Originally Posted by
jordyn
In general, OPNLguy seems to be regurgitating a lot of the arguments that the airlines made against the tarmac rules in the first place--that it would be impossible to operate under such conditions and that cancellations would go way up. And yet, the proof is in the pudding: long tarmac delays are way down, cancellations aren't up significantly, and passengers are better off.
As far as the pudding goes, check out:
http://crankyflier.com/2011/09/29/fe...cancellations/
As far as your other comment, employing a "solution" to the type of long delay situation (that Ms. Hanni unfortunately experienced) with respect to the more common 3 hour delays that are inherent with today's ATC system does make it pretty much impossible to operate in some cases. If thunderstorms are blocking westbound routes departing the DC area (IAD, DCA, and BWI all normally depart over Linden (LDN) or Armel (AML)), then Mother Nature controls how long the actual delays will be, not the airlines, nor ATC for that matter.