A good example of government incompetence.

[Coito ergo sum]

And how many times did you enter illegally, please?

Zero, of course. What's up your ass? Why the idiotic condescension, as if I must never travel? And, as if my personal travel habits have anything at all to do with the incompetence of authorities having to "struggle" to handle a situation where people are kept on 100+ degree plane without food, in the dark, to the point where people were passing out? One must have travelled as much as the great Gawdzilla (world traveler extraordinaire) in order to fully appreciate how normal it is to be kept for hours on a 100+ degree temperature plane, without food, in the dark, to the point where people were passing out? Happens all the time, in your experience? Pshawww!!! The government officials handled this PERFECTLY! The regulations are just fine! There shouldn't possibly have been any thought given to this kind of situation potentially occurring, and having some means of relief built into the regulations. Riiiiiiiigghhhhhtt!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

And how many times did you enter illegally, please?

I'm sneaking back into England tomorrow ,does that count?

Coming from Scotland don't you need a time machine?

And C.E.S., get a chill-pill. You start these outrage threads just to have something to whinge about, then get grumpy when we don't take them seriously. Life's hard, then you die.

[Coito ergo sum]

And how many times did you enter illegally, please?

I'm sneaking back into England tomorrow ,does that count?

Coming from Scotland don't you need a time machine?

And C.E.S., get a chill-pill. You start these outrage threads just to have something to whinge about, then get grumpy when we don't take them seriously. Life's hard, then you die.

Point taken.

But, it's not like you made a joke about it. You appeared to seriously adopt the position that nothing unusual happened here and this was just unreasonable complaints about mere discomfort. My mistake.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

My mistake.

Very much so.

[devogue]

Shower of bastards.

ASt least open the doors of the fucking plane and let some fresh air in.

[leo-rcc]

There are plenty of things that could have been done for the people on the plane, the least of which is making sure the ground crew hook up the power unit so the AC and lights could run. Opening the doors so some air could get in would have helped with the most of the problems. You can still contain the passengers without them having to be on the plane. There are so many thing you can do in such situations, and to say one "struggles" with a situation like that is just beyond ridiculous.

[Coito ergo sum]

My mistake.

Very much so.

[Coito ergo sum]

Shower of bastards.

ASt least open the doors of the fucking plane and let some fresh air in.

No, can't do that. Rules must be followed.

[devogue]

Shower of bastards.

ASt least open the doors of the fucking plane and let some fresh air in.

No, can't do that. Rules must be followed.

Indeed.

"In the interests of Health and Safety we cannot open the airplane doors when the plane is not attached to the terminal building.
So melt, you mothers."

[Coito ergo sum]

Shower of bastards.

ASt least open the doors of the fucking plane and let some fresh air in.

No, can't do that. Rules must be followed.

Indeed.

"In the interests of Health and Safety we cannot open the airplane doors when the plane is not attached to the terminal building.
So melt, you mothers."

Some years ago, I was on a plane that sat on the tarmac for about 5 hours before the flight was brought back to the terminal and then promptly canceled after everyone was "allowed off."

It was unbelievable. The bathrooms were close to filling up. They refused to serve any drinks or food. Babies were crying. People were getting quite angry. It, luckily, was not overly hot.

The regulations do not allow them to empty and the reboard the plane (or at least, the regs did not allow that at the time, but that was back in the 1990s). They really upset everyone, however, because they said they were taking us back to the terminal to let us get out, go to the restrooms, get some food, and then we could get back on. So, most people were leaving their carryon bags. A few passengers, including myself, were like, "no way, my bag is staying with me." Ultimately, when we got off the plane, and only after getting off the plane, we were told that the flight was being canceled. When people started asking to get their bags off the plane (carry on), they were told they could not go back on to the plane to get them. They would all be removed, brought to a specific location and people would have to identify which bags were theirs!

The reason for all this was obvious. They didn't want to tell the passengers while they were on the plane that the flight was canceled because after being there for five hours waiting to take off, the passengers would be quite upset. I had figured that the flight had to be canceled because the flight crew was also sitting their for 5 hours, and we were likely getting to the point where maximum work day rules would kick in and they'd have to cancel the flight to avoid violating those rules. I remember tellilng a couple people around me that the flight was probably canceled because of how long we'd been sitting there. They said, "oh, no way, they wouldn't tell us we'll be getting back on the plane if they were cancelling the flight..." Once the last person was off the plane, they announced the cancelation. A-holes!

[maiforpeace]

Shower of bastards.

ASt least open the doors of the fucking plane and let some fresh air in.

No, can't do that. Rules must be followed.

Indeed.

"In the interests of Health and Safety we cannot open the airplane doors when the plane is not attached to the terminal building.
So melt, you mothers."

I don't get the whole thing, particularly in a small airport like the one they were stuck in. Seems to me if they don't have the attachments to the terminal building it's quite fine to have passengers board and exit the plane using stairs. I do it fairly regularly, for short flights or for flights to/from small airports. Put them in a couple of rooms with toilets and give them food, water and some security so they can't wander around...

I agree the incompetence in this situation was pretty staggering.

I don't think this was just government incompetence though - if international flights like Virgin Atlantic are flying in the US, they should be prepared to follow US rules and regulations WHILE taking care of passengers. I think this incompetence extends to them as well. And, unfortunately the new regulation put into effect in April that prevents airlines from holding people in a plane for longer than 3 hours doesn't apply to international flights.

[Coito ergo sum]

Shower of bastards.

ASt least open the doors of the fucking plane and let some fresh air in.

No, can't do that. Rules must be followed.

Indeed.

"In the interests of Health and Safety we cannot open the airplane doors when the plane is not attached to the terminal building.
So melt, you mothers."

I don't get the whole thing, particularly in a small airport like the one they were stuck in. Seems to me if they don't have the attachments to the terminal building it's quite fine to have passengers board and exit the plane using stairs. I do it fairly regularly, for short flights or for flights to/from small airports. Put them in a couple of rooms with toilets and give them food, water and some security so they can't wander around...

I agree the incompetence in this situation was pretty staggering.

I don't think this was just government incompetence though - if international flights like Virgin Atlantic are flying in the US, they should be prepared to follow US rules and regulations WHILE taking care of passengers. I think this incompetence extends to them as well. And, unfortunately the new regulation put into effect in April that prevents airlines from holding people in a plane for longer than 3 hours doesn't apply to international flights.

If Virgin Atlantic is prohibited from allowing them off the plane, then what else can they do and remain within the law? I think that anything V.A. could do should have involved cooling off the plane, and getting them food and water. Other than that, I think VA had no choice but to follow the bureacratic regulations.

The 3 hour maximum doesn't apply to international flights for immigration purposes.

[Clinton Huxley]

Rigid adherence to the rules. Not a surprise. I got refused a drink in some bar in Reston because I didn't have ID to show I was over 21. I was 32 at the time, My friend bought two drinks and slowly edged one across the table towards me. The INSTANT it went over the halfway line some jumped up little gobshite popped up - "Excuse me....SIR, is that YOU'RE drink?". If I'd had me cavalry saber with me, I'd have run him through.

Merka is weird.

[maiforpeace]

I didn't read anywhere they were prohibited from allowing them off the plane. The airport could also be party to the incompetence - they should be prepared to hold people off a plane if any flight can be diverted there.

There is also the question to be asked if VA might have had a choice or asked to be diverted to an airport that is capable of managing passengers on international flights.