>Obviously if you're at 10K feet, and ask to get out, reasonably the airline cannot comply. But if you're sitting on the tarmac of an airport, there's no reason

>Obviously if you're at 10K feet, and ask to get out, reasonably the airline cannot comply. But if you're sitting on the tarmac of an airport, there's no reasonable argument for why they cannot de-board people after a two or three hour delay. It fails the reasonableness test. Here's a quote, I found, describing the 2009 Rochester incident. The flight was re-routed due to thunderstorms, landed at 1230AM, and the airport was closed. With the airport closed and thunderstorms, I wonder if safety was a concern. > Continental Express Flight 2816 was en route from Houston to Minneapolis carrying 47 passengers when thunderstorms forced it to divert to Rochester, where it landed about 12:30 a.m. The airport was closed and Mesaba Airlines employees — the only airline employees at the airport at the time — refused to open the terminal for the stranded passengers.[...]In the morning they were allowed to disembark. They spent about two and a half hours inside the terminal before reboarding the same plane to complete their trip to Minneapolis. [0] http://www.nbcnews.com/id/34127317/ns/travel-business_travel/t/dot-fines-airlines-six-hour-tarmac-delay/ http://www.nbcnews.com/id/34127317/ns/travel-business_travel...