“I have never seen such chaos on an airplane”

In a lot of these situations of the passengers would just sit down and shut up, people would probably be let off the plane

What’s going on with BA? They were so reliable, and weren’t they among the best airlines service-wise?

@John…Wow. Just…wow.

Have YOU ever been stuck on the tarmac for hours with no food/water/AC, no working bathrooms, and no information?

I have. Fortunately it wasn’t for 5 hours, but it was 2 1/2 of the most miserable hours I can remember. I was fine for the first two hours, but then I got THIRSTY, as did my kids, who also got hungry. I had snacks for them…but snacks usually result in thirst, especially the snacks that I brought (granola bars, pretzels), stupidly thinking that I’d at least be able to give them WATER. But…nope. They wouldn’t give out ANYTHING. And the heat was overwhelming. We weren’t allowed to use the bathrooms. My son finally couldn’t hold it and got up and went anyway…and got yelled at, and I got threatened.

And you’re telling me we should just “sit down and shut up”? Wow.

Clearly YOU’VE never been trapped inside a metal tube on a hot tarmac. Until you are, you might consider shutting up yourself.

I’m waiting for someone to just pop the emergency doors and say **** the consequences…can’t imagine there’s a jury in the US that would actually convict.

Every time I’ve ended up on BA, something has gone wrong that should not have gone wrong. Best thing to do is just avoid them altogether. . .

Someone is going to get seriously sick or die eventually on an overheated plane with no water. Only when an airline is sued will legislation be passed to stop this.

But what can someone do when they are on the plane already? Call 911? Maybe if they have Internet on the plane they can find some local TV station phone numbers?

If you pop the emergency exits FAA,Homeland Security are going to give you a hard time. May not be worth it. Embarrassing the airline by bringing coverage to the situation? Absolutely worth it.

Indeed, someone will end up dying as a result. Sounds like it’s time for one of those passengers to create a you tube video such as the one posted by Dave Carroll – “United breaks guitars.” It most certainly got United’s attention.

What about those with medical conditions that get stuck on these flights? I’m a diabetic who also suffers from chronic pancreas problems. Frequent thirst, urination, and what I call the ‘wooze’ from not eating are all part of the game. Let’s not forget the constant blood sugar monitoring and need to keep insulin refrigerated.

I flew without incident in 2008 and 2009. Never gave the thought of being held hostage on a tarmac. After these last few months, I’m scared to death.

Ask for compensation, preferably starting using paper and snail mail, and continue all the way to small claims court if needed.

Note: This is not about delay. This is about subjecting passengers to discomfort such as excessive heat and lack of bathroom facilities.

if all the passengers had paid the carbon credit ‘fee’ all would have been properly taken care of.

The airlines have used the security enhancements following Sept 11 to create little facist crew members. FA’s and flight crew cite ‘security’ for all sorts of BS rules designed solely to make their job easier, and then threaten passengers with the vague ‘interfering with flight crew’ which is generally 99% bogus claims.

Then the airlines use all sorts of false excuses to avoid liability.

I recently had a claim against Delta for a flight last March where they can canceled a flight and claimed ‘weather’ as the excuse. The weather was clear in Cincinnati and clear in Charleston and clear where the aircraft was coming from. I was shuffled to another airline and arrived at a different airport in my state and asked simply for the cost of the car I rented and gasoline to get back to my original airport to get my car. Denied.

Sued them. Small claims. I did discovery. Found out the ‘weather cancellation’ was because the CREW was weather delayed at another destination the night before. THAT was the ‘weather excuse.’ I petitioned the court to move the case out of small claims and to bring a class action on behalf of all persons similarly situated who were lied to by Delta claiming weather delayed a flight but was caused by poor crew planning and not reassigning crews on the fly. A weather delay is one whereby weather DIRECTLY causes a delay.

Delta made my time worth it in that they convinced me to drop my claims. But suffice to say I have discovered that every airline routinely lies to its passengers to avoid compensation, thereby violating the unfair trade practices rules of every state. So pretty much any time you are wondering if the line you are getting is true or not . . . absent direct knowledge of the flight delay [weather outside the window, mechanical,] its probably a bunch of hooey.

I recommend in situations like this, where people are given no choice (falsely imprisoned) to take action and start opening the emergency exits, which is really their only recourse, if the crew won’t cooperate and they can’t escalate awareness of the situation to higher authorities. As a result of this action, emergency crews will be called out, the flight will be cancelled and the passengers will be released. I agree that it is unlikely a jury will convict anyone acting in these circumstances, because such action is morally justified. Dire circumstances call for extreme measures. If this happens consistently in situations like this, the airlines will change their behavior for several reasons.
I also recommend standing up, and speaking to the passengers and getting their moral agreement, as well as giving the crew a final chance, before taking such action. That way, there is a common understanding among the passengers as to why this is being done. In the name of common decency!