When reasonable people want to leave an aircraft and are physically restrained or prevented from doing so, it is felony kidnapping. This is not a civil complaint against the airline, it’s a crime committed by whomever is restraining those desiring to depart the aircraft. As such, any witnessing citizen can make a citizen’s arrest of any crew member using force to restrain or prevent departure, again of reasonable people. It is that crew member that can get themselves a lawyer, and see how compelling their defense to prevent the free movement (escape in this case) of another person. Conviction for felony kidnapping isn’t something you just pay a fine for. You go to jail. It’s appalling airlines would put their employees into such a position.

Oh, and bother way, MOST pilots during our briefings at the beginning of trips will remind us to bring it to his or her attention, the occasional difficult passenger. It’s the Capt’s decision to remove someone and policy and procedures are taken into consideration.

Out of control crewmember? I dont see it. And you do have the right to appeal the law enforcement actions. Hire a lawyer.

Miss Hanni,
NAME ONE PASSENGER who had a blood clot during these tarmac delays.

Police Power? It was the CAPTAIN of this flight who had the ultimate power to remove this passenger from said flight.
Bother way, it’s an FAA regulation to follow crewmember instructions. This passenger was being difficult and lead to his own removal. In all my years, I’ve only removed one passenger out of millions, so contrary to popular belief we do NOT remove passengers on a whim. It’s UNSAFE to fly with disruptive passengers, so they need to be removed. And, this has NOTHING to do with a Passenger Bill of Rights. Nice try, though.

This situation(US Air kicking off a customer posted on Sept 23) is another example of why there needs to be a passenger bill of rights. I’ll stay away from the time limit agrument for now.

This clearly shows a FA abusing the police power given to them by the FAA (one condition here is that Micheal is telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth which may or may not be true).

In addition, recent events demonstrate that a flight crew can hold you against your will without the basic necessities and that’s ok (another business does it and it’s kidnapping). If you protest, you go to jail.

More and more it appears that airlines have decided to abuse the powers given to them. We need a passenger bill of rights that guarantees a safe and inhabitable environment will all the basic necessities of life (food, water, HVAC, sleeping arrangements & sanitary facilities) without charge anytime the door to the aircraft has been closed for an amount of time (5 hours to accommodate transcontinental flights for food. I’d say the rest immediately.). At that point, the airline can sit on the tarmac for hours but they may end up supplying you with dinner etc and are required to maintain a safe environment. As part of the clean / safe environment, the DOT needs to establish a review board for abusive crew members (I figure that the police have citizen review boards and the FAA has granted police powers to crew members so why not).

A bill of rights doesn’t have to mean a flight has to turn back. When I read the majority of stories of passengers held hostage by the airlines, the complaints are rarely just “I was held on board.” It’s almost always “I was held on board for 8 hours and the toilet quit working after 2 hours” or “They ran out of water after 3 hours etc.”

I agree with you (Chris Elliott). A simple you must turn back after x hours isn’t workable in the real world. Mandating that airlines are responsible for your well being while on board does. Requiring them to provide potable water, HVAC and sanitary facilities as soon as the door is closed seems reasonable. Requiring them to provide food 5 hours after the door is closed (without charge) is hard to argue. Requiring them to provide sleeping arrangements like blankets and pillows after 10 PM for delayed flights also seems reasonable. Providing a review board for crew member’s actions when they use their police powers (detaining a passenger, threatening them with arrest or forcibly removing them from a flight for example) seems reasonable since most police departments have this. Fines for violations of the bill need to be large (100k+) and go to the effected passengers (with a lawsuit waiver clause) not the FAA or DOT.

Ultimately, Congress has given the airlines all of the power and they have shown that they will abuse it regularly. There needs to be a balance restored to the relationship.