passengers and delays to outbound flight

[the_flying_cop]

hi. forgive me for asking what could be a strange question, but i feel i need to ask it anyhow.

scenario : you are sat on the aircraft in steerage class making the most of your limited legroom etc and you are told the aircraft will be delayed for x amount of time.

questions.

1, can i request to disembark short term?

2, if i do will it then become get off and stay off?

3, how long is it considered acceptable by airlines to hold passengers on an aircraft without refreshment/toilets etc?

i was delayed due to a combination of snow/boxing day/lack of de icers and spent a considerable time sat in a very uncomfortable seat before we were all allowed off and provided with surprisingly nice coffee plus sausage and bacon butties.

i was just curious as to who has the final say, and whether the SLF can start a mutiny?


regards


TFC

[Yellow Sun]

OK the _flying_cop I'll give this one a go:

In an ideal world I would delay boarding to take up as much of the delay as I could, but as I'm sure that you are aware it is far from an ideal world! De-icing presents a particular problem as you need to accomplish it as late as possible before departure as the effectiveness of the treatment is time limited (holdover time).The trouble is that you have to make decisions on the information available at the time and having been told that you are in the queue for de-icing you decide to board the pax. Pax board and no de-icer turns up, you are now the "next but one in the queue". De-icing rig now runs out of fluid/breaks down/fluid heater on bulk tank stops working/2nd de-icing shift doesn't turn up, take your pick! Pax have now been on board an hour, but "you'll be de-iced next" Unfortunately it is rarely a clear cut situation and sometimes the decisions you make are not the best ones when viewed with hindsight, but they all seemed OK at the time. To try to deal with your specific questions:

1, can i request to disembark short term?

2, if i do will it then become get off and stay off?

You cannot not be "detained" on the aircraft, but once off it is highly unlikely that you will be allowed back on. If you have hold baggage that will have to be found and off-loaded as well. The reason for this is that once you have elected to leave "temporarily" we cannot risk that you do not rejoin for departure and further delay the flight. That is also a general problem with offloading all pax during a delay. You run the risk of getting back only 219 ex 221. The other 2 having wandered of/not heard the PAs/got drunk or just cahnged theur mind and not told anyone (I've had all of those)

3, how long is it considered acceptable by airlines to hold passengers on an aircraft without refreshment/toilets etc?

I cannot see why you should be denied access to the aircraft toilets whilst delayed. If delayed on stand I would switch the seatbelt signs off and make a PA telling pax the situation (as far as I knew it!!) and informing them that they were welcome to use their mobiles or other electronic gizmos while we waited. Refreshments on board it subject to carrier policy, but if the delay looked iro 1hr I would certainly discuss with the Senior Cabin Attendant the feasibility of providing water/minerals. As to length of time, well I would be looking for hard information if the 2 hour point was approaching and unless I be assured that departure was "imminent" would be considering getting you back into the terminal, but as I said before I would really prefer to leave you in the terminal for an extra hour in the first place.

I hope that this helps, I am sorry if it is all "how long is a piece of string" but in many cases that is just the way it develops. There can be so many factors to consider that you might be forced to have pax on board for a prolonged period or risk having to cancel the flight altogether. For example, ATC slot delays, local weather conditions, snow clearance, industrial action (2 hour no-notice ATC strike at Brussels last week), the "small" technical problem which takes longer than anticipated, missing passengers whose bags are always the last ones to be found. The list goes on and on.

The aim is to get you to your destination as quickly and comfortably as we can, sometimes we are thwarted in that, but we still try our best.

YS

[the_flying_cop]

thanks yellow sun,

im up to speed with the de icing stuff as it affects us too.

your answers re the getting on getting off also seem to make good sense.

i was just curious as to what the position was re who has the final say so. makes perfect sense if you got all the pax on then you dont want to lose them again. many of them (us) find it difficult to get to the departure point puncutally the first time!!!

cheers,

im not really a rebel.

TFC