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Old Jan 8, 2018, 7:28 pm
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4 hours tarmac wait no water for coach tons in business

LX 22 was stranded for 4 hours on the JFK Tarmac waiting for a gate to clear on Saturday 6/1/2018. The flight was totally full given the previous cancelled flight. I was sitted on row 23J with full view on business. After 1 hour wait I saw the crew moving many bottles of water out of coach into business. I assumed this was because business class hadn't any left. Shortly after my 11 year old daughter who had a bad headache asked for water but she was told there was strictly none left on the whole plane. I saw multiple people in business classe getting glasses of water on many other occasions but each time I was told they had just found some but that was it. When the gate was finally announced and there was just 30 mins left, the crew moved back 5-6 bottles of water from business to coach. During 3 hours, no one in coach got water after a 9 hour flight. Do you think this is acceptable? and just protecting high value costumers or is this morally wrong (at least give old people and children a bit of water in coach?)
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Old Jan 9, 2018, 2:04 pm
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Morally, I think this is wrong.

Legally, I don't know. I don't think EU has any regulation pertaining to duty to care in case of tarmac delays (only airport delays) and I'm not sure to what extent does the US regulation apply to this case. However, DOT seems to indicate this should be covered, so you have grounds for complaint - worst case they will tell you this situation is not covered, best case scenario, you get some redress.

During a tarmac delay, airlines must provide you with a snack, such as a granola bar, and drinking water no later than two hours after the aircraft leaves the gate (in the case of a departure) or touches down (in the case of an arrival).
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Old Jan 12, 2018, 11:37 am
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Originally Posted by Fabo.sk
Morally, I think this is wrong.

Legally, I don't know. I don't think EU has any regulation pertaining to duty to care in case of tarmac delays (only airport delays) and I'm not sure to what extent does the US regulation apply to this case. However, DOT seems to indicate this should be covered, so you have grounds for complaint - worst case they will tell you this situation is not covered, best case scenario, you get some redress.
DOT rules apply to all carriers operating to the US. Swiss could and should get fined for this. The tarmac rule was put into force to avoid cases like the one the OP encountered.
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Old Jan 13, 2018, 10:56 am
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report it to the DOT please. It is hard to believe they don't have enough drinks (water and otherwise) on the plane to serve all customers in such an event.
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Old Jan 13, 2018, 11:29 am
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Report this to DOT. LX must obey US law on its US departures.

Unlike EC 261/2004, there is no payoff to you, but the carrier may be fined a substantial amount of money.

On a 4-hour delay, there is ample opportunity to reprovision bottled water and simple supplies and JFK has a contingency plan to do just this when IRROPS sets in.
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Old Jan 15, 2018, 5:53 pm
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Yes I will report it to the DOT. It was actually not the coach team's fault, they were nice enough, but it was clearly a policy either by the airline or the maitre de canine. The flight was absolutely full given the previous had been cancelled and there just wasn't enough water to go through the whole cabin. However to decline providing water to certain passengers that really wanted some, to make sure business class has ample left sounds just plain wrong.
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Old Jan 16, 2018, 9:12 am
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Wink master of the dogs

Originally Posted by TheHak
the maitre de canine.
Looks like the maître de CANINE did not consider the underdogs, shame on him/her Joking beside, LX Y is no joy, but this is where the price war led us.
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Old Jan 16, 2018, 5:08 pm
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Originally Posted by behuman
Looks like the maître de CANINE did not consider the underdogs, shame on him/her Joking beside, LX Y is no joy, but this is where the price war led us.
Caine, Horatio?

Too bad that Horatio from CSI MIA was not on bord... *wuaaaaahhhh*....
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Old Jan 16, 2018, 5:14 pm
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Isn't this what we want? Special attention in business class.
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Old Jan 23, 2018, 12:00 pm
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Originally Posted by Often1
Report this to DOT. LX must obey US law on its US departures.

Unlike EC 261/2004, there is no payoff to you, but the carrier may be fined a substantial amount of money.

On a 4-hour delay, there is ample opportunity to reprovision bottled water and simple supplies and JFK has a contingency plan to do just this when IRROPS sets in.

The OP mentioned they were waiting for a gate to clear. I think that means the LX flight was arriving NOT departing as you mention.
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Old Jan 25, 2018, 9:30 am
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Originally Posted by Lakeviewsteve
The OP mentioned they were waiting for a gate to clear. I think that means the LX flight was arriving NOT departing as you mention.
Tarmac delay regulations are valid for both departing and arriving flights.
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Old Jan 25, 2018, 12:53 pm
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Originally Posted by Fabo.sk
Tarmac delay regulations are valid for both departing and arriving flights.
But if all off bays were occupied as well as gates, then apart from the aircraft taking off for another airport there’s not much to be done. It’s not as if ground staff can dock a set of stairs to an aircraft in the middle of a taxiway.
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Old Jan 26, 2018, 6:26 am
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Originally Posted by windchaser777


But if all off bays were occupied as well as gates, then apart from the aircraft taking off for another airport there’s not much to be done. It’s not as if ground staff can dock a set of stairs to an aircraft in the middle of a taxiway.
For 4 hours?
I'm sure that if there is such a gridlock that nobody is moving for 4 hours, putting a set of stairs to an airplane on a taxiway somewhere is the least problem. After all, the plane isn't going anywhere anyway, stairs or not.
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Old Jan 26, 2018, 7:22 am
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Originally Posted by Fabo.sk
putting a set of stairs to an airplane on a taxiway somewhere is the least problem.
Ahem... this is not how the operational and regulatory framework at an airport works. There is a zero chance of passenger air stairs being attached to a plane on an operational taxiway.

Essentially, no one is allowed to be on foot on a taxiway unless they are part of an emergency crew or have just escaped out of a burning jet down the slides...
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Old Jan 26, 2018, 4:36 pm
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Originally Posted by TheHak
LX 22 was stranded for 4 hours on the JFK Tarmac waiting for a gate to clear on Saturday 6/1/2018. The flight was totally full given the previous cancelled flight. I was sitted on row 23J with full view on business. After 1 hour wait I saw the crew moving many bottles of water out of coach into business. I assumed this was because business class hadn't any left. Shortly after my 11 year old daughter who had a bad headache asked for water but she was told there was strictly none left on the whole plane. I saw multiple people in business classe getting glasses of water on many other occasions but each time I was told they had just found some but that was it. When the gate was finally announced and there was just 30 mins left, the crew moved back 5-6 bottles of water from business to coach. During 3 hours, no one in coach got water after a 9 hour flight. Do you think this is acceptable? and just protecting high value costumers or is this morally wrong (at least give old people and children a bit of water in coach?)
No water for 4 hours -you poor thing,I only touch it when I am desperate.
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