Topic: I'm a professional commercial airliner captain (pilot) and I can confirm Syntax's story
Anonymous A started this discussion 2 months ago #130,751
about personal refueling the Pan Am jet. It's true. When we have a flight, we basically just sit around at the gate until we somehow come up with $50,000 or so to fill up the fuel tanks. Often, we just do't have it, and the airline has no agreement or paid plan in place. So, we just sit around until we find it. Sometimes that means a passenger has to personally pay for it. Sometimes, all the passengers pitch in. Sometimes, flight attendants sell their bodies. Sometimes we don't scrounge up the money and we have to sit there for days.
Mary joined in and replied with this 2 months ago, 1 hour later[^] [v] #1,401,541
Fifty years old
Anonymous C joined in and replied with this 2 months ago, 2 hours later, 4 hours after the original post[^] [v] #1,401,564
Ah, the ol' "ass, cash, or grass"
Anonymous D joined in and replied with this 2 months ago, 1 minute later, 4 hours after the original post[^] [v] #1,401,565
Anonymous E joined in and replied with this 2 months ago, 6 hours later, 11 hours after the original post[^] [v] #1,401,576
Monday, 17 Nov, 2011 0
Passengers on a flight from India to Britain claim they were forced to fork out more than $31,000 in cash to pay for fuel to allow the plane to complete the journey, UK media reports.
More than 180 passengers on a chartered Austrian Comtel Air flight from Amritsar to Birmingham were stranded on the tarmac in Vienna during a refuelling stop after being told the airline "ran out of cash to fund the last leg of the trip", London's Daily Telegraph reported.
Passengers said the airline then threatened to remove their luggage from the plane if they did not pay up.
The passengers, who reportedly paid about $780 each for their flight, refused to get off the plane in a six-hour standoff.
The dispute was finally resolved when Austrian police were called and the passengers were escorted to ATMs to withdraw cash.
Bhunpinder Kandra, director of passenger services for Comtel Air, told BBC News that "there may have been some operational problem" in Vienna but denied people were asked to pay towards more fuel.
But the Press Association reported him saying: "I have heard what happened, it shouldn't have happened, and I will investigate why it happened.
"The people who had to pay the money will receive a refund."
Passengers on a flight from India to Britain claim they were forced to fork out more than $31,000 in cash to pay for fuel to allow the plane to complete the journey, UK media reports.
More than 180 passengers on a chartered Austrian Comtel Air flight from Amritsar to Birmingham were stranded on the tarmac in Vienna during a refuelling stop after being told the airline "ran out of cash to fund the last leg of the trip", London's Daily Telegraph reported.
Passengers said the airline then threatened to remove their luggage from the plane if they did not pay up.
The passengers, who reportedly paid about $780 each for their flight, refused to get off the plane in a six-hour standoff.
The dispute was finally resolved when Austrian police were called and the passengers were escorted to ATMs to withdraw cash.
Bhunpinder Kandra, director of passenger services for Comtel Air, told BBC News that "there may have been some operational problem" in Vienna but denied people were asked to pay towards more fuel.
But the Press Association reported him saying: "I have heard what happened, it shouldn't have happened, and I will investigate why it happened.
"The people who had to pay the money will receive a refund."
Anonymous F joined in and replied with this 2 months ago, 9 minutes later, 11 hours after the original post[^] [v] #1,401,579
@previous (E)
> Monday, 17 Nov, 2011 0
>
> Passengers on a flight from India to Britain claim they were forced to fork out more than $31,000 in cash to pay for fuel to allow the plane to complete the journey, UK media reports.
>
> More than 180 passengers on a chartered Austrian Comtel Air flight from Amritsar to Birmingham were stranded on the tarmac in Vienna during a refuelling stop after being told the airline "ran out of cash to fund the last leg of the trip", London's Daily Telegraph reported.
>
> Passengers said the airline then threatened to remove their luggage from the plane if they did not pay up.
>
> The passengers, who reportedly paid about $780 each for their flight, refused to get off the plane in a six-hour standoff.
>
> The dispute was finally resolved when Austrian police were called and the passengers were escorted to ATMs to withdraw cash.
>
> Bhunpinder Kandra, director of passenger services for Comtel Air, told BBC News that "there may have been some operational problem" in Vienna but denied people were asked to pay towards more fuel.
>
> But the Press Association reported him saying: "I have heard what happened, it shouldn't have happened, and I will investigate why it happened.
>
> "The people who had to pay the money will receive a refund."
The most Indian thing I’ve read all day.
> Monday, 17 Nov, 2011 0
>
> Passengers on a flight from India to Britain claim they were forced to fork out more than $31,000 in cash to pay for fuel to allow the plane to complete the journey, UK media reports.
>
> More than 180 passengers on a chartered Austrian Comtel Air flight from Amritsar to Birmingham were stranded on the tarmac in Vienna during a refuelling stop after being told the airline "ran out of cash to fund the last leg of the trip", London's Daily Telegraph reported.
>
> Passengers said the airline then threatened to remove their luggage from the plane if they did not pay up.
>
> The passengers, who reportedly paid about $780 each for their flight, refused to get off the plane in a six-hour standoff.
>
> The dispute was finally resolved when Austrian police were called and the passengers were escorted to ATMs to withdraw cash.
>
> Bhunpinder Kandra, director of passenger services for Comtel Air, told BBC News that "there may have been some operational problem" in Vienna but denied people were asked to pay towards more fuel.
>
> But the Press Association reported him saying: "I have heard what happened, it shouldn't have happened, and I will investigate why it happened.
>
> "The people who had to pay the money will receive a refund."
The most Indian thing I’ve read all day.
