White House Probes Minn. Plane Stranding

(NEWSER) - If 9 hours on a grounded puddle-jumper with screaming babies and the scent of overly busy toilets wafting through cramped aisles sounds like your idea of a good time, then Continental Airlines had your ticket to paradise. When storms forced a Minneapolis-bound flight to divert to Rochester, Minn., on Friday, a comedy of errors forced the plane to sit on the tarmac overnight, passengers locked in, the Star-Tribune reports. More»

Passengers must be allowed to deplane under new regulation

(AP) - The Transportation Department is ordering airlines to let passengers stuck in stranded airplanes to deplane after three hours. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the new three-hour limit today, along with other new passenger protections long sought by consumer advocates. From January to June this year, 613 planes were delayed on tarmacs for more than three hours, their passengers kept on board. More»

American Eagle first to be fined under new policy

(NEWSER) - American Eagle Airlines has been hit with the first fine issued under new rules prohibiting airlines from keeping passengers stuck in planes on the tarmac for more than three hours. The regional carrier was fined $900,000 for keeping a total 608 passengers on board 15 different flights on the tarmac for too long at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in May, MarketWatch reports. The passengers had already received an average of $250 each in compensation from the airline. More»

Passengers forced to take bus for last two hours

(NEWSER) - Flights don’t get much worse than Virgin America Flight 404, which took 16 long hours to get from LAX to JFK. The plane was supposed to land in New York at 3:30pm, but high winds forced it to circle for hours. Finally it landed in Newburgh, 90 miles away, where it sat on the tarmac until almost midnight, passengers tell the New York Post . One passenger had a panic attack and was escorted off by police. More»