Amid oppressive heat, broiling airplane cabins add to travellers’ woes

NEW YORK - With broiling hot weather baking much of the United States, airline passengers are finding yet another reason to dread flying: Airplane cabins that feel like saunas.

When planes are waiting at a gate or sitting on an airport runway, temperatures inside can soar, and the air-conditioning may barely function.

In 2018, the Association of Flight Attendants, a union representing those workers, petitioned the US Department of Transportation to set minimum standards for cabin temperatures.

But the department said this week it was still studying the issue, and the complaints from passengers and crew members have not stopped. Some of them warn of the dangers of heatstroke and other heat-related illnesses, not to mention the anxiety and the discomfort of feeling trapped in an overheated airplane cabin.

“I can tell you as an active flight attendant, this is a major problem,” said Ms Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants.

“Everyone has a story about being too hot on an aircraft and the horrible things that happen as a result.”

Most planes have a cooling system that works when the engines are roaring and the plane is in flight. When the plane is sitting on a hot runway and the engines are off, an auxiliary power unit, which uses jet fuel, can push cold air into the cabin.

At the gate, airport workers can connect the plane to an external air-conditioning unit powered by the airport’s electrical system, which can pump cool air into the plane through a hose.

The problem, according to Mr Ross Sagun, an aviation consultant who was an airline pilot for 41 years, is that the external air-conditioning units and auxiliary-powered cooling systems do not always function properly because of maintenance problems or neglect.

“That situation where things aren’t working well is very common, unfortunately,” he said.

Mr Sagun also blamed “cost control” for causing planes to overheat. Airlines often encourage pilots to save money on fuel and maintenance by keeping the auxiliary power unit and other engines off while the plane is at the gate or on the runway, he said.

Using too much fuel for air-conditioning on the ground could force a plane to have to refuel, causing delays. Airlines are also under pressure to reduce fuel consumption to help combat climate change.

“There’s a lot of pressure to operate efficiently,” Mr Sagun said. “It’s a good thing to do. But we have to make sure people are safe. It’s not one or the other.”

Even when they are working properly, the external air-conditioning units may not be strong enough to cool the cabin when 150 people are boarding, said Associate Professor Veronica Cote, who teaches aviation science at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts.

“Considering that the black tarmac can be well over 100 degrees (37.8 deg C) and the jetway has little insulation, the temperature extremes are difficult to overcome,” she said in an e-mail.

“Unfortunately, folks – including the flight crew – have to be tolerant of the environment, and passengers cannot expect a perfectly air-conditioned airplane while it is still on the ground,” Prof Cote said.

“Imagine trying to use a small air-conditioner in a room with the door open and the outside air temperature is 100 degrees.”

In the Association of Flight Attendants’ petition to the Department of Transportation, flight attendants shared accounts of high cabin temperatures and of the health problems and the stress that have resulted.

One flight attendant wrote that on an “entire flight, we had passengers yelling and cursing at us because it was so hot”.

On another plane, an attendant said the auxiliary power unit was not working, and the temperature was “incredibly high” and “I was hot, dizzy, confused and then blacked out”.

Ms Lauren Gay, a travel writer and social media influencer, said her recent JetBlue flight from Tampa, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, which was scheduled to take off at 7.30am, was delayed an hour because it was 34 deg C inside the cabin.

A gate agent told her that passengers could not board until it was 29.5 deg C degrees or less, she added.

She said she was surprised that the plane had overheated on an early morning flight. “At the time,” she said, “the sun wasn’t even up yet.”

Ms Nelson advised passengers to wear layers, noting that temperatures can go from very hot to very cold once the plane is in flight. She said passengers could also take water bottles on planes and noted that many airports had bottle-filling stations.

Delta Air Lines said it advises passengers to open the air vents and close the window shades when the plane lands, so it stays cool for the next flight.

Federal aviation standards require that there be no more than a 5-degree Fahrenheit difference between the cockpit and the cabin, but do not specify an acceptable temperature range, according to the Association of Flight Attendants.

Many airlines have company policies requiring specific cabin temperatures, but without a federal rule – and the threat of federal fines – those policies can be ignored, Ms Nelson said.

In a statement, the Department of Transportation said that airlines must allow passengers the option to get off domestic flights if their plane is sitting on the runway for three hours, although there are certain exceptions related to safety, security and air traffic control.

Federal law also requires airlines to provide a “comfortable cabin temperature” during a runway delay, the department said. But the law does not define what “comfortable” temperatures are.

Instead, the department said it took into consideration written passenger complaints, crew member statements, temperature readings, reported medical incidents and other factors.

Under a law that President Joe Biden signed in May, the federal government will study the health and safety effects of unsafe cabin temperature on passengers and crew members. Ms Nelson called the study “an important step” on the road to tougher federal rules.

Delta said in a statement that it had bought 20 new mobile air-conditioning units to be deployed in airports where temperature data and employees indicate that they are needed most.

The airline said it used auxiliary power to provide air-conditioning on board when necessary and that it empowered employees to pause boarding, if needed, until the cabin cooled down, even if that required a brief delay.

American Airlines said it had checked cooling equipment before the summer arrived and had made “critical investments” in air-conditioning for its planes and jet bridges, including at its largest hub, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, where temperatures have been high this week.

Like other airlines, American said it also had policies to ensure that it “will not begin boarding an aircraft until it has been adequately cooled”. NYTIMES