The Mrs. Angry Immigrant and I flew back from the old country to this flammable desert on Monday. To sane people, there was fog over LAX airport. Our plane had to make a 2nd attempt at the runway, because the pilot didn’t like his first approach. Admittedly, the cloud/fog over the airport looked like Dr. Horrible was doing some Horrible PhD research at the airport, since it was solid dark clouds there, and perfectly clear over the rest of the city…
To insane people, however, this mass of dispersed water vapor a terror so vile that they kidnapped, held captive, and deprived 190+ fellow people of basic human necessities in order to save them from its unspeakable horror.
This kind of “X hours stuck on a plane on the tarmac” kind of debacle is the result of two spineless bureaucracies also demonstrating a lack of heart. I’m not sure if the customs officials or the airline officials are to blame on this one (signs point to the airline, but it’s hard to tell for sure), but no one, especially airline crews should think that staying on an aircraft any longer than necessary is acceptable.
It’s ok, though, because they served water and crackers at 4am… Ontario, CA is just not that far away. Put these people on a bus, or put a customs official in a taxi to Ontario.
If someone is going to forcibly confine me to an aircraft cabin, the ground outside better be on fire and the air outside better be poisonous (admittedly, this is LA most of the time…). Otherwise I’d have to weigh my options about spending an overnight in jail for deploying the emergency doors myself, rather than sitting in the life-draining confines of the plane.
The 12 Angry Men Blog 
December 5, 2008 at 12:45 am
You know, that sounds absolutely wonderful. I had a similar experience flying into JFK about six months ago, but we were in the air… and we circled around for quite a while. I was hoping we wouldn’t hit “bingo” fuel….
December 5, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I have to admit, I have a real problem understanding these airports (and airlines) that don’t deplane folks for extended periods. I can understand a several hour “hold” where the ATC system keeps jerking the pilot’s chain with 15-30 minute holds stacking up. You don’t want to deplane folks because deplaning and boarding will take 20-40 minutes at a minimum which means you might miss an opportunity to depart.
But once you know the ground hold will be more than 2-3 hours, and especially if you know it’s going to be overnight, there is absolutley no reason not to park the plane at a gate, get folks off and let them crash in the gate area. The customs excuse, in particular, is completely stupid. Customs occurs well after deplaning under normal conditions without any ill effect. At worst, this concern would require posting a couple of customs officials or police officers to keep an eye on folks.
And to the extent, if any, that this happens because of airlines hating to eat humble pie by returning to the gate, well, obviously that’s the worst excuse of all, by a mile!