Flyers Demand Bill of Rights

On December 29, of 2006 Kate Hanni was stranded on a tarmac in Austin, TX for more than nine hours on the same day that dozens of United States’ airlines were held up at various airports after bad weather reports halted the flights. After her ordeal Hanni took matters into her own hands by becoming the Executive Director of Flyersrights.org. The group has been lobbying for legislation protecting airline passengers by placing limits on the number of hours passengers can be held on the tarmac and requiring commercial airlines to provide basic necessities for their care and comfort.

Hanni was accompanied by passengers who had experienced similar ordeals when she attended a Senate hearing to expose, what she calls, “ urgent and dangerous” issues that air carriers in the United States are ignoring. In the hearing Hanni presented the airline carriers on a Consumer Report Card that graded airlines based on their tarmac delays of four hours or more. In her Flyers Bill of Rights, Hanni demands that passengers that are kept on the tarmac for three hours or more should be given the right to deplane. Some of the airlines on the report card and their subsequent grades, were Southwest (B), Continental (F), Delta (F), and JetBlue (D). Hanni explained that on average “20% of the passengers on a given flight have compromised health” and “1/7 of Americans has some form of diabetes” and “to keep them on a tarmac for an extended period of time is potentially fatal.”

Among the passengers attending the hearing were those who had sustained blood clots, diabetic shock and other complications as the result of tarmac delays as long as 12 hours. Terry Alkin, was schedule on a 7:40 AM flight to Orlando, FL when he was told the plane needed to de-ice. Subsequently, Alkin and his wife were kept on the tarmac until 4:40 PM. Only once in this time-frame were they offered water, and the air conditioning was turned off so many passengers found it hard to breathe. When they got off the the plane, Alkin explained that his wife had heart complications and he was shaking.

Hanni brought more than ten stories akin to Mr. Alkin’s experience and presented them at the hearing. She expressed that she is “very hopeful that the government will finally pass legislation to protect the fundamental rights of flight passengers.”