My first thought was "good for you... sue the bastards" for making them sit on the tarmac for seven hours, regardless of what day it was. Then I realized that it was a year ago, and replaced the thought with "get over it!".
Family Files Lawsuit Against Northwest Airlines for Holding Them ``Hostage'' on Airplane Christmas Day
BUSINESS WIRE - December 27, 2001 13:00
PASADENA, Calif., Dec 27, 2001 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Christmas Day this year was a bittersweet experience for the Sheldon family of San Marino, CA. From a positive standpoint, they shared the same joy that countless other families do with respect to the good feelings that emanate from the holidays. Unfortunately, there were many bad memories as well as they reflected on Christmas Day in 2000 when they were forced to endure a seven-hour ordeal when the family was confined on a grounded Northwest Airlines airplane.
At a News Conference held this morning in Pasadena, CA in the offices of their attorneys, it was announced that the Sheldon Family is suing Northwest Airlines, Inc. for False Imprisonment, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Negligence and Breach of Contract. The lawsuit was filed in the San Bernardino Superior Court on behalf of Jeffrey G. Sheldon and his wife, Pamela, as well as their two daughters, Sarah, 17, and Samantha, 14.
According to the Sheldon Family attorneys, Joe Lisoni and Steven E. Weinberger, the lawsuit seeks damages and legal and court costs for the incident which occurred on Christmas Day at Ontario Airport in Southern California when the family was returning from a trip to Hawaii. Mr. Sheldon, one the nation's most prominent attorneys in the field of intellectual property law, had taken his family to Hawaii for a brief vacation to visit his oldest daughter in law school and to speak to a lawyers' group on patent law.
Lisoni reported that the Sheldon Family departed from Honolulu National Airport on Christmas Eve of 2000 on Northwest Airlines Flight 936 and was due to arrive at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in the early hours of Christmas morning. When LAX was fogged in, the airplane was diverted to Ontario Airport where it stayed on the tarmac waiting supposedly for the fog to lift at LAX. After a couple hours, he said many of the passengers -- including the Sheldons -- requested to leave the airplane to seek alternative means of travel to their destination.
Approximately seven hours after landing at Ontario Airport, Northwest Airlines' officials allowed the passengers to leave the airplane, Lisoni noted. The Sheldon Family drove to their San Marino home where, after 24 hours without sleep, they went to bed. "When most people were opening their presents, having lunch or visiting with their loved ones, the Sheldons were sleeping and trying to recover from their ordeal," he pointed out, adding: "that is not how they wanted to spend Christmas."
During the News Conference, Weinberger reported that Northwest Airlines has an Airline Customers First Service Plan which addresses this type of situation. The plan, he said, mandates that when an aircraft has not reached the gate one-hour after landing, the Captain is required to activate the company's Event Recovery Plan. This plan, he added, calls for the movement of the airplane to a gate or other location where the passengers can immediately deplane.
Weinberger emphasized that the Sheldon Family had spent nearly a year seeking redress from Northwest Airlines for their ordeal without any success. This, he said, in spite of the fact that in response to the airline industry adopting a voluntary code of conduct, Northwest Airlines mandates compensation if passengers sit on the tarmac more than two and one-half hours.
At the News conference, Mr. Sheldon commented: "As it was this year, every Christmas Day in the future for my family and I will be a reminder of this terrible experience. The sad part is that is was so senseless. It took nearly seven hours for them to let us deplane when we should have been let off after the first hour or two. Let's be thankful that Santa Claus doesn't travel by Northwest Airlines or there would be a lot of unhappy children in this world." |
