AMERICAN 1348

AMERICAN 1348 sat on the tarmac for nearly 9 hrs :angry:
comments

nbc5i.com/news/10723551/detail.html

Yeah I saw this on the news I would be pretty mad. If I was the pilot I would have pulled up to a gate a lot quicker than that!

Someone in the elevator was discussing this today. Evidently, and this is only hearsay, ATC didnā€™t want the pilots to go to the gate because they were busy trying to get other aircraft out. However, the pilot went to the gate on his own.

For 9 hours? If it takes 9 hours to get them to the gate, thatā€™s just plain incompetence.

Found some more information in the Naples Daily News:

After more than eight hours on the ground, and 12 hours after the plane had left San Francisco, the captain told passengers he was going to an empty gate, even though he didnā€™t have permission.

"He said, ā€˜Enough is enough. I should have done this a long time ago,ā€™ " recalls passenger Cindy Welch, who was trying to get home to Missouri. American wonā€™t identify the captain.

It seems that wasnā€™t the only flight where the passengers had long wait times on board.

For example: Americanā€™s Flight 1682 from Oklahoma City to Dallas pushed back at 2:07 p.m. on Dec. 29, then waited eight hours and two minutes before canceling and going back to the terminal, according to data compiled by FlightStats.

And: Flight 37 from Zurich, Switzerland, to Dallas was diverted to Tulsa, Okla., where it sat for 10 hours. Pilots couldnā€™t take off because they reached federal limits on duty time, American says. Tulsa doesnā€™t have a Customs and Immigration facility so no one could get off.

By the time the plane reached Dallas, landing at 1:33 a.m., according to Federal Aviation Administration data, passengers had been on board more 22 hours.

9 hours that is not even funny :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush:

This is criminal! Iā€™d like to see a class action lawsuit filed on this one.

can someone please explain to me how thats even possible?

Iā€™m thinking the same exact thing. First of all, what crew has the patience to sit that long, and what tower has the balls to hold an a/c (fully loaded, nonetheless) for that amount of time? Talk about unreasonable! Also, in this day and age, a plane with 150 or so pax on board surely has some hothead who wouldnā€™t last more than an hour before causing a scene worthy of the authorities boarding (and emptying) the plane. Itā€™s a wonder that they sat for that long without such an incident. Someone will pay with $$, their job, or both for this one.

I can just imagine the headlines if the hothead had been aboard. They would have arrested her and charged her as a terrorist.

I think there were a comedy of errors here but the pilot in command should have taken action sooner.

The passengers should have all claimed they were suffering from chest pains. Or they could have all said they were Imams and being denied their culturally appropriate meals, korans and opportunity to pray to Mecca every six minutes. ā€œWe need seat belt extensions!ā€

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/business/16533365.htm

http://www.strandedpassengers.blogspot.com/

I wonder if a screamin ked could have gotten to the gate any sooner. You know so they could kick that family off. I know my Autistic son would no have make it even 1/3 of that time. BTW thatā€™s why we drive everywhere, not to mention airline tickets for 5 kids is HUGE $.

ANYTHING for 5 kids is huge money!

We fly AA almost exclusively and have never had anything close to this amount of trouble. In fact, my college roommate flies for them ā€¦ Iā€™d sure like to know who the pilot is who risked his job (even if he was a bit slow in doing so).

If this type of thing were to happen to us, I wonder how quick the action would be if we were to get out our cell phones (legal to use when youā€™re not taxiing) and call ā€¦
the local media (esp. TV stations) in the city in which we are sitting,
then the media in the destination city,
then the media in the airlineā€™s hometown,
then the national networks, especially CNN and Fox,
then the airlineā€™s headquarters.

Do you think the airline would ā€œloseā€ a flight for 9 hours with all the media attention?

I open the NYTimes today, and look what I see:

Virtual Hostages on a Plane.

If I were on the aircraft after about 2 hours I would have called 911 and stated I saw a what looked like a gun in the lav. Or perhaps after 3 hours I would have ā€˜discoverdā€™ bomb threat written on the bathroom mirror. morre than one way to skin the cat there.

If that did not work, I simply would then have gone to a door and popped it open and gone down the chute.

I would have been arrested but I would not be prosecuted. I cannot imagine that AA would press charges. . .