Airlines holding passengers "hostage"?

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averagebear

I also don't think it's fair. We know why they do it, but I can't answer why no regulations can put a stop to this.
If the plane stays at the gate, the airline gets fined and charged extra by the airport, and the airline is responsible for your missed connection. But if the airplane is sitting on the runway and the traffic controller doesn't give the green light, then it's not the airline's fault.
What I hate is when they knew the plane was gonna pull away from the gate and sit on the runway for hours of delay, but they don't tell you the truth. They lie if you ask at the gate whether the flight is delayed. As far as the airline is concerned, if they pull out of the gate on time, then it's not delayed. I suspect that most of the time they knew when they loaded up the passengers.

G Dogg

Usually a ground hold or flow control is in effect for the destination city. Sometimes pilots arnt notified about such delays from their dispatch or ATC until already taxing back to the runway. Once the aircraft doors are closed the plane electonically times out the planes departure from the gate by acards. Once the acards are in effect the crew starts getting paid and sometimes the crew figures that they would rather get paid for a 3 hour ground hold on the taxi way rather than waiting in the terminal and not getting paid. Usually the express carriers can be notorious for doing this.

grendeth

Sounds bad, very bad.

soccerknocker199

you got on the airplane like it was your fault and you wanted to go to the place so it is ur fault not theres so it isnt kidnapping. and i dont belive they would of sat there for 14 hours you would of ran out of fuel because they would of kept the engines on just incase awindow opend up and they could take off reall quick so they wouldnt of had enough fuel to reach there destination most likly. i flew from tampa to atlanta and they where going to wait thirty minuets more then taxi back to the termanial and let us off. so i dont know wht kind of experiance you have had asnd they might not be able to go backm to the gate because there might not a gate open that you can return to so then your stuck because the airport and those who schedule a flight dont put time in for you to come back to the gate because you should be in the air.

dcgirl

That was an extreme situation and the news show that aired it last night really did an over-the-top presentation; very one-sided!

In many cases where passengers are stuck on planes on the ground for long periods of time, it's because there is nowhere to unload them. It's pretty common for a plane to push back from the gate and have its spot taken by another plane almost immediately. Once you are on the taxi-way, if there is no empty gate, you have nowhere for passengers to unload from. You could always try to use the emergency slides but those are pretty dangerous; besides, there's still nowhere to park the plane to let people get out that way. Plus if the plane is ready to take off, unloading the plane can cause even more delays; if you're waiting on the taxi-way the pilot can take off when there's even a 5 minute break in the weather. If you go back to the gate, you'll need time to get everyone off the plane, then more time to get them all back on. In rapidly changing weather, that delay is going to cause the pilot to miss the short break in the weather.

Believe me--- airlines and pilots do not want you to be on that plane any longer than you have to be. If the circumstances allow passengers to be unloaded, they are. But the circumstances do not always allow for this.

sharon

thats terrible ....the cubans kidnapped 4 less time and probably got treated better

Rahm

Maybe I should carry an emergency cigar or bag of peanuts on my next flight if they pull that trick. I know if you light up when airborne they sure land quick LOL.

summer97b

After airlines get people on board and the flight is secured for bad weather or heavy air traffic the plane cannot take off when it has started taxiing. Pilots cannot anticipate when they will be able to take off or cannot go back to the gate and some times have to stay for long periods of time.

Technically people are not hostage, they willingly entered the airplane and paid the airline for the transportation. People cannot get off a plane at their request as if they were in a city bus.

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