What is Digg?87 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+57I was once stuck on a Mexicana plane for 6 hours onboard back to the US. They didn't give us ***** other than reruns of Alf in spanish...
I thought I had died and gone to hell - Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+521. Use a coin and scratch "there's a bomb on this plane" on the mirror in the bathroom.
2. Wait until someone else goes to the bathroom.
3. Marvel as the plane that couldn't possibly return to the gate.. miraculously returns to the gate. - elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+47Chompy:
4. Sit through 40 hours of 'Homeland Security' interrogation. - elbrakiachi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+35Hey, at least there weren't any snakes...
- Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+35Well at least you're off the frigging plane.
- baalzebub, on 10/12/2007, -7/+39i think after 2 hours i would have forced the exit door open and engaged the emergency ramp and walked off the tarmac, no pretty stewardess is going to force me to sit in an aircraft for 10 hours...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+30But did they get lemon soaked paper napkins?
"In Fit the Twelfth of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a fully functioning spaceship is found sitting in an abandoned spaceport, surrounded by the ruins of its civilisation. It is discovered that the passengers, expecting a 2-hour flight, have been kept in suspended animation for over 900 years while the ship's autopilot awaits the delivery of its consignment of small lemon-soaked paper napkins." - torpecool, on 10/12/2007, -2/+27I can't believe airlines keep thinking that it's okay to trap people in metal tubes for 8+ hours. We (those who travel much) really need to push for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights (http://www.strandedpassengers.blogspot.com/). I'm surprised at JetBlue... I would have expected better from them. In any case, it doesn't seem like the airline industry can maintain any standards of service without some litigation or legislation.
- IllBeBack, on 10/12/2007, -13/+35You don't seem to know the whole story about global warming. Global warming is also responsible for climate extremes, including extreme cold and all of these record snowfalls. It doesn't just mean that the summers are hotter.
- blibbs, on 10/12/2007, -5/+26Unless the doors were frozen, there was no excuse for this.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18I know where you're coming from, but these days, they'll arrest you for that. Also, if it's too icy, you could slide into something and get hurt, and neither the airport nor the airline wants to be sued.
Does anyone know whether larger airports still have those portable stairways that can be wheeled up to the plane door to let people out, as they still do at smaller airports that don't have gates? That'd be a lot safer than the inflatable escape slide. Of course, even with that, they'd have to put out some grit on the ice so that the stairway would remain in place and the passengers would not slip on the ice. - griz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19"I know where you're coming from, but these days, they'll arrest you for that."
I bet if you tried to make your way into the cockpit to talk with the pilot they would have found a way to get people off the plane. They were putting their profits and convenience above that of their customers. - datsclark, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18I've been in a similar situation, also on Jetblue. A few years ago the DC area got 3 feet of snow, far more than they're used to. I was on a flight out of Dulles after the storm. We pushed back from the gate on time, and began the deicing. Then spent about 5 and a half hours waiting 10 feet back from the gate. The reason? Waiting for the deicer to refuel. However, once the plane had been boarded and the 'cabin secured' there was no going back. Even though the gate was so close.
I will say, jetBlue did a reasonable job both in keeping people comfortable (and it was miserable, little food/water, really stuffy, they even opened the doors a bit for air). I feel for the people, though I think a refund and free flights is more than enough. Airline travel is often beholden to weather--there isn't much airlines can do but be reasonable and safe. - AmishRefugee, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16I was once stuck in an airport for 9 hours, only allowed to go to the seedy gift stores and McDonalds around the terminal. For our trouble, the company gave us like $15 each in vouchers for meals, but one guy was really pissed off so he went to McDonalds, bought as much crap as he could, finished off other peoples' unwanted vouchers and then furiously slammed it all into a trash can in front of the company representative. It was really funny....
the company was FunJet btw, and i've had 21 combined hours of delay in 4 flights (Saint Louis to Cancun and back twice) don't ever fly them. - nbx909, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13Get your pilot's license, no need to deal with the TSA or anyone really.
- meobrien, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13How to get off a plane stuck on a runway:
1. Make sure you really want to do this.
2. Ask the flight attendant if you will be taking off soon.
3. Ignore his/her response, it will be a lie anyway.
4. Stand up and shout: "ladies and gentleman, I am a terrorist and there is a bomb on this aircraft. I meant to hijack us to Cuba midway through flight, but now will do.
5. Immediately surrender to the onboard marshal.
6. Be prepared to be interviewed on Larry King (that bastard interviews everyone.) You will be a hero to the general population, but you now face serious legal consequences. - CoolHandLuke, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12"If you don't like the service, don't use the company. That's how easy it is. Start your own company.
You cannot force a company to follow any ***** rules you make up. You can ask them to, and when they say no, stop using their services. If enough people complain and stop using their services, they will change how they act."
@Lyph
You can't? Haven't you ever heard of Government regulations? The car companies have to put seat belts in the cars, factories must adhere to emissions laws, and oil companies can't just drill a well anywhere they want. YES YOU CAN force a company to do something.
Start my own company?? I already own a portion of the airlines. Remember when MY tax dollars went to bail them out after 9/11? I certainly do. Now, since my tax dollars went to keep them from going out of business during the lean times the least they can do is agree to a level of service that keeps people from being on the tarmac for eight hours. Forcing them to let you off a non moving plane after 3 hours is not a "bull ***** rule".
Sorry for the massive soap box rant but I fly almost every week for my job and I KNOW what it's like to be at the mercy of these airlines. It really pisses you off when you pay hundreds of dollars for a "ride" and you get the level of service akin to a sweat shop factory.
'nuff said - leobaby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12At least they got to watch themselves on the news via directv.
- jabberwonk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11airPORT != airPLANE
- Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12And remember, if you complain, you are a terrorist and may be beaten to death with a fire extinguisher by the airplane staff.
- nbx909, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11After 2 hours and especially if the passengers were complaining, I'd be looking for a way to taxi back, hell somebody cut their hand! Jetblue flight 1234, declaring medical emergency, requesting taxi to the nearest gate.
-nbx909
Private Pilot Aircraft Single Engine Land - FreshPineScent, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11The link above wasn't working for me, but I like the concept of a Passenger's Bill of Rights. A standardization of service could only make service better on those airlines who insist that passengers are cattle, right?
My question is... If 200+ people stuck were on plane, how long was it before some shmuck tried to start the wave? - undersky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8The same thing happened few weeks ago for an AA flight, and it was even worse. (Toilets overflew.)
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07009/752402-84.stm - 1911wolf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Aside from the BS that is the TSA, this is another example as to why I stopped flying. If I can't drive there, I don't go.
- roaddemon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"working link..http://www.strandedpassengers.blogspot.com/"
Man, it just took me five minutes to figure out the difference between those links... - heifetz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8There is absolutely no reason why you would keep passengers on a plane for more than an hour, w/o having any sort of chance to take off. If it's so close to the gate, and the plane can't dock, let the passengers off themselves. There are so many employees who work at an airport, you're telling me they couldn't get some employee to help the passengers off the plane?
- tc811, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7instead of reading this article, I just searched for a snakes on a plane joke.
- Wonderkind, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Go look at what happened in Pennsylvania in the last day and a half.
People stuck on I-78 for as much as 20 hours.
Running out of gas, no toilets obviously, just terrible.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/15/D8NAGSDO0.html - FishyJoe, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8If you really want to get off without being arrested, flush all the toilet paper away. So many passengers will complain they will have no choice but to let people off. It might smell for a while though.
- rheaume, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6lol not everybody lives in a slavik country where you get shot for buying bread lol
sorry lol
lol
l
o
l - thalassicus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I was on JetBlue Flight 751 on my way to Cancun yesterday. We boarded at JFK at 7:50am (for an 8:20 departure) and I got back into the JFK terminal at 4:30pm. It truly was a comedy of errors:
First they had us taxi to the runway (9th in line to go), but the fact that it was ice, not snow, that was coming down prevented us from taking off. So we waited for the weather to clear.
After 3 hours, we are still on the tarmac and our APU fails so we have no electricity. They open the doors every so often to cool things back down.
We are less than 1200 feet from the JetBlue terminal.
After 5 hours they send a de-icing rig to spray our tires so that we can head back to the terminal. The de-icing rig gets stuck in the ice. Alanis Morissette would be proud.
After 7 hours (the weather has been fine for an hour now), they officially go with Plan B (a plan they announced to us 3 hours in) which was to get buses on the tarmac to take us back to the gate. They repeat over the PA that we will be getting a refund and free trip so many times that the very patient little 4 year olds stuck on the plane can recite the policy, but they still don't tell us if they will get us to Cancun at all that night(the information all of us desperately wanted and needed).
When the buses get back to the terminal, they don't take us up the stairs back to the gates, but drop us off in a hallway that leads to baggage claim (outside of security) with no JetBlue employee to be seen. Our group stays together as a whole and demands an employee who finally comes and confirms that while they will give us a free round-trip voucher and a refund (because that wasn't made clear by the 12 separate announcements on the plane), they will NOT be taking us to Cancun as the flight is now canceled. Bonus: we get to rebook ourselves by going back to the reservation counter and waiting in line.
I ate $400 in hotel reservations not to mention the opportunity of spending the next day on a beach with my travel partner, who had packed a rather amazing little bikini.
The weather was NOT their fault. However, as soon as the APU in the plane went out, it became a mechanical issue and JetBlue should have really stepped up. They should have gotten us back to the gate as soon as possible so that we could either a) book a flight to Cancun on another airline (since planes were taking off later in the day) or b) wait in comfort as they tried to arrange another plane to take us. They said the gates were full, but they were full of EMPTY planes. Pull one of those planes away from the gate for 30 minutes to get us off of our plane. And why on earth would you unload 120 very angry/frustrated passengers into an under-lit maintenance hallway and not have a representative waiting to handle things? Why would you not re-book us to the best of your abilities?
On a final note, the flight crew did an amazing job handling us as the executives made one mistake after another from the comfort of their offices. This is an airline that used to "get it" in terms of how to do things right, but that was sorely missing yesterday. - CoolHandLuke, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"Poor crybaby americans can't go on vacation .. how rough a life. lol.
May as well give me a thumbs down again .. lol."
In my case and in the case of MANY others who fly... Poor crybaby Americans can't go to WORK. As I stated in my other post to yet another Digg idiot... I fly most every week for the company I work for.
You're such a douche. - Sp00nMan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I'm sorry.. but after maybe 2 hours, they are going to let me off that plane. I don't give a rats ass about being arrested. Arrest me. Then I'm going to turn around and sue the airline for false imprisonment and mental anguish. I have severe anxiety and claustrophobia. Noone is going to keep me on a plane for any unreasonable amount of time.
What is the penalty for forcing yourself off a plane? (non-terrorist of course). Night in jail?
I think I would have much more rights in a court of law for mental anguish than "our plane was in a queue" - iconnor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4There is case law on it:
http://courts.state.ny.us/tandv/flightdelays.html
8 ½ hours [ Koczara v. Wayne County ( snowstorm at airport results in the stranding of hundreds of passengers on aircraft queued on taxiways for up to 8 ½ hours without food service and toilets overflowing )
Koczara v. Wayne County, Index No. 99-900422, Wayne Cty. Cir. Ct., Michigan.
Just not sure what happened in the case as the reference is short...
As a result of the delays, a group of plaintiffs filed suit in Michigan state court against Northwest, Wayne County, and the
airport, alleging forced imprisonment. Northwest removed the action to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, but Judge Denise Page Hood granted the plaintiffs’ motion to remand the case back to state court.262 Subsequently, Wayne County Circuit Judge Daphne Means Curtis granted the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. However, Judge Curtis dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims against Wayne County, which owns and operates the airport, holding that passengers had no legal standing to sue the county because they were not party to a snow-removal contract between the county and Northwest.
The case is currently pending in the Wayne County Circuit Court,264 but Northwest has appealed the court’s decision to certify the class to the Michigan Court of Appeals.
http://www.sidley.com/db30/cgi-bin/pubs/jal106pdf.pdf - ij00mini, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4A few months ago, I was on a JetBlue flight taking off from Boston Logan and coming into JFK. We were on the tarmac for 4 hours before we took off, then the flight was an hour, then we were on the tarmac again at JFK for 3 hours. At JFK, they told us we were "nose to nose" with another plane, and we needed to be towed away.
JetBlue gave me a $25 voucher for a future flight, without any complaining on my part. Both annoying and nice at the same time.
I'll be taking the train from now on. - Micrll, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Also if your at your home city you could simply decide your self that the weather is not going to break and go home, (Though if you had checked baggage that would make it more difficult but).
Also being the geek I could access a power outlet and wifi in most airports and keep myself occupied. - spazoidspam, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@1389
They probably did have staircases, and thats probably what they ended up doing, however, I'm guessing they only had 1 or 2 staircases for emergencies, which would have taken hours to go around to all the planes and get the passengers off. My Wife and I were in a similar situation recently on our honeymoon to Hawaii. We landed there on Oct 15th 2006, the day of the big earthquake, the power was out, so they had to bring around the staircase to every plane that landed in order to get the passengers off. We had to sit on the plane for an additional 2.5 hours because they only had 1 staircase for the whole airport. Add this to the fact that it was an 8 hour flight to begin with, and on northwest, which means there was no meal service unless you paid extra. Northwest didn't even offer the guests a complimentary snack for the delay, I had to PAY for some peanuts due to a hypoglycemic attack brought on by going too long without food, and at first they didn't even want to sell me any, it was only after i mentioned I was about to pass out that the flight attendant found it in her heart to take my money. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Toilets fly now? Oh, you mean they overflowed, or flooded? Wait, maybe since it's in an airplane they did fly! Yeah!
- bloodguard, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Around about hour 3 I'd be seriously thinking about popping a door and doing a hanging drop from the door lip to the ground and then heading for a hotel (Popping the emergency slide would probably be pretty expensive).
That or I'd start having sharp chest pains that would later turn out to be a bad GERD attack once they got me back to the terminal. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Yeah if you don't like being imprisoned make your own company! If you don't want to be tortured and suffocated in a sardine can, fly with someone else!
I think I'll open a theater with really low prices, but prevent people from leaving before 8 hours of commercials finishes playing. Hey they read the fine print on their ticket didn't they? Or the shrink wrap?
Some of you people must have been bred for slavery to think this is ok because it's a free market. Just end your worthless lives now before someone gives you a dollar to kill yourself. - greyfedora, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4David Neeleman (CEO of JetBlue) was on CNBC today apologizing for the incident (although if you ask me it was a bit of a non-apology apology). He too brought up the fact that other airlines had nearly the same situation, and he seemed a bit bewildered that JetBlue was getting all the flak. I don't think it's that surprising -- people have pretty high expectations of JetBlue, so when JetBlue lets people down it's a bigger news story. When was the last time you saw "Legacy carrier treats passengers like crap" as a headline? At this point it would be breaking news if Delta gave a passenger a pillow.
Incidentally, my family frequently flies JetBlue to visit me in Austin. Every single time they spend at least a couple of hours waiting on the tarmac at JFK. Even when the weather is fine, I think that's what you get when your hub is one of the most congested airports in the world. - Xorsist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3working link..http://www.strandedpassengers.blogspot.com/
- CBTF, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4No kidding. I've waited in the airport for long, but I can't imagine how terrible that would be in those cramped onboard seats... I wouldn't even be able to fall asleep in that.
- AmishRefugee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@jabberwonk, this is true, i just had a mildly amusing story about the general subject, i'm not trying to generate sympathy or anything, the people in this story had an exponentially worse time than i ever could have had.
- mobbo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Wow... the thought missing the "amazing little bikini" would be my nail in the coffin. On another note, I've flown JetBlue 4 times and I agree that the flight crew is amazing and the airline is awesome overall, but as many of us can attest... management can screw up ANY good company. It's never the hard working staff, but rather the Harvard Business School educated pricks who mess it all up. It also sounds like the weather really kept everything that could have resolved the situation from coming together. I mean when wheels of buses freeze... there's not much you can do! But they should hve had a senior staff member handling the situation once it got to hour 4 or 5.
I would seriously email the CEO of JetBlue and ask for reimbursement of your hotel and food fees... maybe a little more $$$ for missing the view of your travel partner on a warm beach wearing that bikini! He seems like a reasonable guy. - catstack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Last year, I was on a Northwest flight from Baltimore (via Detroit) to Tokyo. Talk about the flight from hell. We're backing out of the gate on time, when there's a loud bang in the back of the aircraft. One of the flights attendants freaked out and ran down the aisle asking if anyone else heard the bang. (I'm guessing this wasn't the first time that flight attendant had trouble with this particular plane.) Anyway, the captain got on the intercom and said that it sounded like some luggage wasn't secured properly. He said that the ground crew would hurry out, fix the problem and we should be off in about 15 minutes.
Well, it wasn't the luggage after all. Six hours later, they decided that we had a faulty Auxiliary Power Unit, but it's OK to fly without one. Great, now we've only got another 12 hours of actual flight time to go.
Now, you'd think that after 3 or 4 hours, they might return back to the gate and let people off while they figure out the problem, right? Nope, according to one of the flight attendants, they *won't* return to the gate because, get this, "this flight won't count as an on-time departure".
But wait, there's more... When we finally arrived in Tokyo (Narita) after midnight, Northwest announced that anyone who missed their connection would be put up in a hotel overnight, we'd get a 10 minute phone card, some additional frequent flyer points and a coupon good for a domestic beer.
Well, just our luck. Narita Airport is actually about an hour from downtown Tokyo (where we had hotel reservations) and we had missed the last train into Tokyo. Like any normal person, we got in the "hotel-for-the-night" line, but a very cute, but decidedly unhelpful Japanese girl informed that Northwest wouldn't put us up for the night because Northwest got us to Tokyo and that we should just find a comfy spot to sleep. Clearly unacceptable IMHO.
Trying another tack, we asked if Northworst would just pay for the taxi ride into town for us. No they couldn't do that because a Taxi ride costs $1000 (not clear if that's per-person, or for the whole group of us).
Oh, did I mention that they lost my luggage? I believe this is about when I lost my patience and went ape-sh!t on her. Apparently, that what you need to do to get a room in that town. My co-workers were quite pleased with me since they'd get a nice comfy bed, instead of a nice comfy airport floor.
Remember that 10-minute phone call. If you use it to call America, it's actually a 1 minute calling card. Oh, and about my luggage. The next morning I stopped by the airport only to find that my luggage was in Minnesota. They sent my bags to the wrong fracking city. Finally, three days later my luggage did show up. I suppose better late than never... - gavdana, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'd rather be stuck for 10 hours on jetBlue than repeat a 45 min. flight on Southwest from San Diego to Tucson. Last row, window seat, lady sitting next to me 300 lbs. Southwest can cram the A, B, and C's up their collective asses.
- 1911wolf, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Thought about it, but I haven't piloted a plane since I was 10 with my pops in his single prop. But, I haven't the cash to afford it.
- galore, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Wow. An example of the sheepification of the populace and ridiculous draconian laws. 10 hours on the tarmac and the gate in sight and no mutiny ?!?
Nice laws that we have here that demanding to be let off the plane after an unreasonable long wait in sight of the gate would result in ruining your life.
I'd be supremely pissed and ready to skin the next airline employee who keeps me trapped in their POS plane. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2the doors weren't frozen -- pull the emergency exit. although doing this probably makes you a terrorist, rather than pissed off with risking deep vein thrombosis in a stinking fiberglass and aluminum hell.
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