I’ve avoiding posting on the diversion of CO 2816 thus far mostly because I knew that there was a lot of information out there that wasn’t fully accurate. I’m not entirely sure how much that has changed, but there are certainly more primary source bits available allowing for less influenced judgements. I still think that the situation was handled miserably, including that the total compensation offered to the passengers was apparently a refund of the fare paid, a $50 give certificate and $200 voucher with a liability waiver attached.
It is quite interesting to listen to some of the actual communications that was going on at the time. We’ve heard everyone try to pass the blame off to someone else, and many of them did do that throughout the night. We’ve even heard folks representing the airport insist that they never denied any requests to deplane the passengers inside. Sadly, that has turned out to not be entirely accurate. There are audio recordings of the communications between the dispatch office and the airport authorities in which the woman representing the airport clearly says that “I can’t have them in a closed airport,” as she denies the request to get them off the plane.
The whole thing just sucks. But the initial blame being thrown at the pilot and the operations folks seems now to have been slightly misguided. They aren’t going to come out looking like angels, but they certainly aren’t demons either. It is too bad that everyone raced to judge before they actually knew the answers – or even the questions in some cases.
More of the actual recordings and timeline information can be found here.
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