Stranded No More

New US legislation has been approved providing a time limit to airlines for how long they can hold you on a flight while on the ground. This new rule states that airlines can no longer hold passengers on grounded jets for longer than a three hour time span. This rule applies only to domestic flights, international flights are subjects to other regulations.

This comes after many incidents involving airline horror stories of such occurrences. Consumer complaints have been growing over being stranded and the media has been giving it more coverage. Continental Airlines was fined along with two regional carriers for stranding passengers on a 50 seat regional jet overnight. The price tag for this mistake was  $175,000. This is the first time that airlines have seen repercussions for tarmac delays.

Airlines have fought such legislation from taking place believing that the amount of time should be at their discretion. Putting a time limit at three hours for ground delays could make the airlines’ operations even more congested and cause more misconnections which forms a greater ripple effect in terms of airline operations.

The airlines are given a few provisions concerning this matter and only time will tell how far they will be allowed to stretch them for their benefit. These are exemptions for matters of safety or security. The other exemption comes at the discretion of air traffic controllers. Basically if the air traffic controller says that a return to a gate for deplaning would cause a disruption of airport operations, then the time limit could be waived.

Having rights as a passenger is a great thing, no one wants to be stranded for hours without an end in sight. However, perhaps there is a bit more to be considered. What if the flight could takeoff for it’s destination after three hours and fifteen minutes, but due to the time restriction they are forced to return to the gate. Now, passengers have been deplaned as per regulation and hours are added to their delay that a little more time and the pilot’s discretion might have avoided. Perhaps there is no perfect solution to the issue, but this may not be exactly the victory that airline passengers believe it to be.

www.CaptainNowhere.com

Tags: air traffic controller, airline horror stories, airlines, airport operations, Continental Airlines, domestic flights, flight, international flights, jets, legislation, passengers, regulations, Stranded