D.C. 'strand-in' calls for airline passenger protections

[struggle4progress]

By MARILYN GEEWAX
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/19/07

Washington — Airline passengers fed up with long waits on the airport tarmac held a "strand-in" on the National Mall on Wednesday to push lawmakers to give them more rights.

Protesters, joined by tourists, piled inside a 28-foot-long canvas "fuselage" designed to re-create the sounds and smells of a long-delayed flight. As a tape played the wail of a cranky baby, the dozens of "passengers" scrunched up their noses in response to outhouse odors produced by a novelty product.

Organizer Kate Hanni said she was subjected to such smells during a nine-hour delay at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas last December on an American Airlines flight ...

Hanni and more than 18,000 supporters who have signed a petition she created are demanding that lawmakers require airlines to return to the gate after delays exceeding three hours, provide frequent updates about delays, and give stranded passengers food and water ...

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/business/stories/2007/09/19/AIR_TRAVEL20_0919.html

[Mojorabbit]

1. Cool

I am claustrophobic and it took everything I had not to lose it when my plane sat on a tarmac for almost three hours with the air circulation off. There is no reason for this kind of customer service.