My Airline Bill of Rights Would Include All the Honey-Roasted Peanuts I Could Eat!

I was pretty happy this week that aside from some relatively minor glitches and exasperations, my air travel was pretty good -- I made my connecting flights and was never stranded. Be that as it may, when I flew into Boston on a connecting flight, we arrived 90 minutes late because we literally spent more time on the tarmac than we did in the air -- and that's not the first time that's happened to me, or, especially in the last few weeks, something that's been entirely unusual. All this being trapped in airplanes is causing talk of a "Flyer's Bill of Rights":

Lawmakers in the House and the Senate are drafting bills that would create a new "airline passengers' bill of rights" that, among other things, would require planes delayed on the ground more than three hours to allow passengers to get off; compel airlines to provide passengers with frequent updates about delays; and mandate disclosure of information about chronically delayed or canceled flights.

"Passengers should not be held on an airplane for hours and hours on end," Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., said Friday as he described a set of minimum standards he is proposing. "My bill requires that airlines provide every passenger with food, safe drinking water, sanitary bathroom facilities, adequate ventilation and a reasonable temperature while the plane is delayed."

Such a law, if it had been in force last week, might have spared hundreds of JetBlue passengers the ordeal they suffered while stranded on the tarmac at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport during a Valentine's Day ice storm. Some passengers were held for 10 hours inside planes with foul air, fouler toilets, little food and less information.

I like this idea, personally -- no one wants to be going nowhere in an airplane seat for hours. I do wonder what unintended consequences something like this will have, though -- the ballet of planes at an airport is complicated enough right now without adding the extra dimension of stranded planes coming back to gates to drop off passengers, getting out of the way for other planes, and then coming back later to pick the passengers back up again. I suspect the airline response could be lots more pre-emptive cancellations and more people stranded and annoyed. We'll have to see.

Personally, I think as long as the airlines just gave everyone an iPod, a GameBoy and a nice thick paperback, we'd have fewer complaints. Oh, and unlimited honey-roasted peanuts. Give us that, we'll be happy to stay on the plane forever.

Your thoughts on a "Flyer's Bill of Rights"?

Tags: Airplane Passenger's Bill of Rights, Airlines, Airports, Honey-roasted peanuts

Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry

This entry has 5 comments: (Add your own)

#5 Comment from mrsm711
2/19/07 7:11 PM | Permalink

10 hrs is way too long! I would be traumatized. I can barely sit throug a 2 1/2 hr movie at a theatre. :)
http://journals.aol.com/mrsm711/LatteDah/ Tracy
#4 Comment from gifdude
2/19/07 5:18 PM | Permalink

10 hrs is insane sitting on a tarmac. I wouldn't take it at all.

I was either in St.Louis or in Chicago that I sat on the airplane for about 1/2 before take-off. What could I do? Nada. This bill of rights thing might be good, but would the airlines enforce it?
#3 Comment from jamie24601
2/19/07 5:13 PM | Permalink

If it had been me, I would've gotten on my cell phone, called 911, and told the dispatcher that I was being held against my will. Or I would've called a local TV station.

Really, 10 hours? I sincerely hope some executive loses their job over this one. I don't even take flights that last that long!!

Jamie

http://parkhopper.blogspot.com
#2 Comment from robinngabster
2/19/07 12:13 PM | Permalink

Someone should have just gone crazy! They always turn the plane around for an unruly passenger.
#1 Comment from sdoscher458
2/19/07 11:35 AM | Permalink

In this day and age it is beyond me how those passengers did not insist and I mean really insist...that they be returned to the gate or at the very least have a portable staircase brought to the tarmac for those who wanted to deplane. I cannot image what was going on in that plane..it's like no one used any common sense at all. Many years ago I was flying from Chicago to New York, with two kids under the age of 3 and a small poodle. This was during one of the air controller slow downs...it took me 15 hours to get to New York. We were on the tarmac for a very long time, however, the airline took care of us. We were given sandwiches, drinks and they even went into the storage area to retrieve my puppy because I was so worried about him being locked up without food or water for so long. So sitting beside me I had two babies and a puppy sleeping - so for them it dreamtime. I fly Jetblue all the time and have always found their staff to be very friendly and helpful so I really don't understand what happened. Sandi

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My Airline Bill of Rights Would Include All the Honey-Roasted Peanuts I Could Eat!