"8-hour ordeal left fliers hungry, angry"

Monday, May 7, 2007

8-hour ordeal left fliers hungry, angry 
By Alan Levin
USA TODAY


For more than eight hours, nearly 200 passengers sat in an American Airlines
Boeing 757 jet on the tarmac in Midland, Texas. Their flight last month from
Phoenix to Dallas had been diverted because of bad weather in the Dallas
area. 

The snacks ran out. Drinking water got scarce. Pizza was delivered, but only
50 to 70 slices, along with 30 bags of chips. The experience, five
passengers aboard Flight 556 told USA TODAY, was inconvenient to some,
nightmarish to others.

"I feel like I was hijacked or kidnapped because I couldn't get off the
plane," says Dixie Lee Belmont, 65, of Sun City, Ariz. "You don't treat
people like that."

Details of the April 24 incident began to emerge last week as passengers
recounted the ordeal. It's the third such stranding of passengers during
severe storms in the past four months and comes as Congress is debating a
"passenger bill of rights." Such a measure would prohibit long delays on the
ground and require airlines to provide for passengers' needs. Several
passengers say legislation is needed. 

"I think airlines should be forced to have water available and food after a
reasonable time," says Betty Gill, 58, of Apache Junction, Ariz.

American suffered widespread diversions and cancellations as powerful
thunderstorms hit the Dallas area April 24, spokesman Tim Wagner says. The
number of flights diverted by American and its subsidiary, American Eagle,
totaled 129, four shy of the most in its history, on Sept. 11, 2001.

Of the 13 diverted flights that sat on the tarmac at various airports for
more than four hours, only passengers on Flight 556 were unable to leave the
jet, Wagner says. The airline apologized and has sent passengers $500
vouchers. 

Airport officials brought a stairway to the jet, says Justine Ruff, deputy
director of Midland's airports. Wagner says it didn't fit and was unsafe for
passengers. 

An isolated incident such as the one in Midland should not be used to
justify broad new regulations about delayed flights, says David
Castelvetter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents
large airlines. "By all accounts, American handled it well, given the severe
weather conditions," Castelvetter says.

The legislation was proposed after American jets were delayed up to eight
hours in Austin on Dec. 29 and JetBlue Airlines suffered similar problems on
Feb. 14 in New York.

Passengers aboard Flight 556 say they were never told why they couldn't get
off. As the hours passed, they say they were offered few updates about the
flight's status. 

"I'm a pretty easy person," says Mike Cunningham, 30, of Scottsdale, Ariz.
"I don't really get too worked up about stuff. But after sitting there for
awhile, it got pretty annoying. I think the biggest issue was it wasn't
really communicated to us what was going on." 

The Phoenix-Dallas hop normally takes about 2 hours, 20 minutes. By the time
Flight 556 left Midland and landed in Dallas, passengers had been on the jet
about 11 hours.

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