German passengers sue BA pilot

Best not to keep the Germans waiting. Seems that some disgruntled passenger on BA flight from Berlin phoned the police because of the delay.


Full story here.

7 hours? I'd be fecking disgruntled too. That's just stupid.

dumb idiot, he'll be black listed by every airline captain. hope he likes trains.

Jebus on a cheese cracker. If this flies, do I get to sue LH for the nearly 7 hours I spent on the runway at Logan last year.

7 hours is a bit much, granted. But they would have been entitled to some compensation anyway.

Just to clarify, I think it was stupid to keep the passengers on the plane for 7 hours.

yes but if they'd have taken them all off i'm sure Ingo "never to be allowed on a plane again" Q would have complained like shit about that too. anyway its the airport who are to blame. the control tower gives the go ahead or not. the captain just has to sit there and wait for the orders.

Hmm. Wonder if BA are trying to get around the new eu passenger delay regulations...

Ingo Q. Stupid bloody name anyway

And Ingo and his missus were only on the plane for 5hrs 48 minutes.

Interesting though, "Police boarded the plane and Ingo Q. ran forward and screamed "I want to get out of here.". They probably should have shot him.

Gideon, I doubt he would have complained. I was stuck once on a flight where we sat on the tarmac for 2.5 hours, doing nothing. No drinks, no food, no chance to walk around, we had to stay seated. Another couple hours of that, I would have felt like a hostage too.

of course he would have complained. we all know the type. i've been stuck on the tarmac for three hours before because of snow. it's what god invented books for. snuggle up and read.

Right. I want to see you next time it happens to you and the family. You are talking out of your ear.

bid difference my dear between me and wife being stuck on a plane, as in the case of Herr Q here, and the family being stuck on the plane. but after my last experience of flying (and the lack of child orientated service) i would have enough activities in my bag to keep 'em occupied for hours. anyways even if i reached breaking point, which i dont in a plane as 1. i cant fly the thing so i might as well relax and 2. screaming at the flightcrew does not make a plane fly any faster or quicker, i would be polite to the staff and not ring the police like some wanker obviously thought was the best thing to do.

With fastened seat belts? "Please stay seated" was the order of the day the last time I was stuck for hours (okay so it was only 1 1/2 hours) in a plane on the taxiway because of snow. Makes it hard to have a piss too.

The guy actually made the phone call to the police after 4 and half hours on the plane.

Ring the cops from the plane - top effort! I guess they were lucky they weren't heading to Australia...then it would have been 19 hours in the plane. 7 hours is bloody ridiculous. I reckon Pootle is onto something - last year we were dumped off several planes (after boarding) due to snowstorms, and the flight was cancelled. Seems odd that the same did not happen in this case. Travelling in winter... Happy happy joy joy...

Unavoidable delays such as weather are covered by the airline insurance policies so no reason why that should happen.

The reason why they do this is so that the plane can leave as soon as possible once they get the all clear and there is a security issue as well. And the other issue is, of course, over-crowding in the actual airport.

7 hours is a little steep. I bet that plane was not the only one in that situation though

Worked at Stansted for a few months as a student, and have had to deal with similar situations - once a plane has been pushed back from the stand it's bloody tricky to get it back onto the stand - if it's taxied out to the runway you can more or less forget it - it's pretty tricky to pull a plane through snow, and if the only route back to the terminal is via the runway that's not a good option - what if it gets stuck in the snow on the runway? I know it's a shitty situation, but get over it - things like this happen from time to time. If you go back to the terminal, you have to disembark the passengers from a fully fuelled aircraft too, and that might cause issues under German CAA rules.

Should count themselves lucky - by far and away the worst I saw was a baggage trolley crash into a BAe 146, and the driver of said trolley try and keep it quiet - pilot reckoned that if nobody had noticed and he'd flown with a big gash in the nose of the aircraft, the skin of the plane would have peeled off at speed, and potentially caused a crash.

I know the time I was stuck in the plane, we were still at the gate.

I appreciate there are reasons for plane delays, a lot of them to do with saftey. For the most part, I think most people deal with it. But 7 hours is just taking the piss.

What's the betting this guy is a smoker?

He's certainly a wanker.

I would be IRATE if I were on a plane for 7 hours. That should go under cruel and unusual punishment...especially for those poor souls stuck in the middle seats.

Don't agree one should just sit tight and play nice. 2 hours MAX would be acceptable. If it is looking like they aren't going to be taking off for a while then get them off the plane.

Hope he wins the case, as I would never want to be put in that position.

So you consider the Captain a criminal for that? I think that's a bit strong...

Some things to do the next time you're on the tarmac waiting for the plane to take off...

Pinch the stewardess' butt as she passes.

When two people kiss in the in flight movie, belch real loud.

When there's any nudity, hoot really loudly for a few minutes.

Fart loudly and act shocked, looking around to see who did it.

Fiddle around with the emergency exit, then ask a fellow passenger if he has a crowbar.

Hijack the cockpit and, over the loudspeaker, announce that the first class passengers and luggage are to switch places.

Run down the aisle screaming, "He's got a bomb! He's got a bomb!".

Go into the bathroom and make rude bodily noises, then come out looking refreshed.

"Accidental" soda spill on the dork next to you.

Give someone a coin, saying "Heads, I detonate the bomb. Tails, I don't".

Go into the bathroom, drop your pants, then come out, yelling "We're out of toilet paper! Stewardess!".

Describe your sex life in great detail to the five-year-old next to you.

Lead a bible study session in the back of the plane.

Start a hot dog stand.

Steal businessman's laptop, play solitaire on it.

Remark that perhaps you shouldn't have put super glue in your underpants that morning.

Pick your nose and pat the person next to you.

Show off your Batman underwear.

Switch accents and see if anyone notices.

Sneak into the cockpit and hit the warning alarm.

Scratch your butt, then sniff your finger.

Go into the cockpit, flick on the intercom light, then loudly inquire as to why the fuel dial says "e".

Go into the cockpit, ask the pilot in an obnoxious voice "Why do they call it the COCKpit?" then snort as if it's the funniest thing in the world.

Don't use deodorant, then "accidentally" stick your armpit in someone's face.

Sneeze, using somebody's sleeve instead of your hand to cover it.

Snort when you laugh.

Tell corny jokes and laugh like it's absolutely hilarious, then expect others to do the same.

Ride carry-on luggage down the aisle, yelling "Yeee-ha!".

With a desperate look, ask the stewardess where the bathroom is, then look relieved and say "Never mind. Do you have any towels?".

Jump up and scream "AAAHHH!! I left the stove on!!".

Ask someone for their autograph, pretending that you think they're Kevin Costner or Goldie Hawn (This best then the person looks nothing like the movie star in question)

If someone has a bad toupee, whack it off.

Pretend you're flying the plane.

Get some rub-on tattoos and a leather jacket, pretend that you belong to a biker gang.

Take over the plane with a toy gun.

Yell to someone "Is it time to hijack the plane yet?" (Note: Do this when there are stewardess nearby).

To the person next to you, say "It's amazing that they didn't notice the grenade in my luggage.

Depends if he had a backpack.

@Jimbo: No I personally wouldn't have sued the pilot, I would have sued the airport and/or the airline. I would sue whoever made the decision to keep people hostage on a plane for 7 hours.

And I have never sued anyone in my life, and am not a litigious person.

But that is ridiculous. Someone is responsible for having a realistic back up plan because of weather and things beyond ones control. I would never bitch and moan if stuck in an airport for 7 hours because of weather (and it has happened to me), that is just life. But people can get sick sitting in a plane for so long.

I agree with Gemini: 7 hours stuck having to stay seated, with seatbelts on, is really ridiculous. Especially when the flight your scheduled for is only 2 or 3 hours max. Flights that short always have the crappiest and smallest seats anyway, and normally they aren't prepared for serving up meals. Comparing that to an expected flight to Australia is just not possible: during even a long normal flight (and an overseas one at that) you can at least walk around a bit and the seats are usually a bit more comfy. Seriously- who the hell plans for a 10 hour flight when its Germany-London? Most people wouldn't have brought their own food or entertainment for a flight like that!

and you know they weren't serving alcohol!!! Didn't want the passengers to start getting fiesty under the influence.

BBC Version

So the plane had left the stand at some point as it was called back after the phone call.
And by my calculations it was 'only' 4 1/2 hours before they phoned.

As the spokesman says, Berlin is busy, so if the plane was held up at the de-icing and the stand it had left was filled with an incoming plane, just exactly where was Ingo going to go?

That all said, I would be pissed off if I was told I could not get off the plane as I had more than hand luggage!

It would be quite interesting to see if the airline could prosecute / counter sue the guy for using a mobile phone when he was in the plane...

@kitty-kat & gemini

In Germany you can't sue a company, Only an individual, hince why there going after the pilot. The same type of thing happend after the
Enschede ICE Crash in 2002.. The couldn't sue DB so they went after 3 people (2x DB Maint Workers 1x a Thyssen-Krupp Manager)

Oh how crap is that! Not that I think it would be much better for Germany to become the sue-happy hell of the US, but requiring someone to sue an individual sure does put a huge disadvantage on the average joe who's been screwed by a big company!

It would be much much worse with kids just behind you screaming incessantly, running up and down the isle, kicking and shaking your seat and a mother who could not at all control them (like I had recently for only 2 hours flying back from the UK - GRRR!!)

Which is why the crash victim’s families were super pissed off at the courts for not invoking a special order
that would have allowed direct suing of DB. Because this didn't happen they couldn't collect $$ from
anybody. In the end DB made payoffs of 30k DM for each victim. DB got of cheap (esp at todays prices).
Including all costs after the accident DB has paid out a total of 2million Eur for their faults and
mismanagement.

If you want the full info on the accident, have a look on Sky for a program called
"Seconds from disaster - DERAILMENT AT ESCHEDE" on the National Geographic Channel.

NG - Seconds From Disaster Homepage

(a) of course you can sue a company in Germany; don't know if there were certain reasons to sue individuals in the given cases, but of course you can sue companies - how would you, e.g., make them keep contracts if you couldn't? (maybe sueing because of a crime is more likely to be successful when sueing the individual who is suspected to have committed it than sueing the company (s)he works for - dunno)

( b ) how is it possible nobody commented jellyone's list which would keep me amused for hours if I was caged in a plane? Almost needed a towel while reading "With a desperate look, ask the stewardess where the bathroom is, then look relieved and say "Never mind. Do you have any towels?" " and some others.

Funny that, seeing as my Air Canada flight to Toronto last year (Dec. 22) was delayed for 3+ hours on the ground in Munich because of a variety of things, weather, poor planning, no idea. After sitting at the gate for what seemed like, well, forEVER, we finally left the gate and taxied to the runway. Suddenly the purser started asking over the intercom if there was a doctor on board - it turns out that some guy started to get a nosebleed. After the flight attendants couldn't stop it, they turned the plane around and we taxied back to the gate, where the EMTs came on board and took the guy off. Then, of course we had to wait even longer until they found his luggage. So, it seems that they can turn around pretty easily. I guess it probably depends on the capacity/usage of the airport and how many free gates they have at one time. I think that MUC has a fair amount of space, if you count "off-gate" parking spaces, where they can bus people in to the terminal. Dunno. Strangely enough, on the way back from Toronto the purser was again asking for a doctor, because some guy passed out in the middle of the flight. Moral of the story? Air Canada makes you sick. Or at the very least their ancient 767s do. No better than US Airways, really.

And to your second point, this very thing just happend in North America with Alaska Airlines - the baggage cart driver didn't tell anyone and the fuselage of the plane ripped open near the wing and they had to make an emergency landing. The plane depressurized and all of the passengers had to put on the lovely yellow masks. No one was injured, luckily.

How is this the pilot's fault? Am I missing something? Generally the pillot cannot do shite on the ground without the go ahead from the tower.

I would be livid if this was me but I have been through hell and back in planes, cabins on fire over LA, nose of plane struck by lightening, luggage theft, emergency landing in nowhere Minnesota, but nonetheless, 7 hours in a plane waiting for take off, well I think that would top even my list. One of my top 3 pet peeves is waiting in an airport of plane for that matter.

One thing for sure, I do think this guy was a smoker.

But, are we sure he was German and not American?!