Passengers aboard a 2007 JetBlue flight, waiting to leave John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Due to a snow storm, the flight was canceled, but not until the passengers waited 8 1/2 hours in the plane. (AP Photo/Lou Martins)
Associated Press | Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said
Thursday that he has turned down requests from five airlines for
temporary exemptions to a rule against keeping passengers waiting longer
than three hours on airport tarmacs.
The new rule takes effect April 29. The department has said airlines may
be fined up to $27,500 per passenger for each violation of the rule.
“Passengers on flights delayed on the tarmac have a right to know they will not be held aboard a plane indefinitely,” LaHood said in a statement. “This is an important consumer protection, and we believe it should take effect as planned.”
The provision was part of a new airline passenger protection rule announced by LaHood in December. It prohibits U.S. airlines operating domestic flights from permitting a plane to remain on the tarmac at large and medium hub airports for more than three hours without letting passengers off. Exceptions were allowed only for safety or security reasons or if air traffic control advises the flight’s captain that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations.
The rule also requires that passengers be provided with working toilets and, after two hours, food and drinking water.
On March 4, JetBlue Airways asked for an exemption for its operations at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport until the airport’s main runway, currently under construction, reopens Dec. 1. That request was followed by similar requests from Delta Air Lines and American Airlines for their operations at JFK.
Continental Airlines requested an exemption at New York’s LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. US Airways sought an exemption for its operations at Philadelphia International Airport.
The carriers said that without the requested exemptions large numbers of flights will have to be canceled at the New York-area airports, causing even great inconvenience for passengers.
Congestion in New York has a ripple effect on operations at airports across the country, accounting for a large share of flight delays on any given day.
Once again our fearless leaders in Washington announce a new regulation without having the vaguest notion of the consequences. In order to protect themselves from these outrageous penalties of $27,500 PER PASSENGER!!! will be forced to cancel hundreds of flights just in case the delay might reach three hours.
What is even worse is that the airlines do not run the air traffic system, the federal government does. There won’t be a private airline system in this country. It will be Air Obama. Heaven help us.
I would rather have the flight canceled and go home or sit at the airport than sit on an airplane for hours and hours.
Sorry Downtown Guy, but the airlines created this mess & now they have to pay the piper!
All they need to do is build a mobile honey wagon or two for each airport that can drive up to the plane & let the passengers use the toilet. There are already mobile air conditioners for the planes & it shouldn’t be a big problem to also bring out a truck with sandwiches & water to a plane stuck beyond the time limit.
Treating your paying customers like crap is not an intelligent way to do business, let alone to stay in business!