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Comments (5)
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Save/ShareWe've received a lot of comments on last week's article "8 Things an Airline Would Never Tell You."
One of the points that sparked a lot of debate is this one:
"We wouldn't tell you right away if there's an emergency."
The FAA leaves it up to the airline to decide if the flight crew wants to tell passengers about an engine failure or other significant crisis. And many opt to keep their lips sealed. The reason? Flight crews don't want to scare passengers or say something they'll regret later.
One of the most interesting responses came from reader Mathikat, who said that she really does want to know if there's a crisis on her flight. Here's what she had to say:
I have over almost four and a half million miles on Delta and my husband has over six million miles. We also belong to FF programs on three other airlines. So we travel a lot for business and pleasure. I have been on planes that have been hit by lightning, had an engine go out (but restarted), have dropped unexpectedly in altitude, have gone through two crossing aircurrents and survived severe turbulence. I thank God for competent and skilled pilots who were able to land the planes successfully.My desire is that they stabilize the plane before coming on to tell us what happened.
But make no mistake, I want to be told what happened and what the current situation is. Not knowing makes the imagination go wild.
Flight attendants get a 95 percent rating from me. Only one did something that should never had happened. When we were hit by lightening I was in 1B and she was buckled in her seat. After it happened she said, loudly, "Oh my God, was that a bomb!" I reassured her that it wasn't a bomb and that it was lightning. She was scared but quickly recovered.
Oh heck, we were all scared. In what seemed like a long time but was only a matter of a few minutes the pilot came on to tell us what had happened and that we were returning to Atlanta. Upon deboarding, the pilot, in person, walked through the group to let us know of our new gate assignment and to explain why he and the second officer would not be piloting the plane. What a class act.
[Whether I want to be told about bad news depends on the situation, of course.] I compliment Continental for not telling the passengers that the pilot had died since the co-pilot was okay. I still feel that flying is the safest way to travel.
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Happened to me a month ago doing a Croatia to Paris flight. The pilot took a short cut to shave time off of our itinerary and we ran into some bad weather (lightening, etc). There was quite a bit of turbulence, and then, suddenly, the plane went into a ten second straight freefall. The entire plane screamed, people were vomiting. And at no point during or after this did the pilot or crew comment on, or apologize for the situation. Pretty bad. Then again, maybe they still had the s**t scared out of them........anyone have any idea what could have happened?
Posted By adrian on September 10, 2009, 11:13 AM
I was a passenger on a United Airlines flight from Paris/Charles de Gaulle to Dulles in Wash DC on 9/11. We were about 3 or 4 hours into the flight when the Captain said that there had been an emergency on the US eastern seabord, and that we were being diverted to an airport in Canada. Everyone speculated on what type of emergency had occurred, but we were given no information. While in Paris I had been monitoring on TV the status of a hurricane off the east coast of the US, so my thought was that there had been major storm damage, or strong winds or air traffic control computer outages which prevented our landing on US soil.
It was not until we were on the tarmac in Nova Scotia that the the Captain told us that we could find out what happened if we put on our seat headphones and turned to channel 1, where the BBC news would fill us in. Our onboard radios had not been usable once he had announced the emergency,so we were all shocked and saddened to hear of the Twin Towers attack and collapse. That was an instance where it was better that we had not been made aware while in flight, as panic might have ensued, or my thought much later was that there could have been a terrorist on our flight, in which case it was prudent not to alert anyone of the devastating results of the attacks.
The Captain should use best judgment to tell the passengers what caused the emergency and if the plane and passengers are safe. It is better for the Captain and crew to handle the plane and the emergency than to divert their attention to assuaging the fears of a planeload of people. Once the plane has landed is enough time for explanations, if their company allows that information or if it doesn't violate FAA rules. Once safely on the ground just be grateful.
Posted By Arlene on September 10, 2009, 7:05 PM
I agree with the writer who said inform the passengers when the situation is stabilized and apologize when necessary.
While we were not in the air when our Aug. 2006 flight was leaving Scotland, we were told that a bomb was suspected in London. If we had been advised on the plane why we had to surrender all our carryon luggage and carry only our passports and ID in plastic bags, it would have been a devestating 7 hours over the Atlantic. The real reason was revealed when we heard the news on the way home in the car-suspected bombs to detonate over the Atlantic in a massive terrorist plot. Three people just found guilty of this plot just 2 days ago.
Posted By pat on September 11, 2009, 12:31 AM
I travel fairly often so, I've had several "air event's" over the years. In every country no matter what the situation, The Air Crew has always informed the passangers of critical situations. Perhaps not the details while the crisses were underway,but as soon as the matters were under control,we passengers have always been told.
This includes a Air China flight which lost landing gear while in flight. But, that's another story.
Posted By Vic. on September 14, 2009, 12:21 AM
I will never forget our USAir flight from London to Charlotte. Scheduled to land around 3:00 p.m., we were still airborne 45 minutes later. There was no announcement from anyone; more sinister, the flight attendants had completely disappeared. My husband, a native of the surrounding mountain area, said suddenly to me, " You know we are circling the Brushy Mountains -- you can see it all!" This area was around 90 miles from Charlotte. None of the crew reappeared nor was any announcement ever given. When we finally landed, a ground crew rushed out and immediately began disassembling one of the engines. Although we were quite disturbed, we were more grateful by then to be on the ground in one piece. But I still resent the non-communication.
Posted By Linda Smith on September 19, 2009, 9:59 PM