Why were the departing planes sitting for hours on the tarmac?

[mks57]

At what point can a passenger claim he is being held against his will and demand that the flight crew allow him to leave the plane?

[GusNSpot]

@mks57

At what point can a passenger claim he is being held against his will and demand that the flight crew allow him to leave the plane?

Any time he wants. Just like in a lot of things, there be consequences. Got to be ready for those.

[Joey_P]

@vivalostwages

Some of us in the Pit thread were asking why the passengers didn’t use the emergency exit. Now I wonder if it, too, was frozen shut.

Not that I know of. They commented that from time to time they had to open the door to let some fresh air in since it was getting so warm and muggy inside.

[Einmon]

@vivalostwages

Some of us in the Pit thread were asking why the passengers didn’t use the emergency exit. Now I wonder if it, too, was frozen shut.

Well, you can certainly open the door (provided it was not frozen shut), but a plane is pretty high. This means you’d need stairs to get off the plane, and as I understand, those seem to have frozen to the ground. Alternatively, you could deploy the emergency slide to get down to the ground, but using those is pretty dangerous, since they are rather steep and the tarmac at the end isn’t really cushioning the impact. In emergency situations, using the slide often results in minor injuries or breaks, which of course is better than to be trapped inside a burning aircraft, but certainly worse than just being uncomfortable.

[Misnomer]

@robby

In situations like these, I’ve often wondered why, having pushed back from the gate, airlines are so averse to letting the passengers off after it becomes evident that they aren’t going to be taking off any time soon.

Not specific to the situation in the OP, but in general I would think it’s because it’s such a pain in the butt to get a plane boarded and ready for takeoff. Also, the moment you let someone off a plane you risk them wandering away from the terminal and possibly delaying the flight when it finally is ready to leave. Frankly, I’d rather sit on a plane for an hour than spend twice that much time deplaning, sitting around the terminal, and then reboarding.

[muldoonthief]

@Misnomer

Not specific to the situation in the OP, but in general I would think it’s because it’s such a pain in the butt to get a plane boarded and ready for takeoff. Also, the moment you let someone off a plane you risk them wandering away from the terminal and possibly delaying the flight when it finally is ready to leave. Frankly, I’d rather sit on a plane for an hour than spend twice that much time deplaning, sitting around the terminal, and then reboarding.

Add to that the fact that if someone does leave the plane and doesn’t show up when they reboard, the airlines have to find any checked baggage that belongs to them and remove it.

[SuaSponte]

@Joey P

The problem was that the plane was actually frozen to the ground, they couldn’t move it if they wanted to.

You know how easy of a problem that is to fix? Go to the Food Court, boil 50 gallons of water, bring the hot water to the airplane, and pour around the wheels. Move airplane before the hot water cools and freezes.

Sua