Blind man goes nuts on Spirit flight, forcing divert

[MikeD]

Not only did the unruly passenger cause the divert, but he also caused a cascade of other problems for the airline due to the divert having to occur.

As far as the passengers yelling at the airline staff, Im of the opinion that was uncalled for. If Spirit doesn't fly flights into IAH, what are the airline's options? Would they be expected to schedule pax on other airline flights? Since its not like they have aircraft waiting there to change pax to, much less ground handling etc. Why the pax would've been kept out on the ramp in the aircraft without air conditioning is unknown, but I wouldn't think the crew would've wanted that anymore than anyone else. Would that have been a decision by airport ops? Or the airline?

In any event, one unruly pax caused a pain in the ass for his fellow pax, for the flight crew, and for the Airline.

Maybe he didn't like window seat view.

An unruly, 81-year-old blind passenger aboard a Spirit Airlines red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Florida forced the pilot to make an emergency landing in Texas for a 14-hour layover with about 100 on board.

Spirit Airlines Airbus A319 from Los Angeles took off on time at 9:58 p.m. PT Saturday and was scheduled to land at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport at 6 a.m. Sunday -- but it didn’t arrive at its destination until 19 hours after it left Los Angeles.

Midway through the flight, however, the disruptive passenger forced the pilot to make an emergency landing at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport, where the roughly 100 passengers remained for most of the next day.

The elderly blind man was kicking and screaming, passengers told ABC News Ft. Lauderdale.

Passengers were reportedly kept in the plane on the tarmac for an extended period, without air conditioning, before being allowed into the terminal. The airline then told the waylaid passengers that they would be shuttled by bus five hours north to Dallas, because Spirit does not operate a flight between Houston and Ft. Lauderdale.

Passengers then became irate, yelling and screaming at airline staff.

"It was terrible. It was unreal. It was painful," passenger Theresa Shaviano told Local 10.
In a statement released today, Spirit Airlines said the disruptive passenger was turned over to the Houston Police Department.

Spirit Airlines eventually decided to fly the passengers in a different plane, and the flight arrived in South Florida about 8 p.m. Sunday, 14 full hours after the scheduled arrival time.

The airline said time constraints with the crew prevented the original plane from taking off from Houston.

"We understand that this has been an inconvenience for our customers, but the safety of our customers is always the top priority," the airline said in a statement. "All customers are being given full refunds for this inconvenience."

Story and video here:

http://gma.yahoo.com/blind-passenge...y-landing-101506825--abc-news-topstories.html

 

[amjon]

Couldn't they bus a new crew in from Dallas rather than all the passengers?

 

[smt6]

Go to 1:10 of the video for this media masterpiece....

"The pilot did decide not to press charges on the passenger who created this mess"

Love it

 

[Okie_Pilot]

So, question to the LEO and Airport Ops people here. What "rights"/ability do the airlines possess to keep a passenger inside the aircraft when it is parked on a ramp somewhere other than where you want to be?

If I schedule a flight from Los Angeles to Florida and now I'm sitting on a ramp in Texas for 2 hours in an aircraft I no longer want to be in, what keeps me from saying "Eff you guys, I'm getting off!"? I know it would be stretching it a bit, but if one was denied the right to get off or out of the plane while it was sitting in Texas for no apparent reason, would that not be false-imprisonment?

I paid for the ticket to go from California to Florida, not Texas. Now you're making me sit in an non-airconditioned aircraft on the ramp in a different state I don't want to be in and you're telling me I can't get out?

Change of scenarios: Like paying a taxi driver to take you 9 miles in the opposite direction, pulling over and shutting the car off and telling you that you can't get out. Except that you already paid him in full.

 

[cmill]

My favorite part was pax complaining about poor service on spirit, of all airlines. So, you paid 20 bucks for a ticket, and want a free charter flight?

 

[MikeD]

My favorite part was pax complaining about poor service on spirit, of all airlines. So, you paid 20 bucks for a ticket, and want a free charter flight?

But truthfully, what was Spirit supposed to be able to instantly do? They were at an airport that they don't operate of, with no other aircraft available, with no ground handling of their own, with no ready crews available. What does the passenger expect to instantly happen? It's not like it was a CAL flight that diverted into IAH.

 

[cmill]

But truthfully, what was Spirit supposed to be able to instantly do? They were at an airport that they don't operate of, with no other aircraft available, with no ground handling of their own, with no ready crews available. What does the passenger expect to instantly happen? It's not like it was a CAL flight that diverted into IAH.

Exactly, theres was nothing they could have done, but of course that doesnt matter to the pax regardless of what they paid. LAX to FLL on spirit just sounds like a recipe for disaster anyway.

In the interest of being fair, this happens even on fractional flights. I remember last year for the bama/lsu game my pax were questioning why we needed to be in tuscaloosa in the morning for the game. I told them i could drop them off right before, but i wouldnt be getting back into the airport at the same time everyone else was trying to get out.

Sure enough, one of my passenger's buddies tried to do that exact thing on netjets. Flew an hour from new orleans to tuscaloosa, then had to take a 3 hour bus ride that night from tuscaloosa to birmingham to take his flight back to new orleans because NJ dropped him off and couldn't get back in.

I know its easy to pick on pax for hitting the low fare button, but sometimes you just cant save them from their selves, even at 1500/hr.

 

[derg]

But truthfully, what was Spirit supposed to be able to instantly do? They were at an airport that they don't operate of, with no other aircraft available, with no ground handling of their own, with no ready crews available. What does the passenger expect to instantly happen? It's not like it was a CAL flight that diverted into IAH.

Many passengers don't have the big picture.

Do you know how often, when I was domestic, that we would have a weather delay or diversion and someone would inform me something like "Welp, I called my brother up in Decatur and he says the weather is fine. Why don't y'all want to fly?"

Yeah, I just woke up this morning and conspired with the captain to land shot in Birmingham so we could, well, do Birmingham stuff from the quiet comfort of a mad dog cockpit. Dammit.... BUSTED.

 

[Douglas]

Guy hates the red eyes.
----------
Too many unanswerable Spirit questions on this one.

 

[CoffeeIcePapers]

So, question to the LEO and Airport Ops people here. What "rights"/ability do the airlines possess to keep a passenger inside the aircraft when it is parked on a ramp somewhere other than where you want to be?

If I schedule a flight from Los Angeles to Florida and now I'm sitting on a ramp in Texas for 2 hours in an aircraft I no longer want to be in, what keeps me from saying "Eff you guys, I'm getting off!"? I know it would be stretching it a bit, but if one was denied the right to get off or out of the plane while it was sitting in Texas for no apparent reason, would that not be false-imprisonment?

I paid for the ticket to go from California to Florida, not Texas. Now you're making me sit in an non-airconditioned aircraft on the ramp in a different state I don't want to be in and you're telling me I can't get out?

Change of scenarios: Like paying a taxi driver to take you 9 miles in the opposite direction, pulling over and shutting the car off and telling you that you can't get out. Except that you already paid him in full.

At some point, you would expect the angry passengers to revolt in those miserable conditions.

 

[Cptnchia]

The airline has a responsibility to control access to the SIDA. I would hope that anyone self evacuating would be charged with SIDA violations. One way to get the message out. Keep in mind that an airline ticket is a contract of carriage between two points. It doesn't say however how long the airline has to get you there, or how many stops, for how long they can make. It is up to the discretion of the airline. Airline travel is not a right, it's a conveniance.

 

[jafra98]

Probably the guy found out about all the charges Spirit was making.......

 

[Fly_Unity]

Im no airline guy, but why wouldnt the pilots continue on to their destination even with an unruly passenger?

 

[Murdoughnut]

I loves me some deaf people, but man I hate the blind. Never seen an angrier group of people. There was one in college who used to open hand smack his guide dog all the time. People wonder why I'm opposed to seeing eye dog programs now.

 

[FloridaLarry]

Why not fly the relief crew in? Unicon has five non-stops, SWA has two to nearby Hobby, four airlines have a ton of connections. For what this debacle is costing Spirit, they could have chartered a biz-jet to get the crew there. IF they could muster a spare crew.

Did Spirit refund the fares and all the add-on fees (typically over $100 for Spirit)? Did they give them vouchers for another Spirit flight, which none of these pax would now be caught dead boarding?

How about the new add-on fees Spirit could charge: tarmac waiting fee, latrine priority fee, rumbling-stomach fee, surly allowance fee, etc.

This airline doesn't seem to learn how avoid having a problem turn into a PR disaster. Maybe they think that low-fare trumps all. On that, they could be right.

 

[Rocketman99]

Well, I bet JetBlue and Spirit would both gladly tell you that for the last 10 years or so low price DOES trump all and they have the continuing strong business to support it.

 

[Okie_Pilot]

The airline has a responsibility to control access to the SIDA. I would hope that anyone self evacuating would be charged with SIDA violations. One way to get the message out. Keep in mind that an airline ticket is a contract of carriage between two points. It doesn't say however how long the airline has to get you there, or how many stops, for how long they can make. It is up to the discretion of the airline. Airline travel is not a right, it's a conveniance.

Nobody said it is a right. Buying an airline ticket or "contract" does not automatically remove all liberties one has for the duration of that flight, no matter how long that flight ends up being either.

When a person buys a ticket that lists a departure point and time, and arrival point and time, they do have some expectation that the airline selling that contract (ticket) will try to honor it as closely as they can.

I understand planes leave late, arrive late, break, get diverted. I understand that. But for you to take me to a different state, make me sit on the ramp for a couple of hours, and I finally arrive 14 hours later than the actual "contract" time I paid for.... Now you're telling me I don't have the right nor liberty to get off your damn plane in Texas because I no longer want to be there?

 

[Okie_Pilot]

"I'm sorry, Sir. But you bought a ticket. We can take you wherever we want, for however long we want, and you can't get off the plane until we say so."


Really?

 

[Rocketman99]

Yep. Captain's authority is an amazing thing.

 

[highspeed]

Why not fly the relief crew in? Unicon has five non-stops, SWA has two to nearby Hobby, four airlines have a ton of connections. For what this debacle is costing Spirit, they could have chartered a biz-jet to get the crew there. IF they could muster a spare crew.

Did Spirit refund the fares and all the add-on fees (typically over $100 for Spirit)? Did they give them vouchers for another Spirit flight, which none of these pax would now be caught dead boarding?

How about the new add-on fees Spirit could charge: tarmac waiting fee, latrine priority fee, rumbling-stomach fee, surly allowance fee, etc.

This airline doesn't seem to learn how avoid having a problem turn into a PR disaster. Maybe they think that low-fare trumps all. On that, they could be right.

I dont think spirit has a way to send pax (as in send the money that goes with them) to these other carriers. Its part of the contract with airlines like spirit, blue, vx, and swa (unless these have changed). ucal, dl etc can "FIM" people to other carriers, I don't think spirit can. As for the PR, they won't remain vlcc for long if they start letting the rev leak to OAs and its part of their PR to let folks know how they run their shop.