[Avodah] Flight or Fight

[T613K at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/25/2011, llevine at stevens.edu writes:
 
>From _http://tinyurl.com/3okfklw_ (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 

 
>>>>>
 
Airline was right to go back to the gate and let them off, because the  
flight had been delayed already by so many hours and because they weren't told  
before boarding that it was going to be delayed /another/ hour.
 
I think there is now some kind of law or regulation in place anyway, that  
if you sit on the tarmac more than X hours the airline has to let you off 
the  plane.
 
But they shouldn't have boarded the plane so late in the afternoon on a  
Friday in the first place, it's just too risky.  Once their 11:30  AM flight 
was delayed they should have changed their flight plans.  Of  course it's 
possible they tried and the airline wouldn't let them change their  ticket 
without paying hundreds of extra dollars.  Maybe that's why they  hung around 
and waited to see what would be with the flight, hoping they would  still make 
it to their destination in time for Shabbos.
 
There is certainly room to be melamed zechus here.  I  have had a  few 
close calls with Shabbos, traveling on a Friday.  Is there anyone who  hasn't?
 
RYL asks what is the halacha re whether they should have boarded the plane  
at 4PM.  I have a different question:  What if they had not been  allowed 
to get off the plane after boarding, and were still aboard the plane  when it 
finally took off -- already Shabbos?   
 
What would they or should they then do about candle lighting (ask for a  
flashlight?), Shabbos davening, kiddush and seudah, deplaning upon arrival,  
getting their luggage, getting to their host's home -- all happening when it 
is  fully dark and definitely Shabbos in Milwaukee?  
 
I devoutly pray never to need this information but you never know.   Many 
years ago someone arrived back in South Africa when it was already  Shabbos 
(his plane had been delayed and his family knew he was going to be  coming in 
late).  His mother went to the airport before Shabbos and left  food and 
wine there for him and arranged for him to spend Shabbos in someone's  office 
at the airport. No cell phones back then, he was simply informed  when he 
landed that there was food and a couch waiting for him.  His  mother went home 
before Shabbos and she saw her son the next day after  Shabbos.  With 
today's security rules I doubt any such thing could be  arranged today.
 
Did she do right?  Should she instead have arranged for a cab and  driver 
to be waiting for him at the airport to take him home on Shabbos?
 
Getting back to these recent Milwaukee-bound travelers -- if they arrived  
in Milwaukee when it was Shabbos already, would they have to spend Shabbos 
in  the airport?  Could they buy food in the airport on Shabbos?  Could  they 
ask a goy to take money out of their wallets and buy food for them?   And 
can the entire airport -- or just the one concourse -- or no part of the  
airport at all, be considered one domain in which they can carry?   Do  they 
have to stay in one small area the entire Shabbos?  Is it considered  that 
they came from outside the techum Shabbos on Shabbos and therefore can't  take 
another step once they land?  I'm not too clear on the halachos of  techum 
Shabbos, I must admit, maybe time for a brief primer here.
 

--Toby Katz
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