WASHINGTON (AP) — After nearly a year of studying how to assist airline passengers delayed for hours, a federal task force has finalized its recommendations, and none of them requires airlines or airports to do anything differently.
The tarmac task force, as it is informally known, is expected to vote Wednesday to adopt a report that includes guidelines for airlines and airports on how to craft their own contingency plans for dealing with lengthy tarmac delays.
One problem is the task force was unable to agree on how to define lengthy.
Task force member Kate Hanni, who founded a passenger rights coalition, says there is nothing in the document that requires airlines or airports to provide additional services for passengers stranded aboard airplanes going nowhere.