"But the plane is on fire," I exclaimed, "it is burning up!"
"Those are the rules." says the flight-attendant.
Following a storm and a diverted flight that ended in Albany instead of Newark Liberty I can tell you that the system is SNAFU.
We were a domestic flight and allowed to deplane after about 4 hrs. on board. There was a flight from Canada that was on the tarmac for nearly 12 hrs. They would not allow the passengers off that plane because there was no customs officer in Albany. After nine hours we were given take off permission. The pilot asked if we wouldn’t mind waiting a little longer so those poor passengers on the Canadian flight could take off first. Of course we all said yes, but SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE. IT’S INSANITY.