Not allowed to leave if plane stops at final destination to refuel....

[ComeGroundWithMe]

Hi,

I'm wondering what the policy is behind this, but last year, a couple of people I knew were on a China Eastern flight from PVG-MEL, and then a connecting flight from MEL-SYD. This was all made in the one booking with either Qantas or China Eastern. The flight from Shanghai had to stop in Sydney to refuel before continuing on to Melbourne, but no-one was allowed to leave, despite the fact that they had SYD as their final destination. So they had to continue on to Melbourne, and then fly back to Sydney...

I can understand the issue of paperwork, but wouldn't it save everyone (including the airline) time to just let all the SYD bound pax out?

 

[samh004]

?They'd have to find the bags too.. the plane would surely be on the ground longer than it needed to be. Perhaps if they work on the plane, as oppose to a diversion, it also attracts additional fees.

 

[JohnPhelan]

As Sam says, the issue is not paperwork, it's luggage. The only way an airline could possibly do that would be to put all of the SYD-bound luggage in one container, which would be the last one loaded, so could be removed quickly. However, this would also require that the airline knew it would be having to make an unscheduled fuel stop, which is unlikely.

 

[eric2011]

As Sam says, the issue is not paperwork, it's luggage. The only way an airline could possibly do that would be to put all of the SYD-bound luggage in one container, which would be the last one loaded, so could be removed quickly. However, this would also require that the airline knew it would be having to make an unscheduled fuel stop, which is unlikely.

Thats understandable, but with so many people flying with only carry on baggage now days, it would be easy enough, one would think, to allow those people to disembark

 

[under the radar]

Thats understandable, but with so many people flying with only carry on baggage now days, it would be easy enough, one would think, to allow those people to disembark

i've read this has occurred on a few diverted international flights due to syd fog over the last 3days..i suppose it comes down to each airlines/flight 'ability' to do it!!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

legally they can't physically keep you on board unless there is an immigration or customs control prohibiting you from leaving (for example it is possible if a plane diverted somewhere out of hours there may be no clearing facilities).

contractually however, they are in their rights to take you to the destination on the ticket. if you decide you want to breach that contract (demand to get off) then they could claim damages from you (ground time, baggage retrieval, airport and gate fees etc etc). if you had hand luggage only it might be difficult for the airline to claim anything against you. (but you might be blacklisted and you might find the remaining ticket is cancelled if you failed to complete the coupon in sequence)