Friday, July 13, 2007

7 hours sitting on a plane - without leaving the ground

We are beginning to hear more stories about airlines refusing the let passengers off the plane when it's clear the aircraft will be stuck at the game for a while. Robert McKee (thanks Consumerist.com) shot this video of a recent Delta Airlines flight where passengers were provided multiple excuses for the problems. My favorite line is when one of the airline employees explained to customers that after calling Delta headquarters, they could not provide food to the passengers because the flight was not scheduled for food service - despite the many hours stuck on the tarmac.



While we here at inflightout try not to report on individual complaints, this video helps capture the many other incidents that have been reported on other airlines and other airports. In some incidents, such as this one, the airline is simply following federal policy about maximum hours flight crew can work. But often it's more important how the airline responds to such delays and treats its customers. It's likely we'll see more videos like this going forward.