but cafe pacific isn t buying it, its spokesperson says the airline s intention was to say, getting to new york as quickly as possible and we anticipated to have gate space available. so if it s not the airport s fault, who is it? try u.s. customs, noting each of the stranded planes was an international flight, the port authority suggests on the midnight shift there may have been too few officers on duty to clear the passengers through customs. of course a customs spokesperson insists that it wasn t them. a spokesperson saying at no point were customs officials sent home, he said, for flights arriving after midnight there is usually one terminal available, which is always staffed with customs officers. whatever the cause, what about that airline passenger bill of rights that s supposed to limit how much time passengers can sit on a tarmac? well, it turns out there are exceptions. the rules don t apply if there are safety or security reasons passengers should stay on the plane.
well, a lot of you have been stuck on a plane going nowhere fast. this story is just for you. after years of being talked about, it appears that some passengers are starting to get some rights. we had bills making their way through congress, passenger bill of rights, could be approved by the senate. the bill would do some of those things you see there. and none of those options were available at least for our next guest. kate joins us this morning from napa, california. she spent ten hours on a plane that led her to quit her job and take up the cause to form a coalition for an airline passenger bill of rights. she joins us this morning. ma am, thank you for being here. she is joining us via skype this morning. first of all, i guess how has your are you pleased with how your movement has been going? again, you quit your job to take up this cause, so are you happy with the result so far? even though i m broke, i m very grateful to the senate that we are finally going to see a
sent home, he said, for flights arriving after midnight there is usually one terminal available, which is always staffed with customs officers. whatever the cause, what about that airline passenger bill of rights that s supposed to limit how much time passengers can sit on a tarmac? well, it turns out there are exceptions. the rules don t apply if there are safety or security reasons passengers should stay on the plane. and if the flight is operated by an international carrier, the rules don t apply at all. but right now holiday travelers continue to suffer. i sat down with this family, dad, max, and his children, 15-year-old emily and 13-year-old nicholas, were all on that cathay flight from hell. max, let s start with you. you were on the tarmac at jfk for, what, 11 hours? plus the flight time which was more than five hours. so, really, almost 17 hours. that s right. on an airplane. what was the mood like on that
there was a place to put them. it is an airline s responsibility to contact the terminal before bringing in flights and they did not. but cathay pacific isn t buying it. its spokesperson says the airline s intention was to, quote, get passengers as quickly to new york as possible and we anticipated having gate space available. so if it s not the airport s fault, who is it? try u.s. customs, noting each of the stranded planes was an international flight, the port authority suggests on the midnight shift there may have been too few officers on duty to clear the passengers through customs. of course a customs spokesperson insists that it wasn t them. a spokesperson saying at no point were customs officials sent home, he said, for flights arriving after midnight there is usually one terminal available, which is always staffed with customs officers. whatever the cause, what about that airline passenger bill of rights that s supposed to limit how much time passengers can sit