If you read down this story, you’ll note that Joe Scarborough of MSNBC’s Scarborough country was held hostage on the tarmac for nine hours.  I didn’t happen to catch his show tonight but it’ll be interesting to see if he has any more to say about that experience as things go along.  The article doesn’t specifically say, but from context a couple of paragraphs later, it sounds like it may have been American Airlines.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17145277/

There was also Jet Blue flight that a reporter from CNBC’s On the Money was stuck on for 9 hours on the tarmac.  This seems to be getting worse and worse without some kind of action from lawmakers.  Bad weather or not this is unacceptable behavior from Jetblue and American Airlines to leave passengers as prisoners for so many hours. 

Rep. Michael Thompson, a California Democrat, said on Thursday he planned to introduce a bill that would address delayed flights, time on the tarmac, cancellations, and lost or damaged luggage.

We are glad to see a lawmaker finally standing up for peoples rights who are stuck on an airplane.  I think as this thing gets more and more publicity and it happens to more of us we will be against the airlines attempt to fix this problem themselves.  They have failed so far and it will take lawsuits or federal laws to make sure this doesn’t happen again.  If you do not think we need something like this passed then I advise you to go sit on a plane headed to Australia and just look out the window and pretend you see the airport tarmac the entire time and also pretend there is no running water, overflowing bathrooms, screaming babies, and then breathe into a taco bell bag for the entire time for that horrible sense of smelly-stale air.