Passengers stuck on airplane .. No Customs

[KLLund]

This has been all over our news tonite .. but I thought some of the rest of you would find this travel nightmare interesting.

Customs shortage at PDX turns vacation flight into a nightmare | KATU.com - Portland, Oregon | Video

[grandmato4]

Thanks for sharing the article. What a nightmare for those passengers. One just never knows what is going to happen when one boards an airplane :eek:

[Cruisin' Ron VA]

Something similar happened a while back in CA I think.

 

Thanks for posting.

[lka1012]

While this is horrible for the passengers, don't you wish you could get "stuck" on a ship for several more hours/days?

[UpstateCruizer]

Hmmm as bad as it would be to be stuck on a plane that long I can't imagine this helped "The paramedics went to a local McDonald's and bought enough Big Mac meals for everyone onboard." with being in such close quarters! We call McDonald's a "gut bomb" and would hate to be confined with a plane full of passengers after that meal. Yuk :eek:

[Globaliser]

I don't think I'd have been too bothered about the four hours on the ground at Portland. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt - quite a few times, for various reasons.

 

But I would have been seriously irritated by being flown back to Mexico City, and then hauled to Seattle again. That's the bit that sounds a bit daft.

[kenish]

As someone else commented, the exact same thing happened with an AM flight that diverted from LAX to nearby ONT due to fog. In that case, the airport offered to disembark passengers into a holding area in the terminal but AM turned them down.

 

Several passengers got so angry that airport police boarded the plane and gave everyone an ultimatum, she said: "They gave the passengers the choice to stay on the plane or be arrested."

 

If I were a pax in that situation I would have to mull over that choice...seriously!!

[Cruisin' Ron VA]

While this is horrible for the passengers, don't you wish you could get "stuck" on a ship for several more hours/days?

 

Absolutely.

 

Unlike cruise ships passengers who experienced similar incidents in the past DID NOT have access to food, water or restroom facilities.

[lennel]

Our goverment sometimes it makes you wonder, Criminals have more rights than those passengers, I probably would have went for the arrest. This was not the first time this has happened, and until people stand up for themselves it will happen again.

[vivian02]

You have to admit its hard to find a positive note here....Since the flight had to fly back to Mexico before going on to Seattle I would have made sure I got the extra miles on my frequent flyer's card for this unusual flight. I see where Salt Lake City is fogged in this morning. Tim

[Host Mike]

I probably would have went for the arrest.

 

You know - I was thinking the same thing.

What would the police had done if when they said "everyone sit down or be arrested" - everyone would have stood up?

[JudyOh]

This happened to us several years ago, we were flying from Acapulco to Dallas to Cincinnati in a wide body plane. As we were approaching Dallas we diverted and starting going back up. They had wind problems and this was just weeks after they had that windshear(sp) accident, so we went to Houston, it is not an international airport so we could not get off. We sat on the tarmac for several hours. No one was allowed off except pilots and no one was allowed on. The food and drink cabinets were locked and only immigration officials can unlock them, so not even water. It was not a pleasant scene. This was also the Sat after Thanksgiving, you know what air traffic is like then!! Finally got to Dallas, missed our flight, spent the night flew to Oklahoma then Chicago then home, 48 hours after we were suppose to get there. Almost missed our flight in Chicago, they were holding the door open for us and were taxing before we got seated. If we had missed it I was going to rent and car and drive home!!!

[daisy-mae]

Just wondering if the paramedics paid for the Big Macs out of their own pockets?

If so, then IMHO, that went way beyond the call of duty, and they should be commended (in spite of the choice of food).

[klfrodo]

KIRO radio in Seattle interviewed a lady that was on that flight.

 

Some of the things she said just boggled my mind.

 

1. There were only 35 passengers on the entire plane.

2. Of the 35, she and her husband were the only 2 in 1st class.

3. When the Customs agent 1st came aboard, the 1st thing he said was that he didn't want to call in extra Customs people because they would have to be paid overtime. :eek:

4. When some passengers started getting rowdy, PDX police officers yelled shut up, sit down, or be arrested. (arrest me, this would be a good one for Judge Judy)

 

This whole thing boggles the mind. No wonder airlines want to lobby against a passenger bill of rights.

[daisy-mae]

No wonder airlines want to lobby against a passenger bill of rights.

Since customs officers come under federal jurisdiction, the airlines are just as helpless as the passengers. FAA rules dictate what has to be done in the case of an emergency or inclement weather, and the federal government decides under what conditions passengers will be allowed to disembark.

If anything, a passenger bill of rights would help to strengthen the stand that the airlines could take in defense of their customers.

[cruzegirl]

Yes, this similar situation did happen in California late last year. And it's still BS. There definitely needs to be a passenger bill of rights. Someone needs to stand up for us. It's ridiculous.

[KLLund]

The thing about this that boggles my mind is the sending them back to Mexico City instead of finding a closer US airport (Say San francisco) with customs agents. Hello.. these are US citizens ..

Or if that was not possible .. why didn't they take them to the International area in the terminal and wait for agents to arrive??

From what our news reported the paramedics did pay for the McDonalds and there has been no word on re-imbursement which is not to say there wasn't any. I do think they went above and beyond .. as to the choice of food .. there isn't that much in the PDX area that could have handled it quickly. I think it was great thinking on their parts and they are to be commended.

[lennel]

if you were arrested and the jail was closed and the police had to leave you in the cop car for 10 hours without food or even water, the aclu would jump on this, i still say that when americans stop being sheep, we will have a better country. when the police said shut up all the passengers should have gotten up and been arrested, I think the police could not arrest them or taken them off the plane due to federral regulations. what should have been done if necessary was to bring them into a protected area feed the passengers and then compensate them for goverment stupidity. And oh. yes I was born in America served in the armed forces,and know how big goverment works.

[TravlGrl]

The thing about this that boggles my mind is the sending them back to Mexico City instead of finding a closer US airport (Say San francisco) with customs agents. Hello.. these are US citizens ..

 

Or if that was not possible .. why didn't they take them to the International area in the terminal and wait for agents to arrive??

 

 

I wondered the same thing! Why on earth were the passengers not flown to SFO or LAX or somewhere considerably closer than Mexico City?

 

Regarding the arrest question, I would also have had to think very long about my answer. I would consider being arrested, and as someone already said, what would happened if ALL passengers asked to be arrested? Were they prepared for THAT? They would have then FORCED Customs agents to process them.

[daisy-mae]

I wondered the same thing! Why on earth were the passengers not flown to SFO or LAX or somewhere considerably closer than Mexico City?

 

I believe there is a law that requires airlines to return passengers to their point of origin if they are denied entry into the destination country. That is why, at check-in, the agents insist on seeing every passenger's passport before issuing a boarding pass -- the airlines do not want to be stuck with passengers that they cannot unload.

 

The same principle may have applied in this case -- the aircraft may have had to return to the point of origin and wait until it was cleared to land at the final destination.

[TRacanoUK]

I believe there is a law that requires airlines to return passengers to their point of origin if they are denied entry into the destination country. That is why, at check-in, the agents insist on seeing every passenger's passport before issuing a boarding pass -- the airlines do not want to be stuck with passengers that they cannot unload.

 

The same principle may have applied in this case -- the aircraft may have had to return to the point of origin and wait until it was cleared to land at the final destination.

 

While I can't pretend to know exactly what the law says, I have a feeling you're right in your interpretation. The point that confuses me though is how they could "deny entry" to a U.S. citizen. Immigration officials have no right to deny entry to a U.S. citizen, ever. They can refer them to a secondary "customs" inspection which might turn something up, etc., but they can't deny them entry to the country.

 

That being said, this whole thing just sounds like a giant mess.

[kenish]

The law about returning passengers without correct documentation applies to all carriers, not just airlines. I'm no legal expert, but in the convoluted bureaucratic mind, a native-born American taxpaying citizen is presumably a "nobody" without proper documents...and that's how they can be refused entry.

 

As far as the AM plane returning to MEX (something I missed in the link until I re-read it)....that is pretty absurd of AM; I'm sure the crew was past their legal duty hours by the time they arrived at MEX. If they had to return to Mexico at all, why didn't they fly to Tijuana (30 miles south of SAN)? AM has full facilities and staff at TIJ and it's 2-2.5 hours less flying time from PDX.

[cruiserbryce]

maybe they'll have the same issue at Port of LA when we come back on Sapphire...I will just have to tough it out on board I suppose...but seriuosly...what a horrible experience for those on board...not the way I would like to start or end a vacation

[Globaliser]

I believe there is a law that requires airlines to return passengers to their point of origin if they are denied entry into the destination country. That is why, at check-in, the agents insist on seeing every passenger's passport before issuing a boarding pass -- the airlines do not want to be stuck with passengers that they cannot unload.

 

The same principle may have applied in this case -- the aircraft may have had to return to the point of origin and wait until it was cleared to land at the final destination.

No, that can't be the case, because usually when aircraft have diverted to another airport in the destination country and they can't go on to the original destination immediately, passengers are processed by the authorities at the diversion airport.

 

I've had this happen to me, and I'll bet that all the true frequent flyers on CC have had this as well.

 

That's why I would be a bit perplexed by being flown back to Mexico City. That's what I would be most upset by.

[runnerandme]

I am most surprised if a custom agent came on board, why he did not check the passengers passports and let them off. 35 people is too many to deal with? At least let the ones off with the medical condition that a paramedic had to be called.