Eagle tarmac fine!
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Frank Szabo
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Do they get to pay their own fines or will AMR accept that responsibility along with their debt?
Frank Szabo
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According to one of two or three articles I read on this, there was evidently some negotiation going on between AMR and the FFA over the amount of the fine - any negotiation rather than court action when a fine this size is imposed suggests the company is acknowledging the issue has some merit as AMR has a reputation of spending millions to save $.25.
Just an opinion.
Ok E, here is the "other side of the story".
You have incompetent fools running an airline that can't seem to figure out after flying passengers for 80+ years how to get them off the airplane after the plane lands. There is no excuse unless all the ground handlers and managers are running from the asteroid hitting the upper atmosphere above the airport.
Every terminal should have "X" amount of mobile stairs for a number of gates. When crap like this hits the fan, 2-3 aircraft are pushed off the gates in a ramp corner, even jammed into other gate or ramp space. You'd be surprised how many airplanes will fit into a small amount of space. At those vacant gates, the jets pull in, are emptied and then pushed into the pile. The pax walk or carried up the stairs into the terminal. Repeat as necessary to fix the #$# D#$% problem. this crap has been going on for 20 years, even in places like DFW which has more spare concrete than sand dunes in the Middle East.
The only time I see a real roadblock is an International widebody dealing with no-show customs officials. I'll agree with that one that it's a tough call.
I've seen operations problems 1000 times at this company to know the difference between real issues and those that get exacerbated by fools. This is another one of those times. Normally I could care less, but probably everybody on that flight had an AA ticket folder and thought the were flying on American Airlines.
At least Dan Garton is as consistent running Eagle as he was running Marketing for AA.
I flew through ORD that day (I fly for AA) and we were delayed less than an hour in and out. We did not sit on the tarmac waiting for a gate. I don't know the cause, but at the same time American Eagle was having a major meltdown in their operations at ORD. I have many good friends who fly for Eagle and I heard all of their horror stories. I'm afraid Eagle probably deserves every penny of this fine.
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So it would seem that out of the $900000 fine that American Eagle, the city Airport Authority and the Government (TSA/FAA) need to share the burden imposed. The Captain cannot just turn off the ignition and open the door so the customer can leave. The Airport Authority cannot allow a bunch of passengers roaming around on the Tarmac and the Feds are the ones who want the security of our nations airports. Or was it the flying public that wanted to see the airline fined for a momentary lapse in judgment caused by everyone including themselves.
chris perry
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We continue to see airplanes waiting for gates,during unusual events,gates are empty due to no crews on duty to man...
It's something that has gone on for twenty years... 5 gates open but they sit and wait for the manned gate.
It's something that has gone on for twenty years... 5 gates open but they sit and wait for the manned gate.
Buck, they have preplanned stop postions near the stairs into the terminal. worked fine for Eagle for years anyways before jetbridges.
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I believe it is a bigger story. Again, I believe it is more than just the Captain in control of his aircraft. I believe that the TSA and the Airlines, including the port authority ( cities ) that need to figure out what will make the customer happy for the lowest fare possible. When I mention the airlines, I also mean that their scheduling needs to looked at to see if maybe the airplanes can faster or slower to meet the demands of the airports and TSA and just change the departures and arrivals without telling the flying public. A lot of passengers will not even notice, late is late for them, but giving credit for an early arrival, how do we compensate the airline.
I've read some articles about May 29 but none mention the weather at ORD that day. I assume that the problem was weather - perhaps thunderstorms? Lightning shuts things down - more planes than gates - and it takes a while to get things restarted once the storm passes.
eolesen
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The fine comes out to about $60K per flight... What would the fine have been had the crews dropped the airstairs and let people off on the taxiways or in the penalty box?...
This rule has been flawed since it was proposed...
This rule has been flawed since it was proposed...
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That would be interesting. Who would get the fine for deplaning passengers on the ramp in a controlled area?
Obviously dropping an unrestrained cat herd on a taxiway or remote penalty box would be kinda stupid. Pulling up 10' from an open gate with stairs to the terminal is a different story.
Agreed on the rule, but it came as a response to some incredibly stupid sheet from airline managers and even pilots. The knucklehead Regional Captain who didn't have the stones to drop his few people into the terminal, and instead kept them prisoner all night in his sewer pipe deserves as much blame.
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