CNN 2011-01-03

The snowstorm is over, but the firestorm continues over flights marooned 1 on the tarmac, delayed and canceled.

I would estimate probably about two hours from now…

Is that accurate?

Five freaking planes full today! Five freaking planes full today!

As incredible as it may seem to the tens of thousands of travelers who found themselves stranded 2, an airline industry group says this was not a malfunction 3, this is winter weather. The system did not fail. Some aviation experts agree pointing out that dozens of airports up and down the East Coast were swamped with snow.

If we had better air traffic control, better management of some airports on the ground, yeah, it could be improved, but when you have a huge snowstorm like this, the way, we improved, is to stay home.

More than 10,000 flights have been canceled since last weekend. Experts believe, in some cases, airlines didn't want to gamble that the weather would put them at risk of being fined under the passenger bill of rights for keeping domestic flights waiting on the tarmac more than three hours.

The fines are extremely high, $27,500 per passenger delayed more than three hours. It means for a flight with 200 passengers, it may be over $5 million per airplane, per occurrence.

In this storm, it was mostly international flights that found themselves in limbo 4, away from the terminal, unable to unload. The passenger bill of rights doesn't apply to them.

Ultimately, I blame the Department of Transportation for not including international flights in the rule. I think they got snookered by the International Air Transport Association lobbying for the international carriers and saying, oh, no, this will be too cumbersome 5 for us. We can't possibly follow this rule. But unfortunately, that means that any international flight coming or going from the U.S. is not going to have any protections.

The Department of Transportation is considering modifying the rule to include international flights, though, critics contend a likely consequence is even more cancellations which could create even more inconvenience for passengers.

Now, the Department of Transportation is reviewing complaints and data on cancellations and delays to see if during the storms, there were any violations 6 of regulation. No findings from them yet. Though, the airlines say by and large the system worked. Outside experts say one thing clearly did not, that is communications. They say better and more timely information could have minimized the passenger frustration 7, if not passenger inconvenience. Suzanne, back to you.

And Jeanne, why is it taking so long for things to get back to normal?

Well, you know, the airlines have been adjusting supply and demands of most flights have been flying very close to capacity and you have the holiday season, the crescendo 8 was coming, the heaviest travel days up coming, and you also have all of these passengers who are displaced because of canceled flights. Put it all together, and it is going to take some time to get everybody where they want to go.