PAX Claim they were held hostage

[WingNaPrayer]

Passengers Claim "Wrongful Imprisonment"

Two passengers have filed suit against American Airlines over Dec. 29, 2006 flights in which they were stuck on the tarmac in Austin for more than eight hours, after being diverted amid bad weather over D/FW.

That's the infamous day that sparked the latest drive for an airline passengers' "Bill of Rights." Passenger Kate Hanni, who was on one diverted flight, has since created the Coalition for an Airlines Passengers Bill of Rights, testified before Congress and been interviewed countless times in the media about the issue.

Hanni filed suit in California, and passenger Catherine Ray of Fayetteville, Ark., filed a complaint in Arkansas. The lawsuits accuse American of false imprisonment, inflicting emotion distress, negligence, breach of contract and fraud, and asks for damages as well as class-action status. The Ray complaint includes some lurid details from her flight, including:

"While confined in Austin, the toilets became full and would not flush and the stench of human excrement and body order filled the plane."
"Passengers were deprived of access to medications, nutritional supplements and needs, and hydration, especially needed by infirmed, elderly and children."

"Passengers were forced to witness the physical and emotional distress and panic of other passengers."

Passengers suffered hunger, thirst, anxiety, physical illness, emotional distress and monetary loss as a result of (American's) failure to permit passengers to exit the aircraft to the airport terminals or to supply the parked aircraft with essentials of water, food, sanitary waste removal, light and breathable or fresh air at normal temperatures."

From Star Telegram SkyTalk

Newser

 

[TWU informer]

Would the passengers have rather had their lives risked and take the aluminum tube into DFW regardless of weather?

Good grief, the decision was made to keep their safety as top priority and the thanks AA gets is lawsuit slapped on the face.

This is just the kind of thing that leads to bad decisions on future circumstances.

Next time, tell them all to get off the plane in Austin and then they will sue because you left them to fend for themsleves and that caused fear and emotional distress.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

I believe the whole point is they wanted to deplane in Austin and wait out the delay in the airport in more "civilized" surroundings. Sitting there for nine hours went way overboard.

AA surely didn't think deplaning those people at Austin was going to jeopardize their safety! All AA was worried about was their silly DOT rankings!

Hopefully, the brainless moron who ordered that pilot to hold those people in that manner has been fired! All airlines seem to believe that once a paying customer steps aboard one of their aircraft, that all of their constitutional rights are suspended. I think this lawsuit is about proving that axiom wrong.

There really is no other way to describe it. These people were held hostage, against their will, and their lives were placed in jeopardy by doing so. I'm sure everyone who was on board has their own war-story to tell about what happened.

 

[eolesen]

Oh, the humanity.....

Perhaps this is one we can send to Jamie and Adam... some of the myths around this legend have already been debunked over the past 13 months, so it's hardly worth discussing again.

UA's meltdown in DEN showed how this is going to be handled from here on - just cancel everything and don't try to get people from point A to point B. Too bad the passengers who had their holidays f'd up can't sue these bleeding heart pansies...

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

Oh, the humanity.....

Perhaps this is one we can send to Jamie and Adam... some of the myths around this legend have already been debunked over the past 13 months, so it's hardly worth discussing again.

UA's meltdown in DEN showed how this is going to be handled from here on - just cancel everything and don't try to get people from point A to point B. Too bad the passengers who had their holidays f'd up can't sue these bleeding heart pansies...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SORRY eolesen,...you're off base(somewhat).

Like you, I know why AA operated the way they did, always hoping that "things" will alleviate, in a (hopeful) short period of time.

BUT,

After "hopeing" for(say) "4" hours, I DON'T see where AA can justify continuing to "KEEP" them "holding"

You can "BYA"(first word.."bet"....second word.."your"), that I and everyone around me, would be slumped on the floor GASPING, for AIR w/Chest Pains !!!!!!!!!!!!!

A parallel situation, would be the guy playing Black Jack for 4 hours in ACY, and be "going to the cleaners",...............and spend the NEXT 4 hours.."CHASING" winning hands, instead of "cutting his loses", and "calling it a day"

Again, you and I know AA tried to get the ultimate result,...and I have NO problem with that.

It IS a VERY FINE LINE.

But to DRAG it on and ON, for an undetermined period of time, is Indefensible.
You know it, and I know it !!!!!!!!

 

[eolesen]

Gotta disagree with you, G... You don't delay an entire complex at a hub because of one late flight. You inconvenience the fewest number of people possible, and that's what happened.

The ops people and SOC made the tough call to keep the rest of their schedule intact (i.e. LAX, ORD, MIA, STL), since that lessened the already bad impact of DFW being closed. Local originating pax were being rerouted around DFW, so delaying ORD/MIA/STL flights would have doubly impacted those folks.

Sure, it sucks that the folks on the diverted flight were given a lower priority for the gate, but there was no room at the inn. Plane simple.

Could they have been unloaded at the hardstand? Sure. But what means were there for getting those folks over to the terminal? Walking a couple hundred yards across taxiways isn't exactly smart.

It's easy to question their actions a year later, but I've been in AUS and SAT when DFW closes down. It ain't pretty having an extra six or twelve AC to service. Someone's gonna be unloaded last, no matter what you do. They did the best they could with what they had.

Lawsuits aren't gonna do anything except cause more people to be inconvenienced when the airlines simply cancel flights that would have otherwise had a chance of operating. Personally, I'd rather have an airline take the chance of getting me home than to take the easy way out.

 

[Barfbag]

Catherine Ray of Fayetteville, Ark.

Nothing else needs to be said.

 

[MCI transplant]

<_< ----- Did you pick up on the fact that as of 1-1-08, if your stuck over four hours at JFK, the Airlines have to provide, food, a clean, and serviced lav., and allow pax to deplane if they please. Otherwise the Airline faces a stiff fine!! !

 

[WingNaPrayer]

Gotta disagree with you, G... You don't delay an entire complex at a hub because of one late flight. You inconvenience the fewest number of people possible, and that's what happened.

The ops people and SOC made the tough call to keep the rest of their schedule intact (i.e. LAX, ORD, MIA, STL),

I don't think the rest of the schedule had anything to do with it. I think it all had to do with AA forking over the landing fees if they offloaded this unscheduled flight.

There was NO reason to keep these people held prisoner for nine hours! Someone at that airport could have easily been forced to move an empty plane and gives these people a gate. The truth will come out and IIRC, it already has. AA was offered a gate for those people more than a few times, they continued to decline. Unless of course, everyone but AA was lying about what happened.

American Airlines took it upon themselves to deny these people their constitutional rights, say nothing of basic human rights. They need to get clocked for this one and good! Their DOT numbers suck anyway, this single plane would not have made any difference.

 

[eolesen]

Basic human rights? Can you blow this any more out of context?

People sent to internment camps during WW-II were denied human rights. Hostages held in an embassy in Tehran were denied human rights. Being stuck on an aircraft? Please...

If the truth is as you say it is, they wouldn't need to be chasing down a class-action suit via the media. AA would be settling out of court. And there'd be no reason for knee-jerk legislation like what New York passed (and which will probably be unenforceable since states really don't have the ability to pass laws impacting interstate commerce to this extent).


You probably have no clue as to what happens at the primary diversion airports (TUL, OKC, LIT, SHV, ACT, SJT, ILE, AUS, SAT, ELP, ABI, SPS) when DFW closes down.... depending on which way the weather is moving, you wind up with three to six aircraft at airports who might have one or two sets of portable stairs, and several of those airports have no jetbridges or pushout tractors... Good luck once the widebodies start dropping in.

Having an open gate gets everyone off the aircraft, but if there's nobody to offload the bags, no crew to fly them to DFW (because they just went illegal), what's the real upside? You still wind up with a bunch of people who are pissed off...

 

[mrman]

Per airport they offered AA an empty gate in Austin, AA did not want to pay $$ for its use

 

[WingNaPrayer]

there'd be no reason for knee-jerk legislation like what New York passed (and which will probably be unenforceable since states really don't have the ability to pass laws impacting interstate commerce to this extent).

Really. Tell that to United Airlines and the City of San Francisco.

Every state has the right to legislate how people are treated within it's borders. Even if they are sitting on an aircraft belonging to American "we're the worlds largest in our own minds" Airlines!

Good gawd man, Austin did everything it could to get AA to bring that aircraft to a gate and let those poor people off. AA refused, several times! You can make up all the excuses for what they did that you want, it will all boil down to money, which obviously AMR Corp values more than human dignity.

This suit is going to have some very interesting, and telling, discovery and I can all but guarantee you that AMR's actions are not going to look very favorable in any of it.

Defend them all you like but sooner or later you'll tire of holding the loosing opinion all the time.

 

[eolesen]

States have the right to dictate employment law, but they don't have the right to dictate consumer law related to interstate commerce.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

States have the right to dictate employment law, but they don't have the right to dictate consumer law related to interstate commerce.

What the hell does this have to do with consumer law? If it weren't for the fact that those people got on that plane of their own volition, AA and/or it's on-board crew could have been charged with kidnapping!

They went too far, just accept it and move on. Lame excuses are exactly that, lame.

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

If it weren't for the fact that those people got on that plane of their own volition, AA and/or it's on-board crew could have been charged with kidnapping!

Do you actually believe what you type (say)? Seriously?