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Monday, August 10, 2009

UPDATED: Passenger-rights legislation just got a boost: 47 trapped overnight on a regional jet in Minnesota

Morning .... this post from Monday now has a longer article at the first link .. and as predicted, has a quote from a member of Congress. 

We suppose the only thing worse than being trapped overnight in one of those skinny, 50-passenger regional jets at a Minnesota airport in the summer would be imprisonment in the winter. Or maybe not. Whatever, I suspect the chances of Congress actually adopting federal rules for treatment of airline customers during long tarmac delays just got a lot better with a tale from a flight this weekend.


A Continental Express flight from Houston to Minneapolis/St. Paul was diverted Friday night by thunderstorms to Rochester, Minn. (home of the Mayo Clinic, although that didn't seem to help.) For a variety of reasons, passengers weren't allowed off the plane. Read more about their nine-hour nightmare here.


Last week's Winging It column looked at some of the past efforts to legislate better airline customer service, and predicted that Congress would act to force the industry to do better. If a member of Congress doesn't bring up this weekend's flight in debate, I will be surprised.
Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 10:21 AM  Permalink | 4 comments
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  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:16 PM, 08/10/2009
    Suppose they parked far away from the flexible gate, anyone who jumped out would risk injury to self. A situation like this would require temporary guarantine of the passengers by confining them to an unused terminal with bathroom privileges and bottled water, diapers, pretzels if available until the passengers can reboard the next day and take off. TSA regulations can easily mandate rescreening of all passengers even though they went off plane to go to bathroom during delays. We have to moderate that kind of scrutiny.
    — James
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:13 PM, 08/10/2009
    The 4th amendment does not apply, because it wasn't a government entity (it also doesn't apply because seizure refers to objects, not persons, but the 5th amendment covers that).
    — Politburo
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:31 PM, 08/10/2009
    Umm ... Rochester is 90 miles away from Minneapolis. Let me out. I'll rent a car. Frikkin' idiots!
    — ShroomCheeseSteak


4 comments
About Tom Belden
Tom Belden has been reporting about Philadelphia International Airport and other air travel subjects for more than 20 years, writing columns for The Inquirer's Travel and Business sections. His reporting (with colleague Craig McCoy) on baggage handling problems in Philadelphia have been credited with helping to improve the system. His previous blog was called Road Warrior. He can reached at tbelden@phillynews.com.
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