[mars6423]

airlinesmustpay, it seems like you are contradicting yourself a bunch, also by one of your examples (the helicopter one) over here in the US at least cops are not allowed to just randomly pull you over unless they actually did something or have some kind of warrent or unpaid requirements, so you can be pulled over for speeding, invalid registration, no insurance, etc, but theres gotta be a reason

but to this subject, it does seem like your saying that they should hold the plane for 2 people, which is actually very inconsiderate to the many, pilots and flight attendants have their scheduled hours, people want to get back home or to the hotel or whereever to sleep, and there are rules and regulations to when planes are allowed to fly due to noise complaints (not sure when it takes off/lands)

and what if the couples first flight is delayed 3 hours and they only had an hour connecting time for example, are you suggesting that they wait 2 hours just for 2 people? that would be nice for the couple, but think about the majority, they will be ******, and if they did wait than the second they get on the plane there will be a ton of looks coming their way.

US air offered to get them to jacksonville, so they were still keeping their part of the contract, the couple decided to modify/cancel it by paying to go on a different airline, so that is their fault not the airlines

ATC and weather are not controled by the airlines, and if they were than life would be simple, and it would be sunny and 70*F everyday, but its not, and at philadelphia if you miss your slot than it can take a long time before you can take off

airlinesmustpay:I had thought that the aircraft touched down on time, but congestion in the airport prevented it from reaching the gate. It is apparently something which prevents the aircraft from landing although they are hovering in the air ready to land.
i dont know about you, but if they have to slow down airtraffic due to congestion than i may feel more relieved, it would be safer and it seems that warnings have been increasing, so it is safer in my books to slow it down to a reasonable pace where it isnt delaying drastically

also everyone knosw that it was a very close connecting time and know that philly is notorious for delays and that people need to plan accordingly, or see if there is a different route (even if it costs a few more $)