Delays on the Tarmac Continental Airlines flight 2816 left Houston, Texas at 9:23 P.M. on a Friday evening bound for Minneapolis/St. Paul. Due to thunderstorms in that area, the plane was tion. It landed there at 12:28 A.M. Saturday, and was southenst of the original destinnthe terminal building, for nearly six hours before thept on the ground, 50 yards from off the plane and go inside the terminal at 6:30 that passengers were allowed to get 2009,p,3A). The aircraft was a small jet with 50 seats. It was crowded with 49 passengers and two babies who had to be held because there were not enough seats. As might be expected. conditions rapidly deteriorated. The babies and younger children cried, the toilet overflowed, the air became stagnant and smelly, and the adults grew first concemed, then frustrated and finally outraged-all without result. One passenger, a professor at a law school in St. Paul, described his reaction: "You're numb throughout the experience, and you almost don't know what's happening to you" (Ibid., p. 3A). A spokeswoman for Express Jet, which operated the airplane under contrnct for Continental, later explained that due to the very late arrival, the airport did not have cnough people on duty to allow the passengers to deplane safely and get to the nearby building. The airport manager, however, disputed that. He said that the personnel at Rochester were experienced at handling diverted flights and that an adequate staff was present to readily transfer the passengers. The spokeswoman for Express Jet also said that the passengers were encouraged to get off the plane and go into the airport as soon as government security personnel reported for duty at 6:00 A.M. But the airport manager also disputed that statement. He explained that the government security officials had actually arrived at 4:30A.M., but that their arrival time was irrelevant. The passengers, he continued, could have been kept within the protected area of the terminal, where restrooms, vending machines, and comfortable seats were readily available, so that further security processing would not have been needed. A spokeswoman for Continental Airlines, which had contracted for the Express Jet flight, later explained that her airline had a policy to let passengers off flights after a three-hour delay, and that what had happened was unacceptable. Continental, she continued, would offer all passengers a refund for their tickets and a certificate for future flights. Delays on airport tarmacs, with the passengers confined to their planes, are not all that unusual. The USA Today news story that serves as the basis for this case claimed that over the nine-month period from October 2008 to June 2009 , there had been 686 delays of three to four hours, 156 of four to six hours, and 13 of more than six hours for a total of 855 delays.The New York Times, in a follow up story dated August 14, 2009, explained that legislation requiring airlines to return passengers to the gate af.

1. Delays on the Tarmac Continental Airlines flight 2816 left Houston, Texas at 9:23 P.M. on a Friday
evening bound for Minneapolis/St. Paul. Due to thunderstorms in that area, the plane was tion. It
landed there at 12:28 A.M. Saturday, and was southenst of the original destinnthe terminal
building, for nearly six hours before thept on the ground, 50 yards from off the plane and go inside
the terminal at 6:30 that passengers were allowed to get 2009,p,3A). The aircraft was a small jet
with 50 seats. It was crowded with 49 passengers and two babies who had to be held because
there were not enough seats. As might be expected. conditions rapidly deteriorated. The babies
and younger children cried, the toilet overflowed, the air became stagnant and smelly, and the
adults grew first concemed, then frustrated and finally outraged-all without result. One passenger,
a professor at a law school in St. Paul, described his reaction: "You're numb throughout the
experience, and you almost don't know what's happening to you" (Ibid., p. 3A). A spokeswoman
for Express Jet, which operated the airplane under contrnct for Continental, later explained that
due to the very late arrival, the airport did not have cnough people on duty to allow the passengers
to deplane safely and get to the nearby building. The airport manager, however, disputed that. He
said that the personnel at Rochester were experienced at handling diverted flights and that an
adequate staff was present to readily transfer the passengers. The spokeswoman for Express Jet
also said that the passengers were encouraged to get off the plane and go into the airport as soon
as government security personnel reported for duty at 6:00 A.M. But the airport manager also
disputed that statement. He explained that the government security officials had actually arrived at
4:30A.M., but that their arrival time was irrelevant. The passengers, he continued, could have
been kept within the protected area of the terminal, where restrooms, vending machines, and
comfortable seats were readily available, so that further security processing would not have been
needed. A spokeswoman for Continental Airlines, which had contracted for the Express Jet flight,
later explained that her airline had a policy to let passengers off flights after a three-hour delay,
and that what had happened was unacceptable. Continental, she continued, would offer all
passengers a refund for their tickets and a certificate for future flights. Delays on airport tarmacs,
with the passengers confined to their planes, are not all that unusual. The USA Today news story
that serves as the basis for this case claimed that over the nine-month period from October 2008
to June 2009 , there had been 686 delays of three to four hours, 156 of four to six hours, and 13 of
more than six hours for a total of 855 delays.The New York Times, in a follow up story dated
August 14, 2009, explained that legislation requiring airlines to return passengers to the gate after
a three-hour tarmac delay had been considered but not passed by Congress following a 1999
blizzard in Detroit that kept multiple planes on the ground, trapping passengers for seven hours.
This article continued that the "no more than three-hour delay" legislation had been reintroduced in
2006 after snow and ice at Kennedy International Airport in New York left large numbers of planes
stalled and passengers confined for up to 11 hours, and was now-in August 2009 - being
recommended for bi-partisan reconsideration by Senators Boxer (D-CA) and Snowe (R-ME). This
newspaper article concluded by explaining that the Air Transport Association, which represents
the major air carriers in Washington, DC, strongly opposed any hard and fast timeline for returning
to the gate, saying it could have unintended consequences for the passengers, including more
cancellations and further delays. Class Assignment Would you recommend a "hard and fast

2. timeline" for the period that passengers could be held on board a delayed airplane? If your answer
is "no," how would you make that argument as a witness for the defense in a court case where
passengers who had been on Continental Flight 2816 were suing that airline? If your answer is
"yes," what would be that timeline in hours, and how would you make that argument in a letter
supporting the legislation proposed by Senators Boxer and Snowe. Then, think about the following
issues: 1. Why, in your opinion, do the airlines and the Air Transport Association object so strongly
to a time limit for passengers to be held on delayed airplanes? Why has this issue dragged on for
10 years, since the 1999 blizzard in Detroit that kept passengers on board for seven hours? Is not
a compromise possible? 2. Why, again in your opinion, did the senior pilot of the Express Jet,
which operated the Continental flight from Houston to Minneapolis/St.Paul, not get off the plane,
go into the airport, and reach an agreement with the airport manager to get the passengers off the
plane and into the airport?