Trapped On A Plane

During yesterday's storm, passengers on several jetBlue flights were trapped on the tarmac from anywhere between five and eleven hours. While the airline said it was hoping the weather would break so it could send fully-loaded planes to take off as soon as possible, the reality is that the jetbridges at the terminal were fully-occupied, leaving the airline with no way to deplane passengers. An inbound flight from Ft. Myers was even required to wait eight hours for a spot to open up. They sat on the tarmac, with the terminal in sight, from approximately 10:30 a.m. until after 6 p.m.

What I have yet to understand is the stubborn insistence by American-based airlines (or airports) that all mainline aircraft dock at a jetbridge. It's happened to me a couple of times, where an inbound flight to a hub airport has to wait for a gate, even though it arrived early. We sat in what's nicknamed the "penalty box" for anywhere between five and 45 minutes. On one occasion, it spoiled my connection, and I was stuck at Washington-Dulles for four more hours than I would have liked (I got a free cross-country upgrade in the process, but that's another story).

Anyhow, In Europe, even at major airports like London-Heathrow, Frankfurt, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, and Brussels, flights often park in a remote area of the tarmac, where passengers disembark via stairs and are bussed to the main terminal. Passengers generally dislike the long bus rides to the outer reaches of the airport, but when there's nowhere else to go, you'd choose the bus over sitting still any day.

It seems easy enough for airports to lease a couple of busses to park on airport property and train random airline employees how to drive them. Then, if there's a situation where a plane is stuck without a gate, the airline can swing into action, dispatching employees to drive the bus, the luggage cart, the stairs, the catering truck, and whatever else is needed over to the plane, rather than making the plane come to them. While my idea has been dismissed as impractical by some familiar with the airline industry, it doesn't seem like too much hassle. It's a great thing to do from a customer service standpoint, even when minor delays are taking place, but especially when a major storm paralyzes operations. Nobody should have to sit on an immobile plane for eight hours, and if jetBlue had some sort of remote deplaning operation ready to go, it wouldn't be in the news today.