In recent news, there have been incidents where passengers on a US plane are not allowed to leave for various reasons such as equipment repair, gate security, or other scheduling problems. This has lasted in excess of 5 hours or more on occasion.
The question is, what would be the penalty if a person opened the emergency doors? If they caused a disturbance? In some cases, bathrooms were full and food and water were exhausted. What if you were to attempt to compel the crew to allow you to exit by defficating in the aisle or relieving otehr bodily functions? What could you be convicted of?
The crew OTOH can be held guilty of false imprisonment. 'Twere it me, I’d call 911 and demand to be rescued. Then I’d call the local TV stations, because we all know that bad publicity will motivate the airlines far faster than mere legalities.
I don’t think you’d need to jump to the ground, because unless the doors were disarmed, the emergency slide would pop out. You’d most likely be responsible for paying to have it restored. This is according to Patrick Smith, the “Ask the Pilot” columnist for Salon.com, who also suggests that you’d probably get hurt going down the slide and “the airport police would be extremely unhappy” with you.
What is the definition of “in flight”? Is a plane sitting on the tarmac at a closed airport “in flight”?
So what if I am sitting in an exit row, and while there are no flight crew around, I calmly reach over and open up the emergancy exit. No contact at all with the crew. Have I run afoul of the above?
I can see that if one person opened the exit and hopped down the slide they’d be in a world of trouble, but suppose a few hundred other angry passengers joined in? After many hours sitting on the tarmac, restrooms full, no food or beverages supplied, they get fed up and a bunch of people pop the exits and everyone slides out and starts walking back to the terminal. Mass disobedience. I don’t see the authorities locking hundreds of people up for years in that situation (although I can see a lot of people getting banned from the airline).
I’d be more worried about being put on a “no-fly” list than a criminal thing. You probably could get a decent lawyer to bargain down a charge or get it dismissed, but once one airline puts you on their “no fly” list, you could get on other airline’s “no fly” list and then where does that leave you if you need to fly?
The doors from the terminal to the flight area are – what’s the technical term? – locked. You can’t just casually walk into the terminal, just like you can’t just casually walk out of the terminal and look around the plane.
So no, the authorities probably wouldn’t lock people up for “years,” but I can see hundreds of people being detained for at least as long as they would have spent waiting on the plane.
But there seems to be enough “what are they going to do, throw me in jail?” sentiment in the thread, that I think some people will only be satisfied if they try it themselves.
This is the understated Achilles Heel. As many passengers as possible with cell phones should call 911, the media, family and friends, and report the details. Add to this using Twitter to contact many more should help, even sending tweets to the airline in question, if they use Twitter.
See, if one person, just one person does it they may think he’s really bad and they’ll arrest him. But if two people, two people do it (in harmony), they may think they’re both faggots and of course they’ll arrest them too. But if three people do it? Can you imagine, three people hopping out while singing a bar of The M.T.A. Song and sliding out? They may think it’s an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people on a flight …*fifty people * sliding down singin’ a bar of The M.T.A. Song and walking out? Friends, they may thinks it’s a movement!
Being detained in an airport terminal or being locked in a plane with inoperative toilets and no food for half a day with screaming children leaves me choosing detention. This question seems to be about the cases where minimal necessities have not been met.
You are not being detained when you got on the airplane, you got on voluntarily. You cannot exit the plane whenever you feel, only when the flight crew tells you to do so (obviously a genuine emergency would be a good exception). Contracts of carriage will always cover this. An example from Southwest’s CoC:
Explain how a crew, following federal procedures, be charged with false imprisonment. When you fly, you’re subject to federal regulations, and federal regulations are quite clear: Once those plane doors close, you have no right to get off until they are opened by a crew member (except in cases of an emergency).
You could raise a stink, but be careful about calling 911 and submitting a false report. In most states, that’s illegal. There may also be federal regulations involved since this is taking place at an airport. Calling a local TV station to whine is probably a better bet. Maybe they can put up enough of a stink to get the airport to order the plane back to the gate, so the crew can open the doors.
The main thing to remember is that the airplane’s crew doesn’t have the authority to open or close the doors of the airplane. They’re also stuck in the plane too with a bunch of whiny passengers who are insisting their rights are being violated and they plan to lead a revolt against this tyranny. The crew is probably doing its best to get back to the gate so they too can leave. Don’t make their lives any more miserable than you have to.
You really don’t get what I’m talking about do you. You land unexpectedly and are kept on a full plane that doesn’t have working toilets, or food for 12 hours because the pilot ran out of flight hours. You did not plan on it. Yet the full plane of passengers are detained in squallier in the plane. Like I said detain me in the airport, because I will be off that plane.