Originally Posted by
pittpanther
Why is the rule ridiculous? It did exactly what it was intended to do - reduce or eliminate endless tarmac delays. One way it achieves this goal is that it forces airlines to look forward and make an intelligent assessment about whether this flight has a real chance of going out within 3 hours. If not, it gets cancelled right up front, leaving passengers the option to make other arrangements, or even to go back home if just starting a trip. Regardless, you now have options, something you didn't have in the past when you were on the tarmac for 7 hours.
I say Good Job.
It's a ridiculous rule because:
1. The penalties to the airlines are outrageous compared to the impact to the passengers.
2. Far more people have been impacted, many of them overnight, many who would have made it to their destination if this rule was not in effect, than people who were impacted by long ramp delays.
3. The penalties are going to the wrong entity. All too often the inability to get people off the airplane is due to a lack of gates (an airport issue) or a lack of a place to put people who have cleared customs (an airport and government issue).
I can't imagine what would happen if we imposed a similar rule on taxis. If they caused you a significant delay and you could not get out of the cab because you were on the freeway then we fine them $10,000 per passenger. How many taxis do you think would pick you up during rush hour?