Airlines and airports breathed a sigh of relief when a federal task force on the execrable way they treat passengers when something goes wrong schedule-wise, as the panel only had voluntary “recommendations.” Airline members on the task force demanded that “they have the flexibility to design their own response plans and not be pinned to a time limit for holding passengers on tarmacs.”

Clearly they still have a bit of design planning that they need to do.

Passengers on Delta Airlines Flight 153, scheduled as a nonstop from Tel Aviv to Atlanta on Jan. 4, had no idea they would end up being held hostage for several hours.

No, it wasn’t terrorists. No, it wasn’t extortionists. It was good old fashioned incompetence.

But it’s important that the airlines are allowed to be incompetent. That’s the American way.

The flight left Tel Aviv at midnight Sunday and was supposed to arrive in Atlanta at 6 a.m. EST Monday. Many passengers planned to take connecting flights to their destinations in the United States, including some bound for Salt Lake City after a two-hour layover.

Two hours is usually what’s recommended for layovers after international flights. After all, you never know what might go wrong.

But when passengers arrived at the Tel Aviv airport, they were told their plane had been downgraded from a 767 to a 747, which didn’t have the fuel capacity to fly directly to Atlanta, so the plane would land in Boston for a brief refueling stop.

Sounds OK so far, right?

No, it doesn’t sound okay. How many business would be allowed to say, “Sorry, what we told you we would do simply won’t be done, and it will take longer and be less convenient, but, tough cookies, we’re just going to do it that way?” If a local restaurant told you your table for six was going to be ready an hour later than you had reserved, you’d probably be torqued, no? And you’d expect the restaurant to make it up to you, like comping a couple of drinks in the bar while you wait or something of the sort, no?

The difference being, the airlines can basically say, “So sorry,” without any actual consequences. After all, most of those Delta fliers were on the plane because Delta has a quasi-monopoly in the cities they were flying from, to, or through.

But those headed to Salt Lake City wouldn’t make the connecting flight in Atlanta because of that stop, so they were told they would have to be re-booked.

Still OK, right?

Only okay if they airline did so, and I had the rebooked tickets in my hot little hands. Otherwise, no, the service is majorly sucky.

(I don’t care to fly on Delta anyway, but I don’t kid myself that pretty much any other airline would do differently.. Why should they?)

But when the plane got to Boston at 4:15 a.m. Monday, the passengers were told that because it was an unscheduled international flight, they had to be quarantined. Nothing could be brought on board and nobody could leave the plane. The plane also could not be cleared to depart, so it was re-routed to sit on another runway.

Then it was discovered that the engine had iced over sitting on the runway, so the plane had to be towed back on the gate. Still, nobody could leave the plane and no food or water could be brought on board.

First off, this was certainly something that the airline could or should have known was going to happen. This is their business, after all.

Further, since the plane didn’t just veer off at the last second to land in Boston — they had to have a registered flight plan, and Delta had several hours to make all the arrangements that needed to be made.

I simply don’t believe that “nothing could be brought on board.” If there were a medical emergency, presumably something could have been done. So Delta simply chose not to go to the hassle to allow food and water to be brought on (and didn’t stock anything extra on the Tel Aviv end).

By the time a mechanic had inspected the engine, it was 9 a.m.

Five hours after landing. Clearly a top priority for Delta.

The passengers were finally allowed to debark in Boston’s Logan Airport and make arrangements for connecting flights. But as they were about to leave, they were told there were not enough Customs agents to handle the passengers, so they had to remain in their seats until 10 a.m., when the day shift arrived.

Incompetent planning by Delta, coupled with poor service from Customs. 

When they finally got into the airport, some passengers noticed others were allowed to go in front of them at the ticket counter.

And that, for all the possible excuses that Delta might hide behind for the other parts (”Mechanical failure!” “Airport staffing!” “Legal restrictions!” “Customs said so!”) is the final, inexcusable straw. Those passengers should have been directed to their own exclusive customer service counter, fully staffed, with no question as to who got priority service. 

After sitting strapped in his seat for six hours on the runway, one passenger headed to Salt Lake complained. The ticket agent then told him she was working overtime for him. And if he didn’t appreciate all sacrifices she was making for him, then she was just going to go home.

So there.

And, of course, the passenger have no recourse but to tell their story to the press, which will write the bad story, which will lead to maybe, in a few years of cumulative wailing, another federal hearing. At which time we’ll be told (again) that things have changed “since then,” that airlines and airports need the flexibility to do whatever the hell they please, and that the travel industry is far too economically fragile to be able to afford any mandates of how they treat customers.

And so it goes.

(via Ginny)