Passengers Flew 10 Hours, Then Sat For Another Nine After Diversion For Fog

Ugly tales of passengers pushed to their emotional or physical breaking points by lengthy airline tarmac delays have pretty much disappeared from the news in the US since the Department of Transportation was enabled to hand down stiff fines. But you can still be trapped inside a plane for many hours if you travel elsewhere in the world.

USA Today reports police were called onto a diverted Air India 777 which had flown for 10 hours on its route from Mumbai to London Heathrow, only to be diverted to London Gatwick because of fog. After another nine hours on the sitting plane, passengers started getting very frustrated, and police were called to the airport.

The Times of India reports the plane's crew was inexperienced in dealing with fog at Heathrow, leading to the diversion. Then, the crew reached their legal limit for duty hours at Gatwick, so the passengers sat while another crew was brought in. Passengers got frustrated, and said that while British passengers were allowed to disembark, foreigners were forced to sit without food. A cab can get passengers from Gatwick to Heathrow in under an hour, but it took over nine hours by jet.

The London Telegraph reports that officers found passengers angry at the lack of information about when they might be able to either get off the plane or continue on to Heathrow. Gatwick officials say they provided water for the passengers, but couldn't do much else because the airline would not allow the passengers to disembark. No food was brought on the plane, say airport officials, because the airline wanted to use its own caterers over at Heathrow.

Such an incident in the US could have been very costly for Air India. Following successful implementation of a three-hour rule for domestic flights, the US DOT expanded its stranding limits to international flights, which must release passengers before reaching four hours on the tarmac. The fines for exceeding that limit could be as high as $27,500 per passenger affected.

FMI: www.dot.gov