Long tarmac delays at Kansas City this week and at JFK last month raise questions
Back in 2009, strict tarmac-delay rules were put into effect by the Department of Transportation (DOT). After allowing the airlines to have almost a decade to solve the problem of tarmac delays that lasted more than three hours, DOT fixed the problem with hefty fines and new rules.
Today, newspapers are full of stories about tarmac delays again. Last month, there was a situation where scores of planes were kept on the tarmac and passengers could not deplane for as much as seven hours.
According to air travel tracking service Flightradar 24, dozens of planes had the same issues after landing. At midnight, it posted a screen shot of ground traffic at the airport showing what appear to be several dozen planes sitting in apparent waits for gates.
“After landing 3.5 hours ago, #DY7019 awaits a gate. Unfortunately for passengers at JFK tonight, they have plenty of company,” the service tweeted.
Later, the airline said the plane made it to a gate after 4 hours — and after circling the entire airport.
“We were on the plane for four hours, which is longer than the flight itself, and then we had to wait another three or four hours for our bags to come in,” said one passenger.
In one case, passengers had flown a 14-hour flight from China only to arrive and sit on the tarmac for nearly seven more hours waiting for a gate.
Only yesterday, a similar problem came up in Kansas City when Delta had problems with icy conditions and deicing procedures.
Several Delta flights were delayed for hours, leaving hundreds unable to take off from Kansas City and hundreds more unable to deplane in Kansas City because of icy runways and gates.
Debbie Meyer was just one of the many frustrated passengers. In fact, the KC resident wishes her Delta flight back home would have stayed in Atlanta.
“They should not have let us leave,” she said. “They should have held us there [at the terminal] instead of holding us on the runway for three hours.”
The answer is yes. The current tarmac-delay rules are an example of airline regulation done effectively. Prior to the DOT rules, there were sometimes as many as 600 or more flights that experienced tarmac delays of more than three hours every year. After the rules and the threat of multimillion-dollar fines, the number of flights delayed on the tarmac each year can be counted using two hands. That is before the recent problems at JFK and Kansas City.
Both of these recent tarmac-delay situations seem to be one-off events. The JFK situation was unique because of weather conditions combined with a system where terminals at JFK are owned by different companies. They had not created a cooperative agreement that would have allowed flights to use gates at other terminals. Where some international passengers were waiting for more than seven hours aboard aircraft, other passengers had no problems and some terminals had open gates during the entire debacle.
New protocols are being impiemented right now to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
What should consumers do when faced with tarmac delays?
If a traveler finds themselves in a tarmac-delay situation, make sure to complain directly to the airlines. Many times airlines will provide a bonus of frequent flier miles for travelers affected by tarmac delays. The other action that all travelers should take is to fill out the DOT Complaint form and send it to DOT. This is the main way that DOT’s enforcement office knows of the extent of tarmac delays and can assess fines appropriately.
Fines for the airlines are hefty, some of the strongest assessed by DOT. Unfortunately, the passengers stuck on these planes for hours on end get no compensation mandatated by governrnent rules. Travelers United is working to change that.
In the case of tarmac-delay rules, DOT has the power to assess giant fines and they do. That has made the tarmac-delay rules one of the most feared regulations instituted by DOT. Let’s keep it that way.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 11 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
