47 Passengers Spend `Surreal' 6 Hours Stuck On Airport Tarmac, Continental Apologizes

Yahoo! News:

Read the whole story: Yahoo! News

Comments

[BarakCarpathia]

I'm not sure if they still do this, but they used to measure on time departures based upon when they pushed away from the gate.
Does anyone know if this was the reason for them not going back to the gate?
Maybe I should read the article.

[BarakCarpathia]

ok TMI-

Continental payes a 65.00 bonus based upon good departure numbers.
The decision to use on-time departure
rather than arrival was made after discussions with airport managers
revealed that departure measures more accurately reflect individual airport
performance.

So if they leave the gate its considered on time departure regardless if they sit for hours

[DismayedRepub]

One of these days we'll be reading about some poor slob getting arrested for opening the emergency exit and hitting the slide. You have to ask yourself what is worse, the sinking commode two aisles behind you or jail?

[Cycadeoidea]

Continental appears to have confused human beings with freight.

[Kiki1kat]

After my last horrifying experience with this airlines, I refuse to fly Continental. This was inexcusable. Regardless to whether or not they had clearance to leave, when it gets to hot, smelly, no food, they should have opened the doors, pulled up a stairs and let those people off. Those people should sue Continental and ExpressJet, I know I would.

[dcnola]

This is able to continue to happen, because Congress refuses to pass an Airline Passebgers Bill of Rights. There are currently two versions before Congress, both are stuck in committee. By far, the Kay Bailey Hutchison version goes a lot further to protect passengers from this sort of abuse.

[RTIII]

Which committees? I'll be GLAD to pitch in a few phone calls and emails!
.

[bbceed]

This is ridiculous! The most I've been stuck is 3hrs and I wanted to cry!!! I would scream until they let me off. I don't mind if I have to buy another ticket. .....and then I will sue for false imprisonment.

[lantanatx]

I've been stuck on a plane for 2 hours, but this is ridiculous. Honestly I would have been on the phone with every news organization I could get and if that didn't work I'd have been calling 911. I wonder if you could have petitioned some judge for a writ of habeas corpus?

[MakeAWish]

This is kidnapping. The passengers should SUE! Since the government is SLOW to respond to this problem, it is going to take a class action law suit to end this barbaric, inhumane, STUPID practice!

[idealisticNM]

Oh, this is sad, and I feel badly for those captive passengers. Some posters here mentioned medical emergencies (or faking one)--that would have been a great idea to get off that plane !

1st, I call BS on the statement by E xpressJ et that these passengers were not allowed to deplane because all the TSA staffers had gone home for the night. WT F ? That makes no sense--once you're already past security and in the airport proper, you're assumed to have been safely screened ! Like what, these poor folks suddenly produced bo x cutters from carry-on diaper bags ?

2nd, the drop in customer service quality in the airline industry has been astounding. We will no longer fly A mer ican Air lines because of their uncaring, we've-alre­ady-got-yo­ur-money attitude. Several years ago, we had a flight to the Baltics that should have taken 1 & 1/2 days, but instead, took nearly 4 days because of one flight delay that caused us to miss all our connections. They were so uncaring about it, not paying for our (forced) overnight hotel stays or anything. I was so bummed out about the lack of customer service.

Still, I think being forced to stay OVERNIGHT on a plane ON the TARMAC would be the utmost indignity. My sympathies for those poor passengers !

[dutchman]

One more reason why America needs to invest in high speed rail.

In Europe, I rarely fly, unless the train ride is longer than 6 hours. That puts most of Europe within reach, for less money and far less hassle than flying.

[cotati08]

Yeah - well - Texas is bigger than Europe. So fat lotta good that'll do us.

[squander123]

Texas = 268,820 sq miles
European Union = 1,669,807 sq miles

I know Texas is big, but really...

[brixtony]

another product of the Texas educational system, I presume

[btdenver]

Stories like this are scarier than horrible crashes. Both happen rarely, but safety issues are tightly regulated and checked and re-checked. This sort of thing merely requires a few uncaring jerks to falsely imprison people for no reason. I don't suppose the Air Transport Association considers how many people hear stories like this and decide to drive.

[dcswampfox]

after many years of travel for both work and pleasure, I can unequivocally say that by far, Continental Airlines is the worst of the worst. I vowed never to fly that airline again, its been about 4 or 5 years since i took my last hellish flight on continental.

[lbcyclist]

... The Air Transport Association, which represents a group of airlines that includes Continental, has resisted the legislation in the past. Spokeswoman Elizabeth Merida said the group continues to believe the legislation "will ultimately end up inconveniencing passengers rather than helping them."

Hard to believe that anything developed in government would succeed in inconveniencing air travelers more than the airlines already do. Once again, the superiority of the free market system has been vindicated.

[texmike]

The most ridiculous part is the Express Jet rep's nonsense about passengers not being allowed into the terminal because there was no one to SCREEN them again! HUH???

Were they suddenly armed with weapons they had stashed in their baby diapers???

[RTIII]

Even more to the point; all passengers in the scheduled commercial transport category deplane into the terminals - right where other are about to get on - and they continue onto other planes.

That is a truly !nsane argument - either !nsane or profoundly stup!d.
.

[Smileoggi]

This is a prime example of why Congressmen should be forced to fly commercial airlines. T their egos would not tolerate this type of abuse. A simple phone call to their aides and all would have been well.

[texmike]

You got that right! This sort of stuff wouldn't happen. A lot of other things too (including health care reform) would actually get done if the congress/senate millionaires were limited to the options that we are.