FLIGHT CONTROL

Being stuck on an airplane on the tarmac is about the loss of control. If airlines want to help passengers feel less helpless – and less angry – they can ensure passengers have food, water and bathroom facilities when planes are stuck for an hour or more. If the delay continues, they should let passengers off the plane, as Sen. Olympia Snowe has proposed in her Airline Passenger Bill of Rights. Even easier, however, they can help passengers regain some control by booking new connecting flights, or a hotel if necessary, while the delayed flight is still on the ground.

Much of the airline industry opposition to the bill of rights is that strict time requirements and letting people off planes won’t work because airports are complex operations, so such rules would lead to further delays, and of course, expenses. This fails to take into account the simple notion that people fly to get from one place to another. When delays disrupt their schedule, a primary concern is making a connection or getting to their destination in time for a meeting or special occasion.

Beyond the discomfort of being stuck on a plane that is going nowhere, as they watch the minutes, and often hours, tick away, passengers know they will miss a connection or won’t get to their destination in time for a meeting or other special event.

Now passengers who miss a connection because of a delayed flight often have to wait in a long line at a hub airport in hopes of finding an empty seat on another plane that is soon headed to their destination. What if this process, and the hours of not knowing if you’ll get home in time for your daughter’s award ceremony or to Akron in time for the sales meeting, were eliminated?

Training a flight attendant or two as a ticket agent and equipping them with a laptop and printer could minimize a lot of frustration. Passengers could be issued new tickets and boarding passes right on the delayed flight. They would have the security of knowing they wouldn’t be stranded in New York when they really wanted to be in Miami. Or, if they were going to be too late for a connection, a hotel room could be booked to avoid a night on an airport floor.

This would also give the airline incentive to accurately assess when a delayed flight would actually leave. If the delay was to stretch for hours, passengers should be able to choose to leave the plane.

Rather than congressional action, airlines should themselves help passengers regain a sense of control when weather or other problems disrupt flights.