I believe that yes, Six Flags should have done a lot more to compensate their customers for their poor experience.

Being stuck on a ride, of any kind, for such a period of time can invoke a lot of responses that are normal. The one I am thinking about most is fear. I am sure all kinds of thoughts ran through the minds of those stuck on the ride. "What caused the malfunction?", "What will happen next?", "Will we fall to our deaths?".

For me, pizza and drinks does not cover what happened. Their fees for the day needs to be 100% refunded, gas to and from the park 100% funded, and any and all medical needs 100% funded (assuming no one is conning or being a hypochondriac).

I am not certain if compensation beyond that is required. That would be up to the courts, if it should come to that. But basically, like many court shows say, you should receive back what would make you whole ... in this case: the park fees, the gas fees, and whatever medical expenses that are a result of the experience.
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Go on a ride like that and you are asking for trouble. They should be glad that it was nothing worse.

As for compensation, remember that 6 Flags is under bankruptcy proceedings, they don't have deep pockets.

ps From the other answers, it seems that perhaps people do not know that Six Flags is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. Well, they are.
Source(s):
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=atNAcbVRbTjE

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Yes, I totally believe that Six Flags should do a lot more than simply compensate or give these people a free day pass, and/or even a coupon for a restaurant on the premise. Obviously, they can't turn back time for the people who sat in the ride for four hours, but they can help them out by giving them something in return for the inconvenience.

Lots of people cannot be stuck on a ride for a long period of time, and it causes a lot of pain and scare to them, especially at high heights, as well as emotional distress. The number one thing people are scared of is death, or scared of heights even when they ride these rides. They do not expect to be on them for 4 hours, yet the interesting thing is they will wait 2 hours to go on a 2 minute ride, but definitely not more than 2 hours on a ride. The only ride that people wait 4 hours on, is an airplane, and that's one that is actually taking them somewhere (ie. from New York to California).

Here are the things I would give to give me 100% satisfaction at Six Flags:

1. Cover the cost of gas money to and from the theme park
2. Cover parking expenses
3. Food expenses (ie. provide a coupon to a nice restaurant)
4. Gift Certificate to one of the stores
5. A free season pass to the park for everyone who was stuck on the ride.
6. Cover medical expenses and a free visit to the doctor

Once Six Flags covers all these, they would be in good standing with these theme park visitors. Since I'm not a lawyer, I cannot give any sort of legal advice, but I don't think people should take any sort of action legally, unless they were personally injured from the ride.
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Not to throw a wrench into the works, but Six Flags shouldn't compensate anyone - for this incident, anyway. The Six Flags Great America park is located in Chicago. The accident occurred at the Great America park in Santa Clara which isn't a Six Flags park. The Great America park in Santa Clara is operated by Cedar Fair. Both parks used to be owned by Marriott, and operated under the name Marriott's Great America...which could be the source of the confusion.

That said, I think that Cedar Fair should give everyone involved a free pass for next season--it would be good PR, and good business. You may encourage some to come back who wouldn't have--you'll get good press, and those who use their passes will spend money on food and souvenirs in the park.
Source(s):
http://www.pgathrills.com/visit/visit_directions.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California%27s_Great_America
http://www.sixflags.com/greatAmerica/

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No, the US has become such a litigating society, that's why everybody is paying sky high insurance premiums, because everybody wants money for this and that, it's a machine, machines can fail, nobody died. If you go to a baseball game, if you get hit by a line drive you don't get compensated, the ticket states that, buying a ticket and walking into an amusement park, that said ticket is your EULA that something can go wrong with these machines, the fact that they were treated to pizza & beverages showed good faith on their part. The people are safe, nobody died and just as in a baseball or hockey game, you don't get compensated by getting hit by a ball or puck respectively, the same applies here.
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The park shouldn't have to compensate them out of a Legal necessity;

However from a customer service/commercial viewpoint they missed an opportunity to at least limit the damage done to their reputation. With a bit of creative thought and some VIP treatment they could have turned the situation into a positive...
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