Public uproar over airline tarmac rule is working
These days, you can worry less about being trapped in a parked plane. And that’s the case because of the four-month old US Transportation Department’s three-hour delay rule, says travel commentator Christopher Elliott.
Only three flights were delayed more than three hours in July, the latest month reported by the Transportation Department. All the incidents happened on the evening of July 23, when a line of "very nasty" thunderstorms swept through Chicago, according to American Airlines spokeswoman Andrea Huguely.
"Unfortunately, the way the weather pattern was that day, we couldn’t park [the planes] on a gate," she added. "The ramp was closed. Our passengers were given a snack and water, and our crew tried to keep them as comfortable as possible while waiting."
The three American Eagle regional jets bound for Knoxville, Tenn., Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and Baltimore were on "hold" while waiting for the weather to clear. The government is investigating the circumstances of those delays but hasn’t issued any fines.
It’s been almost a year since passenger-rights activists held a "stakeholders" meeting in Washington to denounce tarmac delays and call for new rules to end them. The result was the rule requiring passengers to deplane within three hours or face a maximum fine of $27,500 per passenger for overstaying the limit.
“But only in reviewing the effectiveness of the new tarmac-delay rule has the real problem — and the solution — become apparent. It wasn’t these isolated but maddening delays, but how airlines regarded them, that was troublesome,” Elliott writes.
"As more time passes, it’s becoming clear that the sky is not falling on airlines or their customers over the three-hour tarmac-delay rule," said Kevin Mitchell of the Business Travel Coalition. "If anything, there are likely new efficiencies and cost savings made possible by complying with the new rule as airlines modify schedules, processes and systems."
By David Wilkening
David
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