Profile: jonathanaldrich
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What's Happening Now
June 26, 2010 5:43 pm
Thank you for your comment. What do others think of the proposition that strong penalties will be more effective than contingency plans?
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Yes, there should be a uniform federal time limit on tarmac delay. This should apply to all planes that take off or land from US airports: all US flights, foreign flights, and even “flyover” planes that make an emergency landing. It should apply even to flights of fewer than 30 passengers. To me, having contingency plans is not as important as a strong penalty for delaying passengers; I think that is enough of an incentive/deterrent.
I strongly support plans that would allow delayed international passengers to deplane when the delay is sufficiently long.
I would like to see evidence that peanut dust on airplanes has actually caused problems before the DOT takes action. If there is such evidence, I think that allowing sensitive passengers to make an advance request for a peanut-free flight is a sensible balance between a light regulatory touch and accommodating the real needs of passengers at risk.
In fact, if I were an airline executive, I simply wouldn’t serve peanuts to avoid the problem–but there is a difference between good airline policy and what belongs in a hard-and-fast rule; the latter should be evidence-based and do the minimum required to solve the problem.