Held hostage on the tarmac — Episode 2: FlyersRights.org fights back

Reader Mike Harney commented on yesterday's post about the most recent "flight from hell" up in Minnesota last weekend as follows: 

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Twitter's fine if you want to generate a headline or two and some blog entries next day, and maybe feel cool and happenin' and now about your predicament while it's going on, but why not call the Flyers' Rights 24-hour hotline [877-359-3776/877-FLYERS6]? They say they'll do everything they possibly can, contacting the airline and the airport manager and the media, to get you off the plane as quickly as possible. And they seem to have at least a bit of clout, unlike, say, a mob of thousands crowded into the Short Attention Span Theater.

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I decided to feature FlyersRights.org here as soon as I got his comment late yesterday afternoon, so I found today's Washington Post editorial, headlined "Tarmac Torture," lagniappe.

I especially liked the Post's sub-head, to wit: "There's no reason passengers should be held prisoner on grounded planes."

From the editorial: "'Airline passengers have less rights than a prisoner of war per the Geneva Conventions once the door of the plane shuts,' said Kate Hanni on MSNBC's 'Morning Meeting' last week."

Just as it's unlikely passengers will ever again sit quietly while their plane is hijacked, so with involuntarily airline imprisonment on the ground: the more noise that accompanies each attempt to create an onboard Gulag, the less likely it is that such events will recur.

Sunlight — in this case electronic — is indeed the best disinfectant.

Bonus: FlyersRights.org also offers an anonymous tipline: 877-887-2678/877-887-COST.

You could do worse than to add both the hotline and tipline numbers to your phonebook.

I know I just did.