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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
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 ANALYSIS 
8

Passengers Stuck on Runway Have No Recourse

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(Newser) – The passengers who spent 5.5 hours trapped inside a plane in Rochester, Minn., last weekend didn’t revolt. But if they had, they could have wound up in trouble with the law, USA Today reports. Federal aviation laws give airlines sole authority over whether passengers stay on a plane or get off—anyone attempting to disembark on their own could be slapped with a $25,000 fine.

More than 200,000 passengers have been stuck inside planes for 3 hours or more since 2007. “You are their property, and you have lost your rights inside the plane,” says one lawyer who was on that headline-grabbing flight from—theoretically—Houston to Minneapolis. But the incident has prompted a Transportation Department investigation, and it could lend momentum to the Passenger Bill of Rights legislation currently idling in Congress.

In this Jan. 30, 2009 file photo, a Continental Airlines jet is wheeled on the tarmac at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
In this Jan. 30, 2009 file photo, a Continental Airlines jet is wheeled on the tarmac at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport.   (AP Photo/Robert Graves)
A Continental Airlines jet takes off from Houston in this file photo.
A Continental Airlines jet takes off from Houston in this file photo.   (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
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8 comments
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stacysaw
Aug 13, 09 1:12 PM CDT
no recourse? you always have recourse in those sorts of conditions - open the door over the wing, pop that slide and set yourself free. that 25,000 clams is negotiable and being rule-abiding and "good" has its limits. Reply
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+2
JimW
Aug 13, 09 1:14 PM CDT
I have a real problem with the airlines OR the law telling me I am subject to torturous, and health-threatening conditions. I for one would only take so much, and open the emergency door to go down the slide. I would also fight the fine all the way to the supreme court. Torture is illegal in the U.S. The public is basically a collection of woosies to put up with that. Reply
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+5
kokuaguy
Aug 13, 09 1:36 PM CDT
The airlines should be required to unload passengers in a reasonable period or face fines. Reply
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+9
suiteharte
Aug 13, 09 1:39 PM CDT
where was the crew ? Reply
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+3
larryinLA
Aug 13, 09 1:42 PM CDT
This will only stop when we put these offending airlines out of business!...people should stop flying Continental, period!...after their blatant mismanagement of their pilot resources disastrously demonstrated in Buffalo this past winter...to this total disregard for their passengers...when will the sheep wake up? Reply
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+4

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