Runway-Bound: A Holiday Flight Becomes Ugly

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

January 6, 2007

THE MIDDLE SEAT
By SCOTT MCCARTNEY

Runway-Bound: A Holiday Flight Becomes Ugly
Fetid Toilets, Crying, And Diaper Shortages; The Cost of Cutting
January 6, 2007; Page A1

After hours of sitting on the runway, the toilets on the American Airlines jet were overflowing. There was no water to be found and no food except for a box of pretzel bags. A pregnant woman sat crying; an unaccompanied teen sobbed. The captain walked up and down the aisle of the MD-80, trying to calm angry passengers. At one point, families with children lined up to be bused to the terminal, but a bus never came. Flight 1348, a San Francisco-Dallas run, had been diverted to Austin, Texas, because of thunderstorms. It was the Friday before New Year's Day and the jet was parked on the tarmac beside other stray flights. Planes came and went, but Flight 1348 was left waiting, American confirms. After more than eight hours on the ground, and 12 hours after the plane had left San Francisco, the captain told passengers he was going to an empty gate, even though he didn't have permission.

(snip)

Flight 1348 was one of 85 flights American diverted from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport that day. Some turned into true travel nightmares, the likes of which haven't been seen since January 1999, when passengers on a Northwest Airlines flight were trapped for seven hours on a parked plane that had landed nearly a day late. American's Flight 1682 from Oklahoma City to Dallas pushed back at 2:07 p.m. on Dec. 29, then waited eight hours and two minutes before canceling and going back to the terminal, according to data compiled by FlightStats Inc. Flight 37 from Zurich, Switzerland, to Dallas was diverted to Tulsa, Okla., where it sat for 10 hours. Pilots couldn't take off because they reached federal limits on duty time, American says. Tulsa doesn't have a Customs and Immigration facility so no one could get off. By the time the plane reached Dallas, landing at 1:33 a.m., according to Federal Aviation Administration data, passengers had been on board more 22 hours. How does this happen? After years of cutting staff, carriers are less capable of handling crises -- from not having enough telephone reservationists to handle calls, or extra bodies to empty toilet tanks or spare pilots and flight attendants to help out when delays stack up. Congestion in the air and at airports exacerbates the messes caused when storms hit.

(snip)

American's Austin operations were overwhelmed when 14 planes landed unexpectedly, American says. The airline delivered some snacks and drinks to airplanes, but quickly ran out. A worker tried to service toilets when he could get time, but was held back by lightning. American tried to call in more staff with little success due to the holiday weekend. "We got caught short-handed," says American spokesman John Hotard. American also made a pivotal decision: According to airline officials, Austin managers decided to focus on handling regular flights to other cities, such as Chicago and St. Louis, hoping they could stay on schedule. They let the diverted Dallas planes sit.

(snip)

After landing, American allowed about 20 local Austin and San Antonio passengers to get off rather than wait to fly to Dallas only to hop on a connection back to Austin. Their luggage, however, remained on board, say passengers and American. American expected the storms to hit between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., and then move out of the area. Instead, they started earlier and lingered into the night. For hours, the crew thought they'd ultimately be able to fly to Dallas, only to have hopes dashed. Worse, the storm had moved into Austin, too.

Whether to keep waiting or give up is one of the most difficult decisions for airlines, taxing both operations and finances. Often travelers and airlines prefer to wait as long as possible for the chance to reach their destinations. Moving a plane to a gate for a bathroom break could cost a flight its place in line among the hundreds trying to leave. It could also mean the crew might run into federal time limits that regulate the work day. Unless new pilots and flight attendants are available, continuing the trip would have to wait until the next day.

(snip)

Instead of opening a gate for Flight 1348, American's four gates were used to operate the airline's regular schedule, including a few flights to Dallas that did depart. "The pilot kept telling us they would not give us a gate," says Katie Dickson, who was trying to get to Belize with her husband and five-year-old daughter. "At one point he said, 'I am so embarrassed for American Airlines.' ".. At 9 p.m., Flight 1348's passengers finally got inside the Austin terminal, where they couldn't find anyone from American to help them with flights or hotels. Passengers say the scene was chaotic. Only about half the luggage made it off the flight. American says its baggage system in Austin was overwhelmed by the volume.

(snip)


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[Missy Vixen]

1. K&R, my husband flies almost every week

He had a flight almost five years ago that lives in infamy at our house. He was attempting to get back home from a business trip to Vegas, of all places. ;-) The visibility in Seattle was fine when the plane took off from McCarran; while the flight was in the air, fog moved in. When the airline discovered they could not land in Seattle, they were not given permission to land anywhere else on the West Coast because of fog and weather conditions. Luckily, the flight had sufficient fuel to turn around and go back to Vegas.

He finally arrived home the next day after the fog lifted, but I'd spent several frantic hours worrying about what had happened to his flight and where he was. This was an American West flight. To this day, he has never flown America West again.

Julie

[Drum]

2. Cutting too close to the bone,

when making staffing and contingency decisions. Such calamities of service are entirely predictable when profit is king.

I mean, I've been labor all my life, so managerial types please chime in: Are these types of horrible situations completely unforeseen---force majeur---or are they the result of bare-bones staffing and the rosy outlook that the best-case-scenario is all that needs be prepared for.

After many years of flying on commercial airlines, I am full of contempt for their sorry shrugging and lack of responsibility in crises.

Color me pissed-off on behalf of the unfortunate passengers in the OP.


x(

[AnnieBW]

3. I was on a "stuck flight" once

We were an hour delayed because the plane coming from Philly to Houston was delayed because of weather in Philly. Then, we sat on the runway in Houston for another hour. It was so humid out that we had condensation between the fuselage and the ceiling - which all dumped out onto the back of the plane (where we were sitting) when we finally took off. We were okay - we were wearing black t-shirts. The businessman in back of us, who was wearing a white shirt - got most of the gray water. He flew all the way back to Baltimore in a wet shirt. Ugh! That's why I call Continental "In-Continental".

[madrchsod]

4. deregulation sure did work out fine

got to love that 80`s deregulation and union busting.....

[napi21]

5. If this had happened to me, I'd be in jail today!

I love to fly, but I HATE long flights. I've flown several times from Atlanta to LAX, and by the time we got half way, the flight seemed way too long and boringand I was antsy. I recall how aggrivated I was the time we were detained on the tarmac for 1 1/2 hours because THE PRESIDENTWAS LEAVING ATLANTA and all air traffic is stopped until AF1 clears the area! 12 hours is way more than my emotions could stand. I feel sure Homeland Security, or some law enforcement agency would have been carting off the crazy violent passenger and taking her to jail!

[frogcycle]

6. I was on a 'stuck' flight but i was lucky

I was flying from DC to Chicago and then-Senator Paul Simon was on the flight (flying coach, wearing bow tie).

we pulled back on time (so they could report on time departure), taxied to the end of the runway, and then were told we would hold until clearance from ATC for a landing slot in Chi., but would not go back to the gate because we might get cleared "at any time". After about an hour, I hailed an attendant and just said "I wonder if Senator Simon would prefer to go back to the terminal rather than sit out here?" Her eyes got big, she dashed to the cockpit, we were cleared for takeoff in less than a minute! :)

[question everything]

7. Good thinking!

Almost two years ago we were stuck in Amsterdam for 30 hours because of 6" of snow!

As it happened, we were lucky as we never boarded an aircraft. Many passengers sat on the tarmac for 7 and 10 hours, only to pull back into the gate when the airport closed.

No one was there to answer questions. The airlines did not operate the ticket counters but the airport and, according to the EU guidelines, they, and the pilots had their maximum amount of hours.

We stayed in the airport to be early in line to rebook our flights. When the sun came up, it was clear that nothing was done during the night. And we were lucky that our flight was a late afternoon one. As we heard flights to other destinations being canceled - we felt bad for many of the passengers with whom we commiserated during the night.

One thing though - the bathrooms were clean!

[frogcycle]

9. ouch

i got diverted one time by storms at destination airport. We landed at Dulles - but the airline didn't have service there. The crew was "off the clock", left and went to a hotel. We camped out in the deserted terminal from about 9 pm until 8 the next morning, when another crew showed up. It was one of those remote detached ones that you need a bus to get to the main terminal, so we were stranded.

We broke in to a snack kiosk!

[Mojorabbit]

8. I would have gone crazy

I am fine till I have to sit after I land. They usually turn off the ventilation system and I have to talk myself down from having a panic attack. I was stuck in Charlotte due to snow once and I almost got up and begged the flight attendant to let me stick my head out of the door for fresh air. I travel with xanax these days. Claustrophobia. 22 hours. No way.

[VelmaD]

10. My family made the mistake of flying Braniff...

right before they went out of business. To this day I don't know why we sat on the tarmac for as long as we did. With no air coniditioning. And my poor 6'6" dad crammed in like a sardine. We were flying to Chicago then had to drive to be there for a family thing the night before my brother graduated from Navy bootcamp.

We got into Chicago several hours late then drove for what seemed like forever. Got to the event about 5 minutes before it was supposed to be ending. My brother was frantic with worry. Luckily we ran into his DI almost immediately, explained what had happened, the DI found my brother for us and gave him permission to stay longer to visit with us. He was a good guy and he rescued our day. :)

But I sure do understand why Braniff went out of business. They sucked.

[xchrom]

11. i was stuck on the tarmac at heathrow once.

i got into a huge fight with other passengers who started to take it out on the stewardess.

which i HATE.

the employees only follow orders and have next to no information that is vital to passengers.

people are ugly sometimes.

[Delphinus]

12. OMG!

This is horrid! How can management be allowed to treat people in such a manner? To say they are remiss is an understatement.

No one in management that I have ever known plans for "emergencies". I'm not really in management, which is why I try to think long-range with some, although not all, possibilities of things going wrong and back-up plans (crisis management).