Originally Posted by
pptp
Oh yeah! Big thumbs us to a system that punishes CO yet gives no money to the victims.Totally worthless gesture that benefits nobody and "teaches" CO a lesson that they already have learned from. Accomplishes nothing except to make certain people say 'Yeah, so there bad CO!'
Nobody said the victims get nothing. It just doesn't address it. The victims are free to sue CO or anyone they please. The fact that CO got a civil fine here makes it more likely that the victims can win some damages. This is a good move for consumers.
Originally Posted by
gldwebs
Maybe I missed something, but I find it hard to understand why Continental should be fined when they really had no way to get the pax off the plane. They had no staff there and the only people that could deplane them refused.
CO did not have processes in place to allow for disembarking passengers at odd hours. If they had valid, tested, processes, this would not have happened. That's the message.
Fine Mesaba for refusing to help, but how is this any different than a greyhound bus stuck for 6 hours extra on the highway for snowy weather? It's not like they were still in Houston and could have gone back into the terminal (like the NW flight out of DTW that sat for 12 hours).
They weren't stuck in some remote freeway. They were feet from the airport terminal. Not exactly the same comparison. This would be like Greyhound pulling into the station late, but not letting you off the bus.
So how could CO and ExpressJet have avoided this? Divert to a different airport with their own staff?
CO could have worked with ground handling agents and ensured they had processes for after-hours arrivals in place at airports. Had they had these in place, this would not have happened.
The fine is a huge win for consumers because it sends a clear message that the airline cannot pass the buck in these situations. Perhaps now the industry will make standard handling procedures for all airports so this will be avoided.
Too bad CO was the victim here, and they made an example of them. That's just bad luck. But it was going to be done sooner or later.