Originally posted 02/20/07

I am not a fan of a lot of government regulation, it drives me nuts the amount of new laws that come out of Sacramento each year.  Senator Lowenthal annually has a “There Ought To Be A Law” contest where citizens can put forth something they want put into law and then he picks the best one and champions it through the Legislature; my distaste for the extent of laws and regulations already on the books is such that I would challenge Senator Lowenthal to have a “Here is a law we should get rid of” contest to reduce what we have.  To illustrate, last year there were something like 2100 bills hitting the Governors desk for signature.  Two Thousand One Hundred, astounding.
 
That said, I am also not a fan of the numerous frivolous lawsuits, especially those where someone does something stupid and instead of being accountable for their actions sue someone.  Like Willie Shoemaker, the Hall of Fame Jockey, driving off a rode in California in a Ford Bronco while drunk and suing the State of California and Ford for not providing a road and vehicle that is safe to crash at high speed while intoxicated.
 
To recap, my initial reaction to the overwhelming new legislation and many lawsuits filed is negative.
 
Both of these pale in comparison to my lethal combination of Claustrophobia and Pteromerhanophobia (fear of flying—bonus points if you could pronounce the first try).  Put me on an airplane and close the doors and I am a ticking mass of psychosis fighting demons and the urge to jump out the door.  A feeling I had reading of the passengers stranded on Jet Blue planes for up to eleven hours last week at JFK airport in New York.
 
At least Jet Blue apologized.  Sorry, not good enough.  This is where my neurosis overrides my politics.  Had I been on one of those planes I would have collected names, addresses and phone numbers and called them into Gloria Allred’s office while on the tarmac.  Then I would have contacted Senator Lowenthal and said, “Senator there ought to be a law….”
 
Jet Blue and other airlines get away with this type of behavior because they can.  It is cheaper to manage the negative publicity than to cancel the flight and return the ticket fares.  Well change the behavior.  If I were to write a law it would state in part that every flight that originates in or has as a destination in any airport in California must depart, i.e. take off, within thirty minutes of loading passengers or must deplane all passengers within thirty minutes of landing.  Failure to do so would incur fines payable to each and every passenger of the cost of their airfare (total fare including return trip) once the thirty minute mark is passed, and every thirty minutes the cost would increase the same amount.  Fly LGB to JFK and spend $400 for the airfare?  Stuck on the plane for two hours and fifteen minutes after landing? That would cost Jet Blue $2000 just for compensating you–$400 times 5 increments of 30 minutes.
 
I guarantee if regulators made it more costly to keep the passengers on the plane than to let them get off and then reboard them airlines would not have full planes sitting on tarmacs.
 
I am disgusted with Jet Blue’s actions (or inactions) and an “apology” and perhaps a throw away ticket (no doubt laden with restrictions) does nothing to mitigate the chance of it happening again in the future.  Just as the “fine” they paid to the Library Foundation of Long Beach for violating flight and noise ordinances at Long Beach airport has done nothing to make them stop that behavior.
 
I need to go see my therapist and pharmacist now…..Eleven Hours???