Some Thoughts on the Virgin Atlantic Delay

My guess is that if you follow travel news at all, then you've most likely heard about the Virgin Atlantic tarmac delay earlier this week. Flight 001 from London Heathrow to Newark diverted to Hartford due to the thunderstorms in the New York area. So the plane sat. For a few hours.

But regardless, passengers were (understandably) not very happy people. I can't say I can blame them, especially because supposedly the air conditioning onboard was not functioning. Eventually Virgin just gave up and let everyone deplane.

Long ground delays have been a hot topic lately, especially after the DOT banned tarmac delays longer than three hours. This Virgin incident does not violate that new rule as it does not apply to foreign carriers. The DOT has investigated doing something for international carriers, though, and I can't help but think that this incident might accelerate the process.

But will a government rule really do a whole lot? Not really. I know it sounds like common sense, but airlines never want to divert. Virgin really doesn't have a whole lot of control over the weather, and is at a disadvantage compared to domestic flying. Since they're flying seven-hour-ish trans-Atlantic flights, there still might not be a good prediction for weather.

So a rule really won't change diversions. Another option is to cancel but that's not a viable option either, since that means the  return flight gets canceled. When you're dealing with transatlantic routes that might only have one or two frequencies per day, that can be very annoying. Another issue for dealing with international flights is the need for customs officers. Again, not something the airline has a lot of control over.

But Virgin is in control of how the delay is handled. Naturally the air conditioning should have been working. I'm not sure what happened onboard, but in general it would be a good rule to start serving beverages pretty quickly, and make sure everyone is informed.

Either way, I don't see a new government rule doing a whole lot here.