[jimworcs]

Even the President is not VIP enough for me to cause a 3 hour delay. By all means shut down operations an hour before landing and half an hour after, but 3 hours is ridiculous. I don't care who it was. As it happens, I was at Birmingham Airport when Birmingham hosted the G8 conference. President Clinton and the Heads of State of the top 8 industrial nations, plus the Chinese and Russian Presidents came through Birmingham Airport. It was not closed for 3 hours. Ludicrous.

In both the case you cite and the notorious incident which triggered the rule change, the airline would have found the rule helpful rather than a hindrence. In the case of the recent event, where it was a ground handling company which was intrangisent, the airline could point to the rule to force them to act. It is just a pity that it doesn;t have the power of legislation.