Hellish Flight Takes 16 Hours From LAX to JFK

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 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»

Incident 'troubling': transportation sec.

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration is investigating last weekend’s 9-hour stranding of 47 passengers on a Minnesota airport tarmac, the AP reports. Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood says his department's general counsel is determining whether laws were broken in the case. “While we don't yet have all the facts, this incident as reported is very troubling,” says LaHood. The situation may fuel pending legislation that limits tarmac waits. More»

(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»