Ravi, do you know the Nasa policy on flight restrictions around launch times?
Peter King from FMIA laid into Elon Musk this week after Peter's flight was delayed because of a SpaceX launch:
Wednesday, JetBlue Flight 761, LaGuardia to West Palm Beach, scheduled 3:04 p.m. departure.
Delayed departure till 3:35 p.m.
Taxied from the gate around 3:57. Waited in some side area, idling. No announcement.
Around 4:35, captain came on. Said there has been “an unexpected rocket launch” off the coast of Florida. Said, “We were given a re-route, but now we don’t have the fuel to make the re-route, so we have to go back to the gate.”
Second announcement. Said it’s an unexpected Space X launch.
Turns out the rocket was not slated to launch until after our flight was to land in West Palm Beach.
I am not anti-space flight, but I do not understand catering to Elon Musk, giving him a red carpet to do whatever he wants and fly whenever he wants, at the expense of regularly scheduled air travel. We hugely inconvenience the lives of people who have everyday things to do and places to be—who bought airplane tickets with the expectation that they’d be in Florida in time for dinner. Or, in the case of the person sitting next to me, time to make it to a local hospital before visiting hours ended (8 p.m.) to see a sick friend. It was not to be.
Arrival in West Palm: 8:25 p.m.
For the record: 5 hours, 22 minutes, never getting up, wedged into seat 19F. |
