[First of all, to everyone wondering where I've been and if I've abandoned this thread: my apologies. It's been mostly procrastination and sometimes just not having my laptop with me (I sometimes use my iPad, but I don't have an attached keyboard and I find the screen keyboard cumbersome for long answers).
Keep the questions coming and I'll get to them. I realized there are a few hanging out there and I'll get to them, either tomorrow or Friday. I'll take this latest one right now, just to get back into the swing of it...]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Guncho
What are passengers rights when it comes to being kept on the plane on the tarmac? Can you demand to be let off the plane?
I was once kept on a grounded plane for 4 hours. Turned a 5 hour flight into a 9 hour flight. Not fun.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilt...rmac-1.3384118
Because of this kind of event, where passengers have been "held hostage" on a delayed flight, usually due to weather, a law was passed in the U.S. placing a limit on how long you can be kept prisoner. (See
my earlier post (#3588) for more on this law.)
IIRC, the time limit for a domestic flight delay is three hours. If we haven't gotten airborne within three hours of leaving the gate, the airline can face a hefty fine. But, as my previous post points out, this can result in the necessity to head back to the gate well in advance of the three hour point (to allow for taxi times back to the gate during gridlock on the ground) and loss of our place in the takeoff line.
So, do you have the right to
insist on getting off the plane before the end of this three hour period? Not really, but depending on how much of a fuss you make, the crew might make the decision (with the concurrence of our dispatcher) to return to the gate and take you off. For domestic flights, they will
not remove any checked bags you have, as this would further delay the other passengers. So you'd have that inconvenience which you'd have to work out with the company's baggage department.
If you make a
disruptive fuss to get off the plane, you might achieve your goal but with the added inconvenience of being met by law enforcement for interfering with the flight.
Last edited by W0X0F; 12-30-2015 at 05:09 PM.
Reason: Procrastination is an ugly character trait