And yes. Vote with your wallet. We do it every time we go to the polls, unless campaigns will no longer include the economy, budgets, or taxes.

Forcing people to stay on a plane for more than three hours is completely unacceptable. I know, because it’s happened to me inumerable times. Imagine being stuck in PHX SkyHarbor, with 110 degree temps outside. The plane was boiling hot inside.

Typo in “we’re going not going to take it lying down…”

Maybe if we wanted to establish justice we should start with the criminals in DC. Perhaps signing them up for the same health care and social security as the rest of us (A full pension is available to
Members 62 years of age with 5 years of service; 50 years or older with 20 years of service; or 25 years of service at any age).

If we wanted to insure domestic tranquility we could start by not treating votes like chips on a poker table (Ben Nelson), and conducting votes at 2 AM in the morning.

If we wanted to provide for the common defense we could turn our cell phones off on an airplane when asked, and not call those responsible for our well being B!TCHES (Charles Schumer).

If we wanted to promote the general welfare we might want to stop Presidents from signing things like The Commodity Futures Trading Act of 2000, which explicitly prevented the regulation of credit derivative swaps, and lined the pockets of DC dirtbags with funds from their lobbiest buddies.

And, If we wanted to secure the blessings of Liberty we might consider why our forefathers left Europe, and conclude that representation without taxation is just as dangerous as taxation without representation.

I prefer all these tings too, That doesn’t mean we have to be corrupt and stupid while doing it!

Except of course if it’s other people’s money.

I guess I prefer the latter.

The problem is that it doesn’t exist either.

Let’s talk about real solutions for real world problems. Utopia is, quite literally, nowhere.

The thing to remember is that the lives and safety of the passengers are in the hands (literally and legally) of the captain and first officer. It doesn’t matter what air traffic control or the airline orders him to do, if the captain declares an emergency, its his call to take what actions are necessary.

Easiest case, you’ve been on a tarmac for hours and you suddenly feel chest pains and your spouse tells the flight attendant you’re having a heart attack. That’s enough for a captain to declare an emergency and state to ground control he’s returning to return to the gate and needs a paramedic waiting there. Ground control has to give his plane precedence over all other traffic to make that that happen.

The airline isn’t supposed to ever discipline a captain or first officer for putting passenger well being above all else, but it ain’t pilots running airlines, its MBAs.

A harder case- the flight has been on the tarmac for hours and might be able to go in an hour, maybe. The captain has to weigh on the one hand the flight attendants coming in to inform him that the toilets are overflowing, the cabin smells like puke and passengers are getting hysterical; on the other hand, he knows the airline will be pissed if a delayed flight turns into a canceled flight. This new regulation will just make it easier for the captain to declare an emergency and go back.

After all the bean counters should appreciate he’s saving them money on fines.

Staying on point, I have been victim of airline nightmares, just like everyone. I don’t enjoy it. I just think it’s a reach to blame it on Wall St. I’ve been following this site during the financial crisis, and found it very informative, but I believe James is now using this captive audience to push his personal agenda (ie. “Do Smart, Hard Working People Deserve To Make More Money?), and it seems as though he now traces the root of every problem back to Wall St. We complained when big banks took aid, we complained when they paid it back……enough alreaday. While not perfect, there is a very strong argument for free markets topping the government on issues such as efficiency and value, and in the end, if you don’t like Continental Airlines, don’t fly them, and don’t buy their stock.