Posted on 03/12/2010 8:02:45 AM PST by geniusbyosmosis
Many of you know from hearing my stump speeches that one of life’s great unsolved mysteries to me is how anyone elected to Congress suddenly becomes an expert on everything. The new federal guidelines for fines against the airlines for takeoff delayed flights, running $27,500 per passenger are a great example of Congressional stupidity. As a thirty-one year veteran of the airline and aviation industry I could not remain silent on this one.
Two assumptions here: The first is that once an airliner leaves the gate, no delays are caused by anything government does, from airport capacity limitations to air traffic control delays, when in fact the entire process is government controlled. The second assumption is; how does a passenger rely on the airlines to get them anywhere when under threats of fines, the airlines cancel every flight that might come close to being delayed three or more hours. The question becomes how long can the airline industry survive if it cannot provide reliable, safe and on time transportation, not because it’s not trying, but because the US Government fined the airlines into oblivion for things that are beyond their control as a business, like severe weather or government imposed system capacity limitations.
There are good answers to our airport capacity, airline profitability and air traffic control system limitations and you can read a white paper I published sometime ago about these issues here.
This Federal Regulation is another example of not just Congressional Stupidity, but more proof of the laws of unintended consequences. To make matters worse, it adds more credibility to my recent article about the Obama Administration throwing the airline unions under the bus.
Do Congress and our Administration really want the airline industry to fail? If they do, then they should just stay on the current flight plan.
The airlines are and will continue to simply cancel flights rather than risk these fines. It is insanity and will make flying even worse.
Totally. Boeing 747 carries 416 passengers - so cancel or pay $11,440,000. Hmmmm. Tough choice. How many jobs would that kill?
I used to fly small planes and this is utter and total BS. Government STAY OUT! Hands off!!! This the “perfect” example of how government ruins business... They do it in the “name of humanity”, demonize then take over. No... this is beyond stupidity, this is sheer agenda and power driven government takeover.
Enough is enough
I disagree, the reason for this is some people were locked on planes for as much as 12 hours. They KNOW when they leave the terminal they aren’t going anywhere. The passengers should have the right to GIT OFF. I’m buying a ticket to travel, not a JAIL CELL with no food and water for 3 to 12 hours. Had the airlines acted responsibly, this wouldn’t’ have happened. I want to know why they board a flight they KNOW can’t take off for hours...
My concern would be not as much for the DEATH of the airline, rather the DEATH of airline passengers. I can see the scenario of pilots, controllers and officials, battered by bankrupting fines, are driven to allow flights that in a sane system would be delayed for the SAFETY, PROTECTION, AND VERY LIVES OF THOSE ABOARD THE PLANES.
Is this a way to cut “health care costs”? When an airplane goes down, there are few “health care costs” involved.
With out current government, anything is possible.
That’s absurd. Those instances are rare. So you’re happy that they are fined millions for every instance or they just cancel your flights messing up everyone’s schedules.
This is egregious.
What is taxed and fined most disappears first.
I’d think the shareholders would insist on an new line of business.
Anything is possible for he who has not to do it. Washington is Insane and needs to go.
They should not penalize for delays, only for delays with passengers locked up for an extended period. And the “fine” should not go to the government, but to the passengers. And to be proportionate, it should be in the form of a refund of the fare, paid TO THE PASSENGER (not to the government).
Thus, an airline would be able to decide what made sense, returning to the terminal, or forgoing revenue from the flight. If they fail to refund promptly, then you can fine them the millions.
Yes, but princess pelosi has at least one AF Jet on standby for her at all times. Just another American industry under attack by the dim party. Hey you union types that work at for the airlines, how’s all that working out for you?
Oh come on now... you sound like our government. I have been flying for over 20 years and was only stuck on the tarmac ONCE. Hundreds and hundreds of flights and one time stuck on the tarmac. You do understand that the weather, IFR routes and towers all have something to do with delayed flights. it is not just a pilot and in actuality the pilot is one of the last people to find out.
Yes, government is so perfect they have never inconvenienced me or cost me anything... Oh boy.
It’s not a fine for the plane being delayed. It’s a fine for keeping a bunch of passengers imprisoned in a tube. So long as they don’t load people into planes they know won’t be able to take off for hours on end, and don’t have them sitting around on the tarmac for hours between landing and disembarking they won’t get fined.
Privatize airports & the air traffic control system.
Treat it and the terminals like condo associations where they can be bought and sold on the open market.
Get the government out of airline regulation completely.
The article is not accurate. The fine is not for late flights, it is for holding passengers captive, for over 3 hours, while the plane sits on the tarmac. The passengers often have no food, water, and cannot use the bathroom during these delays, which are sometimes much longer than 3 hours.
This would not apply to a flight that boarded late, or that was delayed in the air due to weather or other issues.
All the FAA is asking the airlines to do is allow passengers to return to the terminal, where they can get food, water, access to rest rooms, while they wait, or choose to book a different flight or just forget the trip and go home.
It is sad that fines would be needed to motivate the airlines to treat their passengers with common decency, but the airlines have been abusing passengers by holding them against their will, instead of letting them off the plane.
Flight delays DO NOT ONLY occur while passengers are inside the airplane. Flights are also delayed while passengers are comfortably sitting at the gate with food and water. You are merely looking at one side and not the entire scenario.
The fine is not exclusive to delays with boarded passengers.
It’s an insane plan, and needs to be killed.
I would like to see some sort of regulatory punishment for airlines engaged in two abuses I experienced flying out of Philadelphia once while on sabbatical: delaying a flight so long that other flights on the same route with the same carrier have already left, and changing the departure time on a flight so it can be declared to have left “on time” when it was actually delayed.
The latter should be fined as a form of accounting fraud. For the former, the carrier should be required to compensate all passengers on a flight thus delayed, ideally by providing free carriage by refunding the fare for that flight segment and any others that the delay caused them to miss, though I’d settle for a coupon good for round-trip travel anywhere in the U.S. with only the Christmas and 4th of July blackout windows applicable.
Most of these delays happen when a plane is ready to go but ATC says no due to weather at destination, but another plane needs to get to the gate and do a turnaround to get to a destination not effected by weather.
The rule ONLY applies if the passengera are not allowed to leave the plane.
“The Department of Transportation rule forbids airlines from keeping passengers on the plane when a flight is delayed for more than three hours. Starting April 29, the airlines must let passengers off the plane when delays like this happen or risk being fined $27,500 per passenger, which adds up to more than $4 million for a fully booked Boeing 737 or Airbus A320.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/03/11/2010-03-11_c.html#ixzz0hysZv5Zy
Nope, it’s different, WHY you ask...
Don’t show the movie on time I get up and walk out, don’t open the store on time, I drive away. LOCK ME IN YOUR AIRPLANE WITH A THREAT OF JAILTIME If I try to get off, now that’s DIFFERENT! They have NO RIGHT to LOCK ME IN for hours without my permission, much less with the threat of putting me in jail if I demand to be let off.
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