[Avodah] Flight or Fight

[Shlomo Engelson Argamon]

I once asked Rav Chaim Malinowitz about a similar story I'd heard, as it 
just seemed wrong to me, and a potential chillul Hashem, to boot.  His 
response was that the Jewish family certainly would have no right to 
demand that the plane return to the gate - they took responsibility when 
they got on the plane.  But perhaps what they should have done is 
offered to compensate all the passengers for the delay, since one is 
liable to expend up to all of one's assets in order to not violate a 
lav.  Any errors in transmission are mine, and of course, don't rely on 
this as halacha lema'aseh!

On 9/25/11 4:04 PM, Prof. Levine wrote:
> From http://tinyurl.com/3okfklw
>
> /My husband and son took a New York-to-Milwaukee flight that was 
> supposed to leave Friday at 11:29 a.m. The flight boarded after 4 and 
> didn't leave the gate until 4:40, and a half-hour later the pilot 
> announced it would be another hour until takeoff. At that point a 
> devout Jewish family, worried about violating the Sabbath, asked to 
> get off. Going back to the gate cost the plane its place in line for 
> takeoff, and the flight was eventually canceled. Was the airline right 
> to grant that request? /M. W.,NORWALK, CONN.
>
> Please see the response.
>
> Personally, I feel that this family had no business boarding a flight 
> after 4 on a Friday afternoon.  Indeed, is one allowed to this 
> according to halacha?  YL
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