S o there haven't been all that many of those much-publicized multi-hour waits on the runway for airline passengers? True enough, but there have been some doozies along the way. Last summer, for example, 47 passengers on an ExpressJet for Continental Express sat in the cramped plane on a ramp overnight. Tales of parched passengers, overflowing restrooms and worse have prompted periodic calls for action.
And why not? When the airlines hold passengers on the tarmac for hour after hour, they're really making them pay for snafus that aren't their fault. So an order from the Obama administration is welcome. Now, airlines that force fliers to suffer long delays on board a plane, without offering food and water after two hours or a chance to disembark after three hours, face fines of $27,500 per passenger. That should get their attention.
Airlines say there could be delays because planes that let someone get off could lose a place in the takeoff line. That still beats a night on a ramp.
