Elvis has left the building. If by “Elvis,” we mean the entire flight crew of a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Sydney, and if by “building,” we mean a Boeing 747 full of passengers who just spent over 14 hours in flight.
Passengers on a United Airlines Boeing 747 endured a horrendous 27-hour journey from San Francisco to Sydney yesterday, when their flight was left stranded on the tarmac at Brisbane Airport - without a crew. Fog in Sydney forced the diversion of two United flights to Brisbane early yesterday. But passengers on both aircraft were left to fend for themselves when their United crews clocked off, having exceeded their legal flying hours. (link; emphasis mine)
So let’s get this straight: The plane gets diverted due to weather, the crew goes over their legal time limit, exits the plane, and leaves the passengers locked inside, with no assistance??
Sounds like the modern-day equivalent of “Lord of the Flies.”
Rules? Pfft! With no Leviathan to control the atavistic masses, life onboard devolved to the state of nature. Economy class passengers pillaged first class, spreading themselves wide in the motorized “suites” up front and helping themselves to the few remaining hot nuts. Lavatory smoke detectors were tampered with. Seatbacks and tray tables were kept at partial, not full, upright positions. Exact change was neither necessary, nor appreciated.
Well, maybe not. It’s a testament to the patience of passengers that we’re not reading such stories of onboard revolution.
But honestly, if the crew can be let off the plane, why can’t the passengers? Even if immigration wasn’t prepared for such an influx of cranky flyers (no relation), couldn’t they have let people out and kept them in a waiting room?
Perhaps we’ll hear about an Australian passengers’ bill of rights soon. How fitting that an American carrier would be the one to set that ball in motion.
Thanks to reader Rob M. for the link!
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May 15th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
It was widely reported here in Oz.
The passengers could have left but would have lost their duty free booze.
Being diggers, that was not on.
The crews eventually shoved the booze in the hold in a sealed case with notes on who owned what and the passengers disembarked.
-TF
May 15th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
I was trapped in a United flight out of Tokyo for 3 hours last Summer. The flight was delayed due to bad weather.
Although the crew remained on board, passengers were not allowed to leave their seats, and the crew even refused to serve water !
United needs to learn about Customer service.
May 16th, 2007 at 8:21 am
Unreal and shameful. Airlines need to learn that this is totally not acceptable.
How long were these passengers left on the plane alone and stuck?
If something like this ever happened to me the airline would loose a passenger for life.
May 16th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Do we know for sure that the Crew was let off the airplane? The way I read the story, the crew went off the clock, but I don’t get the impression that United left a B747 full of passengers alone with zero supervision — what would have stopped passengers from deploying the escape slides?
What seems more likely is that the flight crew couldn’t fly any further due to union/FAA regulations, so the passengers, who couldn’t deplane (thank you Brisbane Customs agents) and the plane’s crew were likely all trapped on board.
It’s easy to ding the airlines for things like this, but what could United have done differently?
May 16th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
“Diggers” ??
May 16th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Diggers = Australian soldiers.
TierFlyer is right: Passengers *could* have gotten off the plane (though not right away) but many didn’t, because it would have meant sacrificing their duty free.
http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=409cb732-cf04-41a3-bf4e-4de097fa896e
That’s pretty hard core dedication to your booze.
But why couldn’t they have simply left their carry-ons on board and left the plane to stretch their legs and wait for their continuation flight to Sydney? The rules requiring carry-on confiscation seem pretty asinine.
May 18th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
United really does suck. Apparently they had a flight that blew out a wheel from Sydney 2 weeks ago and despite cabin crew begging to turn back they carried on as the 2 frst officers allegedly had plans at home! The plane apparently had a ruotured fuel tank and was forced to divert only just making Honolulu.
Goodbye United, your service sucks and when you play roulette with passenger lives my only regret is you didn’t go bely up during chapter 11.
Disenchated and now safer ex 100,000 a year UAL flyer.
May 23rd, 2007 at 10:29 am
Please add a link back to the original photo. Thanks!
http://flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/483372038/
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Peter, The image is already credited to the link you provide, as it has been since the post went live. See the image credits at the bottom of the post.
May 29th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Sorry again - it was hard to see!