Group "Outraged" By Latest Ground Holds At AUS

It's become a situation you can bank on: storms over Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport mean stranded jets on the ground in Austin.

Such was the case late Tuesday afternoon, when strong thunderstorms over the DFW metroplex forced several American Airlines flights to divert to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport... leaving passengers stranded in the jets for up to six hours, according to the Coalition for Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights.

PBOR issued the following statement Wednesday from its founder and executive director, Kate Hanni, on reports that passengers aboard the American Airlines flights were trapped for up to six hours -- a situation similar tolast December's grounding of several jets in Austin, that time due to an ice storm at DFW -- with passenger accounts indicating similar instances of food and water quickly running out, as well as intolerable conditions as a result of overflowing toilets.

"On behalf of our 15,000 members worldwide, words cannot begin to describe the outrage and indignation felt after hearing reports of the latest passenger strandings aboard American Airlines jets in Austin.  For the flying public it's deja-vu -- no food, no running water, overflowing toilets that make six hours trapped on a plane an intolerable and unbearable experience. For the airlines, this is just more of the same utter disregard for the flying public and the will of the federal government and Members of Congress who are demanding that the airlines stop lying to passengers and end their deceptive tactics.

"We are encouraged by the Department of Transportation's plan to investigate the airlines' unrealistic scheduling and hiding of delay information. These efforts are necessary to prevent additional passengers from becoming trapped victims aboard airplanes as a result of this chronic problem. The airlines must realize that the federal government and Congress are demanding accountability and taking the necessary steps to protect the flying public.

"We also applaud the DOT Inspector General's efforts to enforce laws requiring airlines to publish information on flights that are 'chronically late'. Airlines must be made to comply with the federal requirements to provide a flight's on-time performance when requested by a customer."

FMI: www.aa.com, www.ci.austin.tx.us/austinairport/