wrote in message
news:MPG.2010ba28f72a6184989912@nntp.aioe.org...
> In article
> <1168537818.535524.203960@77g2000hsv.googlegroups.com>,
> po.ning@gmail.com says...
>>
>> something awful in the air wrote:
>> > http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16565583/
>> >
>> > Trip to Dallas turns into flightmare
>> >
>> > Weather diverts planes, leaving passengers trapped for up to nine
>> > hours
>> >
>> > By Don Teague
>> >
>> > DALLAS, Texas - It was supposed to be a routine 3 1/2-hour flight from
>> > San Francisco to Dallas.
>> >
>> > But this story really begins in Austin. That's where several American
>> > Airlines flights were diverted the Friday of New Year's weekend.
>> >
>> > Kati Hanni was one of 138 passengers on board Flight 1348.
>> >
>> > "I mean, the fact that they diverted us for weather was a good thing,"
>> > Hanni says. But instead of unloading Hanni's flight and 13 other
>> > American Airlines planes that diverted to Austin, the airline told
>> > pilots to wait on the tarmac until the storms in Dallas cleared.
>> >
>> > "We expected maybe a one-hour delay or a two-hour delay," recalls
>> > Glenn Scott, who was delayed on Flight 534.
>> >
>> > For passengers aboard these planes, two hours turned into four, then,
>> > in at least one case, nine. While other planes came and went as
>> > American tried to keep them on schedule, the passengers in the narrow,
>> > one-aisle confines of Flight 1348 say toilets overflowed, water ran
>> > out and the only food was pretzels.
>> >
>> > "The stewardesses desperately tried to keep the tempers and the
>> > temperament of the passengers down," Kati Hanni says. "People were
>> > having medical issues."
>> >
>> > Passengers say the ordeal ended only after the pilot taxied to a gate
>> > without permission - 15 hours after the flight had boarded.
>> >
>> > Airline officials declined our request for an on-camera interview but
>> > admit something went terribly wrong in Austin. They say there's simply
>> > no excuse for leaving so many people just sitting on planes. American
>> > says it's reviewing what happened and will apologize and offer a
>> > "token" to affected passengers, which for Hanni is too little.
>> >
>> > And, like Flight 1348, way too late.
>
>
>> It may not be all the airline's fault. The airport may have a lot to
>> say about whether a plane can taxi back to the terminal. When there is
>> severe weather everyone is being held on the ground, and there may not
>> be an open terminal.
>
>
> However, the airport might have been able to call one of the
> stuck planes over to the terminal, unload the people, and then
> instruct the crew to park it elsewhere. Thus freeing up the
> terminal slot for another plane that needs to be unloaded.
Too logical and sensible. Meaning that it takes actual thought.
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