After one of Sun Country’s planes was stuck on the tarmac in New York for six hours, the airline announced Sunday that it will allow passengers to deplane after a maximum of four hours (click here for full story). Sun Country will also offer free food on planes delayed longer than one hour. The subject of delayed flights — long the battle cry of proponents of a passenger’s bill of rights — is heating up because the Sun Country delay followed the grueling six-hour, overnight delay of a Continental Express Jet flight at the Rochester airport. Unbelievably, the pilot was unable to persuade a worker at the airport during that long, late night to open up the terminal for the passengers, though passengers from a Delta flight did deplane. More than 600 flights were delayed for three hours or more during the first six months of this year, 278 in June alone.  Sun Country is the first airline to impose such rules on itself (though the Continental problem suggests they won’t always be the ones in control.) Still, I am hoping the bold move will help shake up the debate on the passenger’s bill of rights. The rest of the airline industry has long opposed such firm rules, arguing that deplaning could actually prolong delays (never mind that it would make them more bearable for passengers). Airlines have been restricting our experience onboard: no blankets or pillows, no free food, less space. Isn’t it high time they lay some rules out for themselves in the service of passenger’s benefit? I salute Sun Country for leading the way.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 9:18 am and is filed under airlines, consumer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.