"Hundreds of Newark-bound passengers sat for four hours on a tarmac in a stifling cabin after bad weather diverted their flight from London in Connecticut and union regulations grounded it there.
To make matters worse, passengers said, the plane's generators shut down for the second time, leaving them with no air conditioning and sweltering temperatures that reached 100 degrees."
Not only that but the airlines should be held criminally liable as well. It's a crime to hold someone against his or her will. It's usually called false arrest and unlawful imprisonment. I could be wrong but last time I checked union regulations can't trump a criminal statute!
Will some poor schmuck have to die on one of these flights from hell before the airlines are forced to let people get off these damn planes in a reasonable length of time? Congress stepped up the last time this happened and graciously decreed that 3 hours was long enough to make people suffer needlessly before the airlines must allow them to de-plane. But, of course, as with all of Congress's bluster it failed to even come close to solving the problem. First of all, 3 hours stuck on a plane with no water or restroom and no air conditioning during the blazing heat of the Summer is absolute torture and no person with any sense would sit there and endure that torture willingly. I would be the guy that would just go up to the door and open it and fight anyone who tried to stop me. But that's just me. I would either get off that plane right there or make the captain return to the terminal and let me off. It would be like 'Mutiny on the Bounty'.
Besides being about 2 hours too long, the new rule only applies to domestic flights! So, apparently, international flights can be held out there on the tarmac, regardless of conditions, forever!
The airlines did apologize, so I guess everything is just hunky dory. Oh sure. It's not really their fault their damn plane was defective and the generator wouldn't work. Oh noooo. And it's not their fault then that the plane had to wait for Customs to arrive. Hey, it's a security matter ya know.
The reason this makes me so mad is that none of it needs to happen. It happens because the airlines and the airports and the FAA and the TSA are incapable of using their own discretion, common sense and good judgment and it is clear that nobody seems to really give a damn. They use the excuse of "security" or union rules. The airlines also do it to save a few bucks as well. It costs them money to de-plane 300 people and find them alternate transportation. That's the bottom line. Once you get on that plane, they own your ass and they treat you that way.
These kinds of incidents never used to happen. There was a time, back in the good ol' days, when people could use their God given good sense to make decisions based on the situation at hand. Airlines employees, pilots, whoever was in control, would just get those people off that plane if it meant bringing out the portable boarding stairs and bussing them back to the terminal. Unions be damned! Customs be damned! The only time passengers were ever held captive on the tarmac for hours was when a certain group of Islamic terrorists began hijacking them back in the 70s.
If the Customs agents can't get there within a few minutes, then just get those passengers off the plane, back to the terminal and let them enjoy a Happy Meal while they wait in relative comfort and safety. If the US Customs or TSA doesn't like it, tough shit. What are they going to do, fine the airlines? Wack their peepees? I'd love to see that Congressional hearing on national TV.
Congress will haul just about any citizen or CEO in front of a Star Chamber circus inquisition if it suits their political motivations. So, how about hauling the airlines before a congressional hearing to answer the question of why they chose to hold 300 people against their will on a plane in 100 degree heat with no air conditioning because of some union rule???! It would also be interesting to see the pompous assed Congress grilling the US Customs officials as to why they can't come up with a more efficient way to handle situations where a plane gets diverted to another airport and is forced to hold passengers on the damn plane for hours until they arrive to check the luggage for whatever it is they check for these days. We know they aren't checking for terrorists because terrorists don't seem to have much trouble getting on board airplanes, even when they're being tailed by the FBI and they're on the no-fly list!
But, as Homeland Insecurity chief Napalitano would surely surmise, the system worked. Yep, the system worked so well in this instance that not one damn person with half the brains God gave a jackass could figure out that 300 passengers were being forced to sit on a plane in 100 degree heat for no good reason.... AGAIN!
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