fairviewroad

Interestingly, the advisory on the US Airways page is even more restrictive:

One assumes they will also allow Permanent Residents onto the flights, too. Otherwise you'd have some very ugly scenes as there are many families who are a mix of Citizens and Permanent Residents. I'm sure this is just a typo or an oversight, but as a spouse of a US Permanent Resident, this kind of error really grates on me.

c_d

Not sure whether it applies here as one of the motivations but after the Iceland volcano incident and the totally cramped transit areas, there were lots of discussions about managing the influx of passengers that cannot legally enter the country and have no onward travel confirmation or capability. At the time the airside arrival areas were overflowing with people that did not possess valid visa creating an unsafe environment.

However, I personally don't think that this is the same scale remembering the endless rows of camp beds at FRA. DFW is furthermore also not the smallest airport in the world and as an international gateway probably more than able of absorbing a couple of hundred passengers as well as assisting them with onwards travel. It also looks at me that those were non-regular flights indicated by the flight numbers.

What I do agree with is the correctness of the thread title. In the first paragraph they are specifically referring to bringing "[our] *customers* home". It is not saying "bringing citizens and legal aliens back to the U.S.". Consequently, they do abandon their non-US customers for one reason or another.

Fanjet

I believe it is the Mexican government which is doing this for foreign tourists. They are using military 727s to ferry people up to the closest border airport with the United States. For example, here in San Diego, passengers are being flown to Tijuana airport and then taken to the border crossing. It's being covered a lot on the local news. So, no, AA is not abandoning its passengers. And if you look at the damaged terminals at SJD, there is no way any airline could function normally there.

jfinsocal

There are both Mexican operated flights to TIJ and other domestic airports that are open to everyone and US/Canadian flights to US and Canadian airports. You need to somehow get to the airport, wait in line, and you get directed to a flight. No tickets needed. Today the lines were reportedly very long. Bring water, sunscreen, and an umbrella. Do not travel at night.

It's bad down there and there's a vacuum in the US media.

Dallas49er

Upon further review: <self redacted>

Dr. HFH

Assuming that the posts in this thread are reasonably accurate, it seems that AA is handling the evacuation of U.S. citizens, while other arrangements have been made for non-U.S. citizens (military 727s operated or arranged by the Mexican government). So if this was part of a plan arranged by the two governments to ensure that all foreigners were evacuated safely and efficiently, how is AA "abandoning" its foreign customers? The two governments arranged that U.S. citizens would be evacuated by AA and non-U.S. citizens would be evacuated on the military 727s. No one was abondoned.

Same reason people call in false reports of fires, pull fire call boxes when there's no fire, call in phony bomb threats or troll on the internet. I understand that there's no monetary benefit; but that's not what people who do this are after.

Have a look at this thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html for more examples of hyperbolic reports of war crimes on the part of AA. In almost every case, it turns out that there's much more to the story and AA's behavior wasn't as callous, arbitrary or harsh as the headlines of the various reports would suggest.

hbtr

What are you suggesting that AA do under the current circumstances? It is far from clear that they are in a position to do any more than this at this time. A decision to limit passengers to US citizens or permanent residents doesn't sound like a decision an airline would make without some direction from US CBP or some other US authority.

IceTrojan

I didn't see it mentioned here yet, but I believe US CBP is on the ground at Mazatlan and Cabo airports to pre-clear US nationals, so that the flights arrive into the US as domestic flights, negating the need to go through C&I. Just part of the formula of the US federal government undertaking the evac flights, and not a business decision on AA's part.

Dr. HFH

Here's what AA.com says:So the U.S. Consulate is verifying documents; and, at least according to AA.com (and no one has provided any information to the contrary), the "local authorities" determine who will be allowed on the flights, not AA.

JDiver

The thread has been retitled for accuracy. The airline is schedule relief flights for U.S. nationals as authorized by local and U.S. authorities, following Hurricane Odile.

Posts attempting to castigate other members for opinions stated have been deleted; argumentum ad hominem is not permitted here.

/Moderator

jfinsocal

My friends are still there. They have semi-functional accommodations and a rental car with ample gas. Others at their hotel did a recon trip to SJD and found that the lines today were still very long; it's hot with no shelter etc.

According to them taxi drivers are trying to charge $1000 for an airport run but this apparently can be bargained down somewhat.

Their plan is to head back over to the airport tomorrow and hope that the situation is improved.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Given the recent merger, you might want to change "US" to "U.S." in the thread title.

carlosdca

1000 US dollars? Are you sure it is not 1000 Mexican Pesos??

I can't believe a taxi driver would attempt to make 3 months salary (USD 1000) with ONE RIDE.

BTW, VOLARIS flies from LAP (La PAz, near Cabo) to Tijuana for ~$350 or less one-way

jfinsocal

Yes, $1000 USD. Extreme price gouging.