Re: Video of passenger confronting Delta 5635 pilots last we
Lloyd, you know better then that... or at least I assume you do. Passengers have rights, but it's a dammed if you dammed if you don't scenario.
You push off the gate and get halfway to the runway only to find that you destination is ground stopped with an update in 30 minutes. I think we all agree 30 minutes is a reasonable time to wait. However, that is just for an update, not for an actual wheels up time. So you tell the passengers you'll know something in 30 minutes and start waiting. Well, after 30 minutes you call clearance/ground/metering back and they say... hang on... we are trying to contact the center now. Well, 10 minutes later you call again. They say "where are you going again? Ok, let me check... yeah, update on the top of the next hour". Well, that's 50 minutes from now. Plus, you promised the passengers an update 10 minutes ago, so now when you tell them it is going to be another 50 minutes wait, they've all already been looking at their watches for 10 minutes.
So now we have been sitting out there for 1 hour. There is an update due out in 30 minutes. Passengers are starting to complain. There are a vocal few who KNOW THEIR RIGHTS and want to get off the airplane. You sort of ignore them until the next update comes out. Now the ground stop is lifted but the departure gates are all shut down for weather and they don't know when they will open. Just as soon as they do they will get a wheels up time for you from the center for your destination (which by the way is all kinds of backed up because it was previously shut down for weather).
Now you have been on the plane for 2 hours. You last updated the passengers 30 minutes ago with the fact that the weather where you are going is ok, but you can't get there from here. You explain that if we were to go back to the gate now we would lose our place in the sequence so when the weather DOES improve and they start launching departures again we would not only be in the back of the pack for leaving (because we were sitting at the gate) but we would also be at the end of the line for our destination because we can't get a release when we are sitting on the gate.
You update them at the 2 hour mark with the fact that there is nothing new to report. You wish you knew something more but all we can say is that there is still weather on the departure fixes and there is no place to go.
Another half an hour goes by and the leading edge of the front hits the field. Rain, thunder lightning, all that good stuff. The ramp shuts down as the last of the arrivals sneak in and they are stuck sitting on taxi ways waiting to park.
The 3 hour mark goes by and the rain is still coming down. The departures start up though and you call for a release only to find out that only northbound departures are getting out and you are going south. Now the passengers are getting grumpy because they see airplanes leaving but they aren't going anywhere. They've called their friends at the destination and apparently it is sunny day there.
At 3:30 the ramp is still closed due to weather and the arrivals are stacking up on the taxiways. You have nothing new to say to the passengers except that if we don't get out soon the crew is in danger of timing out and the APU might burn into the take off fuel number and they don't want to hear that anyways.
At 4 hours (when that video was filmed) the rain has let up on the field and the arrivals who were waiting for a gate are starting to get marshaled in as the planes stuck on the gates are pushed back. The departure gates are still closed but according to the helpful ground controller it looks like the weather might roll off the fixes soon.
So, the passengers DEMAND action here. They have their rights!
What do you do? If you bail now and head back to the gate, it is going to be a while to get back in due to all the other arrivals stacked up waiting for gates still. Also, if you go back to the gate the flight is canceling and chances are the passengers won't get to their destination. Also, airlines don't pay for hotels due to weather issues so they will be on their own for that. Figure best bet, 5 hours on an airplane and still not making it to your destination that day. The other option is to stick it out until the company decides to cancel you or you run out of duty time or gas and actually get your passengers where they want to go.
Rights? Sure they've got them. But you can bet that people are going to be more ticked off about not getting where they want to go then sitting on an airplane for 5 hours.
The last time I got stuck sitting out a ground stop (for 3:30 before we were canceled and sent back to the gate) the captain made what I considered sort of a risky cabin PA that started with something like "Ladies and gentlemen, I know you would rather be sitting at the bar in the airport... so would we. But unfortunately..."
