Passengers' 'Rights' Bills Get New Ammunition

I CAN REMEMBER WHEN FLYING WAS VERY SPECIAL AND PASSENGERS WERE TREATED ROYALLY. NOT ANYMORE! IT'S DISGUSTING WHAT TRAVELERS HAVE TO TOLERATE! SIX HOURS SITTING ON A PLANE GOING NOWHERE! WHEN I LOOK AT MAJOR AIRPORTS IN THE U.S., I SAY TO MYSELF THE ONLY THING THE AIRLINES LACK IS THE ELECTRIC CATTLE PROD! I'M SURE WE CAN EXPECT TO SEE THEM IN USE IN THE NEAR FUTURE...
I TOO HAVE MY HORROR STORY TO TELL REGARDING A FLIGHT ON BRITISH AIRWAYS, BUT THAT WOULD REQUIRE FAR MORE SPACE THAN IS ALLOTTED HERE...! FLY B/A? I'D RATHER FLY ON A CROP DUSTER!! NO WONDER IT BECAME KNOWN AS: B/A = BLOODY AWFUL!

We need the Passengers' 'Rights' Bill.

There is nothing more to say that hasn't been said here and elsewhere. We are all fed up.

What this really boils down to is lack of management. I fly a LOT, and I'm also a general aviation pilot, so I have a bit of sympathy for the airlines. HOWEVER, regional jet pilots are just fresh off of earning their Boy/Girl Scout Aviation Merit Badges, and have nearly zero clout within their own organizations. As such, when something happens that's outside their area of expertise, the wrong result is almost certain to ensue.

SOMEONE at Continental or ExpressJet had the authority to "fix" this problem on the ground. However, NO ONE seemed to have had the authority to get THAT PERSON out of bed to make the one or two phone calls that would have made this thing go away. Indeed, I doubt very strongly if the air crew even knew who to call at midnight to "fix" the problem before it spun out of control.

Will a passenger bill of rights solve everything? No, of course not, because it's impossible for legislators to think up a solution to every possible problem. What COULD be done today, though, is for airlines to be more pro-active and have SOMEONE in a position of authority able to make decisions 24/7 when things like this go wrong. If the CEO (or someone with his authority) had been on that plane, the problem would have been fixed in 5 minutes. In the future, when things like this start going wrong, airlines need to take whatever steps they WOULD have taken if the CEO's mother was on the plane.

The airlines are the only businesses that lie to their customers even more than Las Vegas hookers.

Continental Airlines (CAL) does not operationally control ExpressJet (XJT) aircraft eventhough the seats are sold through Continental and the Continental logo is on the tail. ExpressJet has COMPLETELY separate operations center, and both are open 24/7. Since neither Continental nor ExperessJet serve Rochester, the only on-scene company representatives were the crew (two pilots and a flight attendant). One of two things caused this:
1. Either the crew did not agressively pursue the proper treatment of the passengers, or
2. The operations center they were communicating with stonewalled any help they were seeking.
Even if the operations center was not providing help, the crew could have done some out of the box thinking and worked directly with the airport authorities to get some help. Unfortunately, far too many commuter crews are young and inexperienced, and therefore don't have the confidence to stand up and correct a bad situation. They consider themselves nothing more than pawns pushed around by the company. But that's what you would expect when commuter pilots aren't paid enough to make a career out of it.

Payments to passengers based on future civil proceedings are a given in this case. (They should band as a class and go for mega millions as there lives and health were jeopardized.) Further, what should be seriously weighed are criminal charges (hostage taking, physical endangerment etc) against the captain of the plane and crew, airline(s),airport officials and possibly the TSA.

If criminal charges are not warranted, heads should roll from all companies and agencies as they ignored their inherent responsibility to these passengers. The first idiot that says it was not his/her fault or says the rule is this or that should be the first to go. Do you want to fly with an air crew that made these stupid decisions or rather made no decision resulting in the entrapment of 47 souls?

Empathize, how would you feel /react if you or a member of you family were in this situation.

This was known situation that these officials/officers all walked away from and are cloaking themselves in bureaucracy. I trust the media doesn't let this Public Relations nightmare slip under the rug. It was a bad situation and they were impotent either by what they thought were rules, didn't have the courage to do the right thing or couldn't be bothered.

Passenger bill rights has to be a go as this just shows the flight crew and the airline are not always right.

The Continental Express situation likely happened because Continental didn't want to spend any money. Delta also had a flight that was diverted and it got their passengers onto a bus and to their destination in a few hours. Delta also offered Continental room on the bus for their passengers, but one would presume that they would have charged Continental for the courtesy, as they would be justified to do. Shamefully, Continental turned Delta down and chose to let their passengers stew in their own juices for six hours on a loud, cramped, smelly plane with overflowing toilets and no food or water. If Continental didn't screw over their passengers to save money, then why would they turn down the Delta bus offer?

I can only hope that the saving grace in all of this is that this has cemented the need for regulation in passenger treatment. We've been terrorized and tortured enough by careless airlines.

CIVIL LIABILITY. Make it illegal for airlines to limit their civil liability in adhesion contracts found on the back of tickets and in terms of service. Do away with binding arbitration clauses. If I locked you in a grocery store for 6 hours you'd own it after a jury got done with the case.

The airlines need a major makeover in attitude, integrity and on how to not LIE to the general public. Yes, they are struggling as an entity in light of the economy, BUT common sense is not a national issue.... On second thought maybe it is. LOL The crew should be fired along with their decision makers in dispatch. Trust me, had I been on that plane, the over wing exits would have been pulled, I would have been arrested and now suing the company for hours of torture.....

And for the people that were on that plane with babies..... I would conduct a class action lawsuit along with all of the passengers. PLEASE..... a free ride on this pathetic malignant carrier and a ticket rebate? Give me a break! The two boy scout pilots and idiot F/A should be terminated.

With no flight crewmembers on board or company reps, in this situation the emergency exits would have been activated and that would have got some attention from airfield personnel or created a response from the airfield fire department to see people on the ramp.

With no flight crewmembers on board or company reps, in this situation the emergency exits would have been activated and that would have got some attention from airfield personnel or created a response from the airfield fire department to see people on the ramp. I'd rather been on the ramp than on a filthy aircraft.

How can any business possibly survive that has so little regard for their clients and customers? The short answer is they can't--it's just a matter of time unless they start making good business decisions and respecting their customers. If I had been on that plane, I would have risked arrest just to get off! I agree with a previous writer, that a class action law suit is called for. This kind of treatment without recourse is completely unacceptable--a free ticket doesn't begin to compensate for the agony those passengers must have experienced. I hate to see more laws on the books, but if airline personnel aren't able to demonstrate reasonable judgment or don't have the authority to make good decisions about the safety and comfort of their passengers, then we have to have a new law that spells it out for them. What a shame that it's come this--another law for something that is so obvious--you don't hold your customers hostage.

You misunderstand ..

Everyone wants to leave.