Ramp Hostages
This Ryanair ground stranding incident and the recent Virgin incident at Bradley "International" Airport raises the interesting issue of what passengers' legal rights are when stuck on a plane that doesn't seem to be going anywhere.
How long is it reasonable to hold passengers on an aircraft? In the US a federal rule now limits so-called "tarmac strandings" to a maximum of three hours during departure delays, and 90 minutes for arrival delays. Airlines unable to meet the new constraints face fines of more than $27,000 per passenger. So it would seem Virgin are already on the wrong side of the law .
But what about the passengers themselves? At what point are they entitled to get up out of their seats and say "enough is enough - I'm getting outta here"? Virgin held its passengers on the plane for 5 hours. How long is a "delay" and at what point does that delay turn into involuntary incarceration?
What are the flight attendants to do if passengers insiston de-planing? They could argue there are no steps and it's unsafe and illegal for passengers to debark - but, if push comes to shove, passengers could always open the doors and deploy the chutes . Passengers surely don't sign away all their basic civil rights just because they've boarded an aircraft.