Definitely. Why put up with that? This bit about not letting passengers off the plane is ridiculous. If they were restricted to the gait/concession area, not bypassing security, why not let them in the terminal?

The last flight I was on ATL-Kansai International (KIX), the air conditioning wasn't working when we boarded in Atlanta. The word not to board the plane didn't go out to the gate quick enough and we were boarded. No AC, 91F outside, we were all sweating.But, we couldn't get off the plane. The FAs were upset about it, they froze the towels they pass out, those felt great....but it was about 40 minutes before we left. It just seems so senseless.

Whatever happened to the Airline Passenger Bill of Rights?

I've thought about this briefly, and I think in a similar situation I would have walked off the plane and gotten arrested and had my moment of civil disobedience and would count on/hope for a massive media response shaming everyone involved....

What does it mean to lock people inside the plane? Can you lock the doors from the inside? Sounds doubtful and sounds like a terrible fire hazard and illegal.

Were passenger cellphones not working?

Was twitter and youtube down? Where were the local news affiliates?

These passengers were screened by the TSA before they got on the airplane. The function of the TSA is to protect the transportation systems, not screen people to see if they have smuggled a plastic knife off the airplane.

The function of the TSA is to protect the transportation systems

Got to disagree with you there steamer.
The function of the TSA is to look like they are protecting a trasportation system.

I stand corrected.

I'm still wondering why they screen people getting off the planes.

I've thought about this briefly, and I think in a similar situation I would have walked off the plane and gotten arrested and had my moment of civil disobedience and would count on/hope for a massive media response shaming everyone involved....

Watch that first step. The article didn't say whether the jetway was hooked up. An airplane's door is about thirty feet off the ground.

Along with everyone else, I'm a little confused as to why the ground crew couldn't at least let the passengers sleep in one of the gate areas.

I think the security clearance problem was getting back into the airport if the plane was going to take off before the TSA crew came back on duty. So, just warn people that they may miss their flight if they leave the airport.

I'd call 911 and tell them I was being held against my will.

Totally accurate.

Then I'd call someone and have them call all the news crews in the area where the plane was (b/c I don't have internet on my phone, so I'd need someone w/ computer access to do it). Just drawing attention to it might get them to do something.

I'd call 911 and tell them I was being held against my will. Totally accurate.

My thoughts exactly. I don't understand why they couldn't have brought in a bus to make the rest of the trip. It's only about 90 miles from RST to MSP.

Good idea on the calling people. The news, 911, etc. I also would have probably killed someone, but that's just me and I get cranky with no sleep.

I don't understand why they couldn't have brought in a bus to make the rest of the trip.

Boy, does that bring back memories.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...that started Charlotte and ran into a blip.

On a trip to Boston several years ago, delays caused us to miss our connecting flight in Charlotte (40-50 passengers). So, after much debate, the Charlotte crew put us on the flight to New York so we could catch a flight there to Boston.

Sounds like good, heads up work by Charlotte, right? Wrong. They forgot to notify New York of our arrival, so New York did not hold the plane to Boston.

New York toyed with the idea of putting us up in hotels for the night. Only toyed. They eventually put us on a flight to Providence, RI, where we were to catch a chartered bus to Boston.

When we arrived in Providence, there was no airline official to meet us and direct us to our bus. So, we wandered around the airport looking for someone other than a janitor (the only official people in the airport at that hour all had buckets and mops).

Since several of the passengers lived in Boston, their relatives made the drive to meet them, so we were down to about 25 passengers. Imaging 25 lost passengers wandering an almost deserted airport. It was like a Stephen King novel.

We finally went outside and found our bus. The driver, despairing of his passengers ever showing up, was about to leave. Now he wouldn't leave because he was told to expect 30-40 passengers and he only had 25. Plus, he had no one from the airline there to authorize him to leave.

After thirty minutes, we finally convinced the driver that the other passengers had been picked up by relatives and it was okay to leave without authorization.

Arriving at Boston, we had to hunt down an airline official to let us in the room containing our luggage.

So, a five hour flight to Boston ended up taking over eleven hours. To top that off, our cab driver got lost.

"Watch that first step. The article didn't say whether the jetway was hooked up. An airplane's door is about thirty feet off the ground."

Just curious, how big is your penis?

The height of an ERJ-145's tail is 22 feet, and the height of the back of its wing is much less than that, maybe 5-8 feet. High, but not that high, and I'm going to make a ladder out of donated passenger bras.

"High, but not that high, and I'm going to make a ladder out of donated passenger bras."

They should make new episodes of MacGyver just so we could see something like that.

(I'm too young to have really watched that show, but who wouldn't want to see a man breaking out of a plane with a 10 foot long bra ladder...?)

Consumerist is reporting 20 hours.

I know for a fact I wouldn't put up w/ it.

...a 10 foot long bra ladder....

A "bradder?"

Jerry, I thought about that too... Continential mostly flies Embraer 145s these days, and they have built-in airstairs. It would have been no problem for the pax to disembark. It sounds like the real problem was that the jetway doors were locked from the terminal side; the airport wouldn't let them in. Why on earth the airport would have locked them out flummoxes me.

I don't get it. If it was so simple to depart the plane, why didn't at least one passenger attempt to do so?

After nine hours cooped up in a small plane with an overflowing toilet, there had to be at least one passenger who'd had enough and was willing to make a break for it, damn the rules.

Why was there no rebellion?

After all, according to the article, Continental managed to get a new crew on board. Why couldn't they get the passengers off?

Or have we finally become a nation of sheep?

Patrick Smith has addressed this already. There are other articles on his Salon blog dealing with it also.

He explains the events from start to finish, along with the reasoning that led airports to decide that no, you can't run around by yourself.

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It's a seperate question, but yes, we are sheep, lining up for our own tax money and sending it overseas - even the "bailout" money. You bend over for the TSA because you want to ride on an airplane? Baa-aa.

I'm still wondering why they screen people getting off the planes.

They don't. The problem, at least as I understand it from reading the post, is that if passengers got off and left the airport, they wouldn't be able to get back on if the plane left before the screeners returned the next day. And Rochester wasn't their intended destination.

All I can say is OMG. I would not stand for something like this. OMG.

The difficulty in situations like this is to keep from being the frog boiled in water.

If you know ahead of time it will be 9 hours on the plane, then EVERYONE opens the door. The problem is that you get told it will be 2 hours, then another 2 hours, then another 2 hours....

Ironically, when learning how to fly (small) airplanes, we were taught to put boundaries on such situations ahead of time. I'm going to fly to the next nav aid and I expect to be there in twenty minutes and if it goes twenty-five minutes then I'm taking some emergency action no matter what.

So when they first tell you it will be X amount of time before you can get off the craft, that's when you need to say to yourself at X+2 hours I am warning the pilot I will exit the craft at X+4 hours. (And then videotape yourself and the plane every 15 minutes after that.) At X+2 no matter what they have told you, you need to warn the pilot. At X+3 warn again. At X+4 open the door.

Otherwise you'll boil.

"X+2 hours I am warning the pilot I will exit the craft at X+4 hours. (And then videotape yourself and the plane every 15 minutes after that.) At X+2 no matter what they have told you, you need to warn the pilot."

Well, trying to get up front and warn the pilot you're getting off the plane would definitely be one way to get off the plane. Of course it would involve getting tasered at some point. Pilots are a little touchy about their cockpit doors these days and they all have crash axes up there. They know what a joke TSA is and are very aware that the safety of the aircraft and passengers lies primarily with them (the pilots, not TSA). All the commercial pilots I know have a plan of attack should anyone get to forceful near the cockpit door.

Really you'd be better off alerting the A Flight Attendent about your X+4 plan.

At X+4 open the door.

At X+5 sign the statement that you understand your rights as read to you and make your one phone call.

At X+5 sign the statement that you understand your rights as read to you and make your one phone call.

That's not a shock. That's a given and presumably according to plan. I said up top this is an act of civil disobedience.

Of course, that's why you've bring a small video camera on board with you and why from X+2 on, you've been calling the local news stations or are even broadcasting on a live streaming video site like justin.tv (That's also why you are insistent and polite throughout.)

Why on earth the airport would have locked them out flummoxes me.

Because the *airline* refused to call the airport and *ask* them to. At least according to the guy from the airport....

He said they did open up the airport for a plane from another airline that came in at 3 a.m. or something like that. But the airport doesn't have a procedure for affirmatively saying "hey, a plane landed, let's open the gate" - the airline has to request it (presumably so that the airline can be billed for it).