Originally Posted by
flyastrojets
While I certainly agree that the 4 hour mark (I can only remember one flight in 4 years at the airport that ever waited that long for departure away from the gate) is a good point for the decision makers (the Captain, dispatch and station ops) to have a pow-wow on whether or not it's time to call it a day, I would be fearful of setting a hard and fast wall at which the only option is to dump the flight. Someone needs to be able to look at the big picture. If you're at the 4 hour mark, but flights are rapidly being released for departure, it's probably best to wait it out and blast off, or you're never gonna get home.
I'm sure there is some wiggle room with this, or at least I hope so. I'm sure AA wouldn't tie themselves down by writing this into the Contract of Carriage or anything like that.
I certainly hope so too. This has always been one of my concerns with the statutory bill of rights approach - if you cast the rule in stone there will always be circumstances when it's absurd to abide by the absolute letter of the law. Assuming AA abide by their own guidelines, and the vast majority of 4 hour waits mean a return to the gate, then this sounds reasonable to me.
I'd also comment that if they are thinking of stepping a few minutes over the self-imposed limit then it's HIGHLY important that the Captain explains to the passengers honestly and fully why he's doing this, and what the alternatives would be if he went to the gate as required. Most (sadly not all) passengers are reasonable, practical people and will accept this if it's explained that it's in their interest - we can go after a 4:15 wait or you can sleep on a cot in DFW would usually do it for me!