Which was my assumption, but if so, why get off at the second opportunity?
Thats a hard one. It really doesn't make sense.Maybe they were just totally confused. It was either Succos here or in Israel. I've seen ppl lose their mind when they miss a flight.
it was midnight, they could have been sleeping and only woken up at 145am to discover they are still at EWR.
Do you know anyone that falls asleep when a plane has yet to take off? Especially when its delayed?
Since we're guessing; How about they weren't SS and after being delayed that long they just thought they'd use that as a reason to get off the flight and possibly be refunded?
I want to share an experience my family and I recently had on a United flight from Newark to Tel-Aviv.We were scheduled on UA90 on Thursday, October 13, leaving at 10:45 PM and arriving in Tel-Aviv on Friday at 4:20 PM. My wife and I were traveling with our 16 month-old daughter to visit family in Israel for Succot. Everything was going smoothly until we were about to leave the gate, when the pilot announced that United was experiencing a computer outage, which would cause a slight delay. The delay went on for some time, at which point some Shabbat observing passengers began expressing concern that our new arrival time would be after Shabbat began (around 5:50 PM). Around midnight, our pilot announced that computer issue had been resolved and we would be leaving the gate in a few minutes. It was only at this point that some of the Shabbat observing passengers, realizing the plane would not arrive before Shabbat began, decided to get off the plane. Their decision forced another long delay, as United was now required to retrieve each piece of their checked luggage, a complicated process involving meticulously searching through all the plane’s luggage bins. This was incredibly frustrating to the rest of the passengers who were now further delayed by the decision of this small group. Upon completion of the luggage retrieval, which concluded around 1:45 AM, the pilot announced that we would shortly be ready to take off, pending some additional paperwork. While we once again waited to taxi, another group of Shabbat observing passengers decided to disembark the plane, causing yet another long delay. Why they decided to disembark at that point and not with the first group was truly baffling, and only caused further consternation among the rest of the passengers. This delay went on until around 4 AM, at which point the pilot announced the flight was canceled because the crew had timed-out. After the ensuing chaos, my family was eventually rebooked on a flight that arrived in Israel on Sunday afternoon, nearly two days after our originally scheduled arrival date. In addition, United failed to deliver one of our suitcases, which eventually arrived after an additional two-day delay. All in all, this experience was a difficult one for my family. As anyone who has traveled with young children knows, flying long-distance isn’t easy even when everything goes smoothly. And it’s much, much worse when things don’t. Ultimately, United bears a good part of the blame for our flight experience. Their systems caused the initial delay, and they failed to properly manage the passengers on the canceled flight. Yet those who made the decision to disembark also failed to (or didn’t care to) appreciate how their actions affected the rest of the passengers. I fully respect the religious beliefs and practices of each of the passengers who left the plane, but I do question their initial decision to book a flight that was scheduled to arrive so close to Shabbat. Leaving so little time doesn't seem like a smart approach, especially when it can negatively impact the rest of the passengers. If you’re going to book a flight arriving close to Shabbat, you should also make the decision to live with the consequences of a delayed flight. Anything short of that just doesn’t seem fair or right.
Do you know anyone that falls asleep when a plane has yet to take off?
I always went window but last time this foul smelling person sat down near me and was asleep within a minute. I had to wait hours till she woke up to stand up & stretch. It was bad enough to make me wanna go aisle.
My best flight was TLV-JFK in DL J. Fell asleep before takeoff and woke up a couple of hours before landing. And while I have traveled flights that arrive on a Friday early afternoon. I would venture to say that it is probably not Halachically permitted to board a flight that is scheduled to land less than 2 hours (and probably even if it were 3 hours) before Shabbos (even if your final destination is within walking distance of the airport).
Reckless, indeed. But I fear desperate times (and the fact that Thursday was the only time to fly this year after YK) caused some people to put on blinders and throw caution to the wind.What, you never heard of Shabbas in TLV?
Never Took an ambien?
No idea what that is. I never had any luck sleeping on planes. I once took Advil PM, didn't help me. Slept same 20 minutes as always.
