Tue, Nov 01, 2011
Nearly Two Dozen Planes Stranded On Tarmac During Northeast
Snowstorm
The FAA says it will look into the situation at Hartford's
Bradley International Airport in which passengers from nearly two
dozen planes were stranded on board for as long as seven hours. The
planes, including one international flight, had been diverted to
Hartford from other destinations due to record early snowfall in
the northeast corridor over the weekend.
Six of those airplanes were JetBlue flights. One, an American
flight from Paris to New York, had been en-route for nine hours
before sitting seven additional hours on the ground in Hartford. A
passenger on that flight told USA Today that the American crew
offered snacks and water every couple of hours, and that the pilot
did his best to let the passengers know what was going on, but that
the information getting to the pilot was sketchy.
Among the issues contributing to the problems were that Hartford
reportedly did not have the U.S. Customs personnel in place to
process the arriving international flights. American spokesman Tim
Smith said they were not allowed to deplane the passengers until
additional customs officers arrived, which took several hours.
Passengers on another flight were told that the airport was not
equipped to handle Boeing 767 aircraft, which meant the airline was
not able to get passenger's baggage off the plane.
The FAA is looking into the the chain of events which left
hundreds of people stuck on planes, in many cases with no food,
overflowing lavatories, and little drinkable water. "The FAA is
undertaking a comprehensive review of Saturday's operations in the
northeast including, air traffic procedures, aircraft diversions,
weather and equipment performance," spokeswoman Laura Brown
said.
Flyers Rights executive director Kate Hanni said she had been
told that the Hartford airport was actually reducing staff in
anticipation of the storm, which left insufficient gate personnel
to handle the influx of airplanes diverted from other airports. She
is suggesting new DOT rules to fine airports in these situations
similar to the rules that went into effect in 2010 establishing
fines for airlines which sometimes left passengers sitting on
planes for hours. "The problem here is that the airports are not
subject to potential fines, and have not kept their word," she told
the paper.
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