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<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">In a message dated 9/25/2011, llevine@stevens.edu writes:</DIV>
<DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>From <A title=http://tinyurl.com/3okfklw href="http://tinyurl.com/3okfklw" eudora="autourl">http://tinyurl.com/3okfklw</A><BR><BR><FONT size=3><I>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? </I>M. W.,NORWALK, CONN. <BR><BR>Please see the
response.<BR><BR>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</FONT> </FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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? </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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? </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>--Toby Katz<BR>================</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>_____________________
<DIV> </DIV></FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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