[EFerrari]

3. Cordoned off with yellow police tape?!

:wtf:

[SeattleGirl]

4. I was stuck on the tarmac for 2 hours one time, and thought I'd

go nuts.

I cannot even IMAGINE being stuck as long as those people were.

People should not be treated that way.

Why not have something like a special ticket to give to people on grounded planes, let them off while the weather clears or the plane is fixed or whatever, and then let them back on, as long as they have one of those special tickets? Making people sit on a freakin' plane for that long is just flat wrong.

[Hekate]

9. I got stuck on the tarmac in Phoenix in 110 degree heat. No AC. Finally they opened the door...

... and FINALLY the stewardess started passing out 4 ounce bottles of water. The heat in Phoenix was 110, did I mention? And a good deal hotter on the tarmac.

I was worried for the infant among the passengers -- but in all honesty I also started to get worried for myself. Getting sick from heat is no joke, and I was starting to feel ill by the time the plane began to move again. I don't remember how long it was, but at least an hour.

I effing hate the airlines. They are waiting for someone to die before they do the right thing.

Hekate

[Dogmudgeon]

5. Nothing will be done until people start to sue

People are kept captive so they don't decide to cancel their flights; also, it's cheaper to keep them cooped up in the cabin.

The next time, if even 10% of the passengers sue the airline, and even if there is some hidden contract stipulation that prevents them from going through with it, the bad publicity alone would have a beneficial effect.

--d!

[patriotvoice]

6. On the tarmac. In an ice storm. For 5 hours. Surrounded by people ...

who mostly spoke a language I did not. Life was good: this was from a time, a long span ago, when I had water and snacks and things to do. When they pumped fresh air in, and gave you a free movie and drinks. Now, one minute longer than minimum is absolute 3rd level of Hell.

[Greyhound]

7. Ah yes, another example of the miracle of deregulation at work. n/t

[Crunchy Frog]

8. The responses in the comment section are absolutely unbelievable.

It makes me believe that we, the American people, get treated the way we ask and deserve to be treated. Government regulation of any kind is an absolute evil, and we should be happy to be treated like cattle in service to corporate interests. Anyway, if all of those people had wanted to be treated like human beings, they could have just chartered a plane. :eyes: