deltabound

5,6,7 hour sits are exceedingly rare, never planed for by any airline or pilot, are a PR Nightmare, and almost never, ever the direct fault of an airline.

This bill is about punishing airlines for things that they largely have no control over. Furthermore, it doesn't punish all airlines equally, but mostly only those who have built their business models over the decades in airports and airspace that the federal government has failed to improved over time (either by building more runways or more airports in the area, improving airspace, technology upgrades, etc*).

I'd like to know the details of how the federal authorities will be held accountable:

• Will controllers be violated and the airport authority fined once a plane declares "bingo 3 hours" and they fail to accommodate an immediate return to the gate?
• Will those controllers, airport authorities, and the feds receive blaring headline press reports about their lack of compassion for the passenger needs to return to the gate at push +3:01?
• Will exceptions be given to carriers/controllers for extenuating circumstances (long lines, traffic jams on taxi ways, unsafe operating conditions like NIL braking on taxiways)?

As they say, "To ask the question is to answer it".

In short, the passenger in me says "YES!", but the professional pilot in me says "", because it's another feel good, unpaid for federal mandate that is being pushed on the very carriers who can least afford it (ie, legacies heavily invested in international traffic out of congested hubs).

(*NOTE: Not everywhere, of course. ATL is a perfect example of an airport grown right. JFK is an example of an airport grown poorly.)

NinerKilo

How do they plan on having a passenger(s) claim they want to deplane? Ring the FA light? Text message voting?

Adlerdriver

Dudes, I feel for ya. I've been there. Total BS.
I absolutely LOVE cargo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FastDEW

I say, just open the door and let them jump out. Option 1 - Stay on the plane and let us do our job. Option 2, throw a fit and jump out of door 1. Oh, the slide will deactivated.

TPROP4ever

It seems to me, if I was a capt facing this that its simple. Someone wants off, make a cabin announcment that you are returning to the gate to allow passengers to deplane if they so wish to voluntarily, but gently remind them that after the last one has deplaned , that the door gets re-closed and the plane pushes back again, due to some people on board still wanting to get to their destination, remind them that you have to acommedate both sides equally, and Im sure theyll understand and still take the gamble that mabye youll let them back on if you dont get off in the next round of 3, and return again...

on a lighter note wouldnt TSA require if you deplane that the pax reclear security before reboarding for the next 3 hour round robin...how long you think this will last...This sounds like exactly the type of thing I've come to expect out of Barb Boxers brain....mabye she didnt think this one all the way through...ooops

TPROP4ever

DUDE, me too the self loading kind....not

TPROP4ever

I hope if this goes through, that this is exactly what happens, mabye then they will think this through rather than being purely reactionary to bad press

satchip

"Ladies and Gentlemen this is the Captain speaking. I apologize for the extended delay but we've finally been cleared to start our engines here on taxi way Q and we should be taking off shortly. Unfortunately, the passenger in 34B has requested we return to the gate to let him deplane. As per the Boxer amendment I am obliged to comply. Once we get back to the remote pad, the people movers will deplane you all because the crew will time out and it will take at least 2 hours to get another crew. Once again, my apologies. Now if 34B changes his mind in the next 5 minutes, we can be in the air and on the way to Paris shortly. Thank for flying Delta"

That would solve the problem....

newKnow

That's a question for the PIC, dispatch, and whoever else. But, not the passenger.

mswmsw

After how many hours would you say it becomes a "question" - or legitimate "issue" - for a passenger? I'm going to guess that at some point - and legally, that point would need to pass the "reasonable standard" test - a pilot who refuses to let a passenger off, who wants to get off the airplane, would likely be committing the crime of false imprisonment in any jurisdiction in the USA.