COME FLY WITH ME -- Establishing a Passengers' Bill of Rights

Please consider yourselves forewarned. It happened to me and it can happen to you.

The "it" I am talking about concerns being held captive on a plane against your will and being forced to fly when you would really, prefer not to.

It turns out that this kind of Airline Piracy and related passenger kidnapping is far more common than I could have ever imagined, which is why I am sharing my misadventure here.

My personal saga started when my morning flight to Denver suddenly aborted its takeoff, as it was taxing down the runway. Within minutes, the Captain told us that he had a safety concern, and the plane limped back to the gate.

It took the flight and ground crews two hours to decide that it was safe to fly with a few malfunctioning indicator lights and we were told that we would be taking off in about five minutes.

I would have opted for another flight, and plane, as would have many of the other captive passengers that I spoke to, on and off the plane at the Denver airport. But, again – we didn't have a choice. We didn't have any rights in the situation.

Meanwhile, the party that was meeting me in Denver and driving me to my class in Long Mount was told that my flight had landed on time. Consequently, they believed that I was lost in the massive Denver airport. After two hours of searching for me, and on the verge of leaving without me, they heard an announcement saying that my flight from La Guardia had just landed. Thankfully, they met me at baggage pickup in the Main Terminal as planned. From here, my story takes a very favorable turn and I will discuss the trip and training in my next blog.

I want to ask all of you to stay focused on our lack of rights as passengers. Since returning to NYC, I have learned that my experience wasn't a fluke, and many passengers have dealt with much more extreme conditions. In fact, most commercial airlines routinely keep passengers onboard against their will, in a wide range of situations. Experiences like mine are quite common.

The good news is that there is something you can do about it. There is a way to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our patients or clients.

I am urging you all to be like Mike and sign the on-line petition urging Congress to pass a Passengers' Bill of Rights. Here's the link: www.strandedpassengers.blogspot.com