If you've flown to or from anywhere that's prone to really bad weather, or if you've been stuck in a notoriously bad airport that has extreme delays and cancellations, you might be happy to hear that the government is now imposing a limit on how long the TSA can force travelers to remain aboard stranded planes.
Here's a link to the article outlining the effective date and rules for tarmac stranding:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Govt-imposes-3hour-limit-on-apf-715843484.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=5&asset=&ccode=
After a rash of really bad situations over the past few years in which hundreds of people were forced to remain in airplanes left parked on the tarmac for more than 10 hours - and unable to fly due to weather conditions or other factors on one side or the other - the government has finally seen fit to act on this. Good for them...good for the travellers, too.
Can you imagine being stuck on a plane with ANY crying babies, overflowing airplane toilets (horrors in their own right), no snacks, or a lack of medication? For the record, you should never pack any medication you may need in your checked luggage, so shame on you if you do that in the first place.
It's about time some rules were put into place to give guidance in these situations. There may be more delays due to stranded people being allowed to disembark the plane in these situations, but allowing people off the planes in order to make their own decisions - and take care of themselves and their families when necessary - is the ethically and morally correct thing to do.
But that's my opinion.
On a personal level I agree with you and that great inconvienence. 10 hrs is outrageous. I would more than likely be mumbling if this happened to me.
ReplyDeleteOn a security level, I'm not too certain. Sometimes it seems to me, we all demand convienence in our lives and we don't care about the cost until it's too late.
It's a fantastic right to soar through our skies. I hope we keep it tight so that right is always available.
Susan
I can see where you're coming from, Susan, but I really feel that forcing people to sit for 10 hours on a plane for whatever reason is a little unreasonable. But that's me.
ReplyDeleteIn the overall, grand scheme of things, will it make a big difference? Maybe to the one or two flights that something like this seems to happen to every year, but I don't think most of us will ever have to encounter anything like it.
You need spell check!
ReplyDeleteJust noticed I spelled inconvenience wrong, TWICE. LOL
Susan
Sad, isn't it? I don't think Blogger has spell check for comments. I'm always afraid I'm going to misspell something in a post and double-check everything.
ReplyDeleteIt's alright - I knew what you meant.