Weekend fliers stuck on jet for hours with no food

I read this news on USATODAY's Blog.



Today In The Sky....


By Ben Mutzabaugh


Weekend fliers stuck on jet for hours with no food, overflowing toilets
American Airlines passengers flying from San Francisco to Dallas ended up being stuck on the same plane for 12 hours Friday. The flight was diverted to Austin and was then stuck on the tarmac for more than eight hours, according to The Dallas Morning News (free registration). The paper said the plane sat in Austin with "no food, dirty toilets and frustration levels rising." The pilot on the flight -– AA Flight 1348 –- declined to give his name to the Morning News, but said the incident was the first time he had encountered such a scenario. "If I had a place to physically put the plane, I would do it," he told the paper.



Passengers, of course, were not pleased about being stuck on the jet. Overflowing bathrooms were among the top complaints. "The bathrooms have gone from a gas station to, 'What's the last concert you've been to?' " said Missouri passenger Andy Welch. For American's part, the airline faced an unusually high number of flight cancellations, diversions and delays Friday because of storms near its Dallas/Fort Worth hub. AA spokesman Andy Backover was quoted by KRISTV Channel 6 of Corpus Christi that he couldn't say for sure why Flight 1348 was kept on the tarmac so long. But he did say AA did its best to get the diverted flight off the ground, adding that the long Austin delay may have been an attempt to wait for a landing opportunity at DFW. "We were holding out hope throughout the day that it would go," Backover said. "That's sort of the way it was all day for our entire system."



http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/2007/01/aa_8_hours.html





Grant it I do not like to bad mouth American businesses but sometimes certain things are allowed to happen and it doesn't make any sense! This is another one that seemed rather ridiculous to me.



In the old days, especially with the international flights, the airlines would allow the passengers to go down to the loung and they also provide a coupon for free drinks and sometimes a free sandwich.



In the good old days one of the aims for the airlines was to provide their passengers with travelling in comfort and to enjoy the total experience.



Nowaday, the airlines just wanted to sell the tickets and get you there on their terms.



I also had a nasty experience with one of the AA Flight Attendant that left a bad taste in my mouth and I refused to fly AA when I can.



I love Thai Airways, the total flying experience is really high on the scale of 1 to 10. I would give them 10 most of the time. All the Flight Attendants are always polite and serve you with a willingness to serve and with a smile. The airline also provide FREE ammenities like, inflight entertainment, top movies, earphone, extra blanket, extra pillow and the steamy hot towels. The Flight Attendant will let you know if there are any empty seats available so that you can go there to laydown and sleep on a long flight. They constantly check if you want any bottle water or orange juice during the flight. They serve wine and cognag FREE with your meal, if you want it. I can go on and on and on...



Except for a business trip to Tokyo, Japan in 2005 which I flew United Airlines from LA to Tokyo. The flights were booked and paid for by the business that I contracted with. It was an OK experience then.


All my other personal trip flights from LA to BKK & back to LA, and within Thailand during the last few years were made with Thai Airways.