United Airlines was fined US$1.1 million by regulators for stranding passengers inside planes at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (the same airport where baggage-handlers once broke a passenger's guitar while loading it onto a United flight bound for Nebraska), the largest penalty since rules took effect in 2010. Thirteen United planes with 939 passengers on board were delayed on the ground for more than the three-hour limit during thunderstorms that disrupted the second-busiest U.S. airport on July 13, 2012, the Department of Transportation said. At least two planes didn’t have working restrooms, according to a consent order issued yesterday. “It is unacceptable for passengers to be stranded in planes on the tarmac for hours on end,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement. Of course it is. Delays suck enough as it is. The airlines do not need to make it worse by keeping everyone on the plane just because of the thunderstorm. What if my niece (pictured in her cutest photo so far) had been kept on board one of the planes?
No comments:
Post a Comment