FIRST CLASS

Air France pilot asks passengers to chip in for fuel after unscheduled landing in Damascus

(Thanks to KJP)

Comments

[Not My Usual Alias]

I have suggested to my son that when he's on a road trip with friends that if he's riding that he pitch in gas money. If he's driving, riders should pitch in.

Jet fuel is a bit more expensive on a per-tank basis.

[Cheesewiz]

Did the pilot think they could pool the passenger's credit cards, or maybe a couple people had 8 or 9K to throw into the hat?

[Ralph]

Airlines are not filling fuel tanks to save money by decreasing weight, but the planes are still supposed to be able to reach a designated alternate airport. As a result of this incident, future Air France safety routines will include passengers flapping their arms in unison.

[JD]

I don't quite understand why fighting on the road to the Beirut airport was a problem. Was he planning on landing there instead of using the runway?

Quite a series of bad decisions. Exactly what I look for in a pilot.

[nursecindy]

If I was on a plane that landed in Damascus and they wanted money so we could get out of there I would give them everything I had to buy fuel. Including my Walmart credit card.

[Loudmouth]

They left home without their Syrian Express Card.

[Spiny Norman]

Reminds me of an old Craig Shoemaker joke about how cheap Southwest Airlines was: when he asked about the ticket price to (somewhere, I forget where), he said the ticket agent replied, "Ah, just chip in for gas."

[wingnut]

When my daughter was 2 we flew to Houston on TWA. After we bought the tickets we heard they were having financial difficulties but we weren't going to get a refund and hey, what could possibly go wrong. What went wrong was instead of landing in Houston then hopping to the final stop in Dallas, the pilots went straight to Dallas, ran off the plane like it was about to explode and left the Houston destination people stranded at 10:00 pm. Will never, ever as long as I live fly TWA again. Ever.

[LeDud]

At least they didn't ask the passengers (a la AIRPLANE) "Does anyone know how to pilot an airplane ?"

[ScottMGS]

Now, in the 70s they called that "hijacking" and it was a bad thing, if I recall correctly.

[Clankie]

We surrender !

[Ralph]

wingnut: TWA was bought out by American, which recently informed me that my AA "Miles With No Expiration" are going to expire. AA is now bankrupt and under pressure to merge from US Airways, which used to be Allegheny (All-American), Mohawk, etc. If you want to experience TWA's "customer service" today, fly TWA/AA/US = TAWDRY: This Airline Was Despoiled Recently for You.