ESpen36

Actually, it's more than that....it is a federal offense to refuse to follow crewmember instructions on board an aircraft, or to interfere with the duties of crew members.
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-1.../section-91.11

nachosdelux

If the aircraft is at the gate, and the door is open, the airline/crew has no legal authority to prevent you from leaving.

WeekendTraveler

1. A similar event happened to me recently at CLT: the plane pulled up to the gate and lightning struck in the area (not at the airport), so the ground crew had to get off the tarmac and go inside, so we on the plane sat there for an hour.

2. It's an airport requirement, we were told, for ground crew not to be outside when there is lightning in the area. It's an airport issue, although AA is perhaps disproportionately affected due to its heavy use of CLT.

3. A few years ago, my flight to CLT was diverted to another airport- the airport I wanted to go to- and once we landed at the other airport, the crew wouldn't let us off. We passengers just kept pushing to get off, and the crew finally let us (who wanted to leave) off the plane. Surely if passengers had kept asking to get off, at some point it may have been allowed.

4. I'm tired of sob stories about people who have breakdowns and the like over situations such as this. They happen. It's necessary to be proactive in this situation, but crying and having a breakdown don't help.

lougord99

They may not be able to prevent you from leaving the plane, but they certainly can prevent you from reboarding the plane.

Stripe

The flight was ultimately delayed by six hours, but the actual events were a far cry from being "trapped on Charlotte tarmac for six hours with no AC". A substantial part of the time was spent off the plane, in the terminal, waiting to board a substitute plane. A rolling mechanical delay, followed by a decision to switch planes, and then a further delay as weather moves in is, sadly, not really news.

EXP100

People expect $99 fares, here you go.

seawolf

You’ll just get rebooked on another flight. I’m guessing most passengers are not aware of what is allowed.

I got off the plane a couple of times before and travelled on a different flight. One was at MIA and due to delay (would have arrived at NYC at 2AM) had agent offload me and rebook to next day.

Sensational headline sells the news; not the details.

Catbert10

This. I've been in similar situations when the GA announces they want everyone to remain on the plane and if you get off, take your stuff because you won't be allowed back on with a strong undertone of I'm going to make your life miserable if you force me to go into the system and take you off this flight.

TBD

That's not entirely accurate. You can't interfere with crew members in the performance of their duties. The airline would need to demonstrate that preventing you from deplaning was required for safety or whatever reasons. The justification isn't so black/white in this case.

ORDflyer92

How would a regular passenger know there's availability on another flight? The non-elite phone lines have hours-long waits so it's not like you could make arrangements on the tarmac to get rebooked, let alone the fact that I'm not sure a phone agent would even rebook you while you've boarded another plane from the same origin. Any pax who deplaned risks getting stuck in CLT (where they are likely connecting in the first place). Who even knows if a hotel would be available for the night given the travel craziness right now?

This is also discounting the fact that AA crew say things that may or may not be true during these kind of events all the time. I've waited for hours on the tarmac before and the crew almost always says things like "should just be a couple of minutes here at the gate while we wait for the storms to clear up" or "just a quick routine maintenance issue, nothing to worry about and we should be on our way in a matter of minutes." I'm fairly certain no one waiting there knew it would be a six hour wait. The crew have also said during tarmac delays "if you de-board, we cannot make other accommodations for you so you will be on your own to reach [destination]."

OskiBear

Seems that there are some inaccuracies or inconsistencies in the reporting
Headlines say a 3-hour flight, but the flight is approximately 2hrs or less
It says a 6-hour delay, but if the original flight was to depart at 1:07pm and actually departed at 5:58pm (as stated in the headlines), that's a 4hr 49m delay, not 6hours

Lastly, it seems a bit risky to fly in the same afternoon expecting to make the baseball game.

seawolf

AA.com to check availability. If you are a party of 4 as an example and search for a party of 6-8 that would be a reasonable indicator.

Even if you don't have access to aa.com, get off the plane and speak with the gate agent which you have to do anyway to get offloaded from the flight (to restore coupon status back to OK status) and inquire about actual availability on another flight before being offloaded/rebooked. And if there is no availability, tell the GA not to offload and get back on the plane.

At the end of the day, GA having to offload/rebooked requires extra key strokes (eg more effort). At the moment they tell you no availability on another flight, it is still in both their personal and airline's interests to let you physically back on the plane than to reopen the flight to process offloading and rebooking.

js1993

It's such an odd story. If the boarding door was still open, that would strongly suggest there was still a GA around. It would have been more understandable if the door was closed and everything had been sealed up from the GA's perspective.

jghassell

People forget that they are free human beings, with agency to make their own decisions. The airline cannot kidnap you and detain you while the boarding door is open and the jet bridge connected. While I can't quote a statute, effectively the crew of an airliner has absolutely no authority over you other than to insist on your removal from the aircraft when said aircraft is on the ground, at a gate, with the door open, before departure.

EXP100

In my experience the GA tells people if they get off they can't reboard and the GA won't rebook paxs. Last summer after a 3 hour delay on the a/c I asked could I get off and just rebook for tomorrow and was told no. And that was sitting in a comfortable F seat.