Friday, September 14, 2007

Airline Hostages

This is a free country, right? Then how is it that our citizens can have the misfortune of picking the wrong flight and end up held hostage on an airplane for hours on end? I have been pondering this question for the past few days while my husband was away on business. He had flown out of Washington National airport early on Monday morning, but by noon I started getting frequent e-mails from him as he sat in a plane on the runway in San Antonio. He wasn't even supposed to go through San Antonio. He was trying to get to Dallas! After a couple of hours, we were both starting to wonder if ransom demands were about to be made. He was supposed to arrive in Dallas at 9:30AM, but he didn't walk into the Dallas airport until 5:30PM. A thunderstorm was the publicized reason.

What I don't understand is how these poor passengers (and I know my husband was one of many) could be left to sit on various runways and not be provided any services. The whole ordeal might not have been so overwhelming had the passengers been provided with some of the basic necessities. Things like water.

Word is that delays in airline travel were worse this summer than ever before. Now I ask, what can be done to fix this problem? It sounds like it's about time for another tea party. Then again, we'd need water for that.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I think people would have to stop flying for a week or two to catch the attention of the airlines. I don't know what else could be done because you have to hit them in the pocket to catch their attention! Of course, than business all over the U.S. would suffer, so I don't know what the solution is, but it is VERY annoying. I feel your pain - and your husband's.