Originally Posted by
dlflyer2
At what point do airline passengers become hostages to the airlines?
Depending on the answer to that question. when are people being held in unconscionable conditions justified in calling 911 from their cell phones and requesting emergency assistance?
I'm in fact suprised nobody did that in this case (maybe it just hasn't been reported yet). Based on this excerpt, it might have helped:
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?se...fic&id=5034846
Airport officials say if JetBlue had told them that they had people needing rescuing on planes out on the tarmac, they would have sent buses. They said JetBlue didn't call the airport to tell them that until after 3 p.m.
IMO the correct action for pax after some reasonable period of time is to:
1) Notify the FA that you plan to call 911 in 30 minutes if no action is taken.
2) Wait 30 minutes and then do so. Keep doing it as necessary. Call media too. Get your off-plane family/friends involved. Send pictures and video if you are able.
IMO the correct action for the government and JetBlue in this situation:
1) Hold a public investigation and report evidence on all ground-control, cockpit, and cabin crews involved in this situation. Review and publish all ATC communication, which is recorded, and internal-company communication (is that recorded?). Determine what a reasonable wait period was (hint: it is always < 4 hours).
2) All company dispatchers/coordinators on the ground who were not demanding stairs gates for these planes at least every 20 minutes after the "wait time" are fired, named in public, and lose all severance benefits.
3) All cockpit crews who were not demanding assistence for their passengers at least every 20 minutes to both ATC and company dispatch at least every 20 minutes after the wait period are fired, named in public, stripped of their FAA licesnse, and lose all severence benefits. Pilots have a responsibility to the safety of their passengers; these pilots failed unless they were doing the above, as the reports are that the air quality and sanitation conditions were quite poor. Also, all cockpit crews who failed to keep passengers informed at least every 20 minutes after the wait period or lied to passengers are fired.
4) All cabin crews who lied to passengers, did not report distress of passengers to cockpit on a periodic basis, or made up FAA regulations as an excuse for mistreatment of passengers (*), are fired, named in public, and permanently banned from serving as FAs.
5) All spoksepeople who made excuses for JetBlue based on weather and their supervisers instead of apologizing fired without severance and named in public.
A passenger bill of rights is necessary, and will help, but if you start holding the crews and employees accountable they will take care of much of it on their own. IMO crews (on all airlines) put up with this situations and secretly enjoy them, because they get paid while the doors are closed, so flights stranted on the tarmac generate lost of juicy extra income.
Maybe if the airlines had to pay passengers by the hour in these situations they would "discover" air stairs and other such "exotic" technologies.
* Making up fake rules to excuse abuse is inexcusable and should be grounds for immediate termination and punitive damages against the individual:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/02/15...gers.stranded/
Greenberg said she and other passengers were getting testy because the flight attendants told them they couldn't hand out food or water until the plane had been grounded for at least four hours, citing an FAA rule. At least two of the passengers were diabetic.