Last month, in the latest in a string of widely reported passenger stranding ordeals, an American Airlines jet with 180 people on board sat on the tarmac in Midland, Texas for almost 10 hours. The flight was headed to Dallas when bad weather forced a detour to Midland, and there passengers sat, unable to leave the aircraft, growing ever more hungry and frustrated. We didn’t know it at the time, but Jeff Biggers, a World Hum contributor who was nearing the end a nationwide book tour, was among those on board. He’s quoted briefly in Joe Sharkey’s story about such incidents in yesterday’s New York Times. I wanted to learn the gory details straight from the passenger’s mouth, so I dialed up Jeff to chat about the experience, and to ask him what he thought of the proposed passengers’ bill of rights to help prevent such ordeals.

World Hum: So how bad did it get?

The craziness of it was the lack of communication. Nobody knew what was going on. The pilot was coming on saying “we’re going to sit here for an hour,” and then “we’re going to sit here for another hour.” This became a bad rerun after the four or fifth time. It was frustrating. The worst part was sitting there not really knowing why they couldn’t get us off the plane.

And the food and drink situation got pretty dire?

They weren’t equipped for food for that long. I’m not sure if they actually ran out of things to drink. I just remember drinking a couple of hot cans of soda. Then they finally got some pizza on board. The pizza event was hilarious. The pilot came on with this melodramatically grave voice and said “We’ve managed to procure five pizzas thanks to an American executive.” We were thinking, five pizzas? Or five pizzas per person? There were 180 people aboard.  Then the pilot said, “We know some of you have brought your own food onto the plane and we ask you to pass up the pizza for those who need it.” They chopped the pizzas into tiny pieces and passed them out with the solemnity of communion service.

How did you cope?

The good part for me was that a friend in Phoenix gave me a copy of Daniel Mason’s The Piano Tuner, a historical novel that takes place in Burma. I was spellbound. While we were stuck in the muck in Odessa, my head was actually in Burma for eight hours. That’s the power of great writing. I could overlook overflowing toilets and drunk people. A woman ran out of formula for her baby, and that got a little tragic. But in the meantime I just kept turning the pages. I finished it and gave it to an herb salesman next to me.

What did you take away from the experience?

For the most part, there was an amazing amount of patience on the airplane. Everybody was pretty good about waiting it out. There were two or three people who sort of unhinged, but for the most part it was remarkably calm. I thought, man, you have to give people credit. We were cooped up for nine or 10 hours with no food or drink for the most part. It could have been a really bad situation.

How did it make you feel about the proposed passengers’ bill of rights?

I think it’s a great idea. There are logistical issues that sometimes explain why they can’t get passengers off the plane, but I think it will hold companies a little more accountable.

Finally, how did it compare to other tough travel experiences you’ve had?

For anyone who’s taken a bus through India or Guatemala, this was a piece of cake. I remember I was once on a train in India for 67 hours, in the lowest class. It was one of the most amazing, wonderful and trying experiences of my life. This didn’t have the same thrill.

Related on World Hum:
* Federal Passengers’ Bill of Rights One Step Closer to Law
* JetBlue Unveils ‘Customer Bill of Rights’
* JetBlue Apologizes for Stranding Passenges on Planes at JFK

Photo of tarmac (not in Midland) by Aaron Gustafson via Flickr, (Creative Commons).