DOT imposes 3-hr limit on strandings -Airlines must supply food, water after 2 hrs

[WebmasterAlex]

There's other factors involved here that may not be readily apperant. For example a flight crew may be hitting their maximum hours. If the plane returns to the gate there's no crew, flight get's cancelled and you could be spending a long time in the airport.
3 hours seems like a huge amount of time if you are sitting there doing nothing but I don't think the intent here is to make it easy or fun it's to prevent the ridiculous situations, 8 hours on the tarmac

 

[dismom2]

I'm glad they are at least making some rules about this. Last year I sat on the runway for 4 hours just to take a 45 minute flight --there was bad weather at my destination. I'm one of those "I'd better take this and that just in case" kind of people, so I always have a bottle of water and some snacks in my carry-on. And I was so happy I had my ipod with me. What was especially nice was that I had uploaded some comedy routines onto the ipod, so that kept my spirits up---I think I LOL a couple times.

 

[bicker]

If the airline knows it's going to be on the tarmac for hours, why can't they have some buses drive out and return passengers to the terminal to wait it out?

Safety, time, and cost.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

One thing I think folks have missed--which will cause problems.

While the 3 hour rule will go into effect, there is opportunity to legally go beyond that if you read it carefully. I.e. if it affects airport operations or something.

So, for example--if folks are lined up for deicing and a plane is approaching its 3 hour limit, I would imagine that the airport could justify keeping it out and moving in the line versus having it return to the gate.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

At least they are attempting to do something. It's issues like this that make me glad that I don't fly. It sounds like things really have gone to pot with the airline industry lately.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

One thing I think folks have missed--which will cause problems.

While the 3 hour rule will go into effect, there is opportunity to legally go beyond that if you read it carefully. I.e. if it affects airport operations or something.

So, for example--if folks are lined up for deicing and a plane is approaching its 3 hour limit, I would imagine that the airport could justify keeping it out and moving in the line versus having it return to the gate.

If you look close it's Airport Operations not Airline Operations. 2 seperate groups, often with seperate goals

 

[Piglets Mommy]

One thing I think folks have missed--which will cause problems.

While the 3 hour rule will go into effect, there is opportunity to legally go beyond that if you read it carefully. I.e. if it affects airport operations or something.

So, for example--if folks are lined up for deicing and a plane is approaching its 3 hour limit, I would imagine that the airport could justify keeping it out and moving in the line versus having it return to the gate.

I'm responding primarily to the part in red....
that is a good thing...It would stink to be 2nd or 3rd from your turn to be de
-iced and take off, only to have to return to the gate and start over. It's sitting on the tarmac for no reason, with no forseeable departure time in sight that would bother me the most.

I've never been stranded on a tarmac, but we were stuck in LAX to head to Palm Springs...it was a teeny tiny commuter terminal with only a small selection of pre-packaged snacks. For over 6 hrs, we were delayed by 30 min. over & over again. Come to find out it was the Pilots & Flight Attendants unions showing that they were upset with their contract...the pilot was finding something wrong with each plane and wouldn't fly. THen at 6 hrs, they reached their maximum hours and had to call in a new crew. Once we figured out what was going on, we rented a car, and drove. My Mom didn't want to, b/c the luggage was already on the plane. We could have sat there all night!

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I'm responding primarily to the part in red....
that is a good thing...It would stink to be 2nd or 3rd from your turn to be de
-iced and take off, only to have to return to the gate and start over. It's sitting on the tarmac for no reason, with no forseeable departure time in sight that would bother me the most.

I've never been stranded on a tarmac, but we were stuck in LAX to head to Palm Springs...it was a teeny tiny commuter terminal with only a small selection of pre-packaged snacks. For over 6 hrs, we were delayed by 30 min. over & over again. Come to find out it was the Pilots & Flight Attendants unions showing that they were upset with their contract...the pilot was finding something wrong with each plane and wouldn't fly. THen at 6 hrs, they reached their maximum hours and had to call in a new crew. Once we figured out what was going on, we rented a car, and drove. My Mom didn't want to, b/c the luggage was already on the plane. We could have sat there all night!

That's just wrong and one of the reasons I don't like a lot of unions. Not that they don't have their place. But obviously they agreed to the new contract, so all they are doing is hurting the passengers who are stuck in the middle of all this. That kind of stunt should be illegal.

 

[Mkrop]

Im pretty sure it was a US Air flight out of Philly.

I am not surprised. USAir + Philly=

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

If you look close it's Airport Operations not Airline Operations. 2 seperate groups, often with seperate goals

Indeed which is why I said "airport"--my vagueness was in not recalling the exact quote.


As another poster said, I do not think it is a bad thing. Sometimes--it takes a while if things back up due to weather. Planes have to get their slot in line.

I recall one time that we had some kind of problem on our plane. Don't recall what it was--nor the airline. In any case--we were getting our repair on the tarmac. Then there was a delay in when we'd be able to take off due to something else. (weather either where we were or at our destination). IT was wacky.

Pilot actually got permission from teh airline to return to the gate b/c it had been a while (though not close to 3 hours at all.) We got to the gate and we got clearance for takeoff and would you believe they asked the passengers what we wanted to do. We were more than happy to leave and pilot skedaddled us to departure. It was kind of comical b/c the delay we were looking at was a while, but then suddenly they had an opportunity and we were able to take it.

In this case--for this airline, the pilot couldn't just decide to return us to the gate. He had to secure permission from the airline. FAA was the ones who would not let us take off.