“Gov’t offers little help for stuck air passengers”

Gov’t offers little help for stuck air passengers – Yahoo News
A federal task force approved voluntary guidelines Wednesday for airlines and airports dealing with passengers stranded for hours on the tarmac but produced no fixed limit on how long they can be delayed before being allowed to leave planes.

Passengers who had hoped for stronger protections were left empty-handed by the guidelines.

…

The task force report recommends that:

_Airlines update passengers delayed on tarmacs every 15 minutes even if there is nothing new to report.

_A secure room be provided for passengers from diverted overseas flights so they can avoid having to go through security checks when reboarding an aircraft to their final destination.

_When practical, refreshments and entertainment should be made available to passengers confined aboard aircraft awaiting takeoff.

_Airlines should make reasonable efforts to be keep airplane restrooms usable.

…

Ruden said his main objection is that the task force does not ask Peters to require airlines and airports to develop contingency plans.

I must say, I’m pretty disappointed. Those are not exactly the sweeping reforms I was looking for. Here’s to 2009 being another interesting year for the air travel experience.