Delta flight stuck 18 hours, passengers slept on the floor of the plane

AP

• A Delta flight with 198 passengers was delayed by more than 18 hours Wednesday, many of which were spent on the tarmac.
• The flight, from the JFK company from New York to Los Angeles, was initially scheduled for Wednesday at 15:30. It took off only on Thursday around 9:30.
• Delta did not offer hotel rooms to stranded passengers during the night. Many of them ended up sleeping on chairs and on the floor of the airport.

• Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.

Passengers on a Delta flight between JFK New York Airport and Los Angeles experienced significant delays prior to flight take-off, 18 hours after the originally scheduled date.

Delta DL975 flight was scheduled to leave New York City at 15:30. Wednesday. It was initially delayed for about an hour, pushing out the door at 4:27 pm, according to FlightAware data.

However, this initial delay had additional repercussions and passengers stated that poor communication and lack of assistance and useful equipment made the situation worse than it should have been. l & # 39; be.

"It was so disturbing," said Eloise Moran, a flight passenger, to Business Insider during a phone interview.

Among the passengers were a number of celebrities, would have including Tina Knowles-Lawson – Beyonce's mother – Dacre Montgomery, from Netflix's "Stranger Things" show, and several members of the ABC program's cast, "Dancing With The Stars".

Emma Slater, who plays "Dancing With The Stars," tweeted a video showing passengers livid eight hours after the start of the saga, when a Delta door officer told them that they could not not get a hotel room until the next day.

"Shameful," she says. "@Delta told the hundreds of passengers on flight 975 (after waiting 8 hours on the tarmac and having to get off the plane twice for a multitude of reasons, including mechanical ones) that they would not provide us with. no hotels. "

The passengers said that they had taxed for hours, had finally left the plane and were re-boarded twice, and had finally learned that the flight would not leave until Thursday morning.

Many passengers on Twitter reported spending four hours on the plane and spending a total of eight hours on the tarmac before the flight was delayed overnight.

"I live in this plane now," tweeted Matthew K. Begbie, who said that he was in the plane. "I forgot what the outside world looked like on this plane, babies were born, people died, the world lights up, but the 975 flight is forever."

A Delta Air Lines check-in area in Miami, Florida.Jeff Greenberg / Universal Pictures Group via Getty Images)

Why passengers were informed of the delays

According to Moran, a writer who lives in New York, passengers rode on time, but the plane could not push back right away because of a mechanical problem related to the cargo door.

"The mechanics have finished fixing it, said the pilot, but bad weather was expected," she said.

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After this was repaired, she said, the plane again taxed before the pilot announced that he was forced to change his route due to weather problems. They also had to take a taxi to another track. Once there, the flights were blocked due to a thunderstorm. Eventually, around 8 pm, the plane returned to the boarding gate because one of the pilots had reached the maximum number of hours of work required by the FAA before requiring a period of time. rest, often called "time out".

The passengers were already in the plane for at least four and a half hours, according to Moran. The Ministry of Transport is asking airlines to let passengers leave the plane after three hours. Delta told Business Insider that she had come back to the door in time to meet this requirement.

Moran said the passengers had been informed that the flight would depart around 22:30. At this point. She said Delta did not offer vouchers for dinner, but most of the passengers she could see were still going to dinner at a terminal restaurant.

At 2230, the passengers boarded the aircraft, went to the runway, lined up for the runway, and then turned around. The crew announced that one of the pilots had officially expired.

The pilot told passengers that customer representatives would provide information and hotel vouchers in the terminal, according to Moran, who said it would never happen. Passengers came down from the plane, around 1 am, in what Moran described as "an angry mob". The customer representatives offered vouchers – even though the restaurants were closed – but no hotel vouchers.

Moran, who spent the night in the terminal, said he saw passengers, including children and seniors, sleeping on the floor.

Finally, passengers boarded the plane around 9:30 am Thursday before taking off.

A Delta Air Lines counter in Boston, Massachusetts.David L. Ryan / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Delta's response to passengers

Moran said he was offered a $ 100 travel voucher and 5,000 Delta SkyMiles, which represents a base of about $ 50. Initially, she had paid $ 600 for her economy class ticket to visit a friend for her birthday.

"Like I wanted to travel with Delta again, after that," she said. "It's a loss of revenue too, I could have worked yesterday if I knew the flight would be so delayed."

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Although Delta has the lowest cancellation rate of all major US airlines, it has been criticized for delaying flights for unreasonable lengths of time in order to avoid canceling them.

On Tuesday, the airline issued weather waivers covering the New York area due to the predicted storms. Operations at JFK have been affected several times this summer by frequent weather and repairs on one of its tracks, which has been closed since April. Construction should be completed in November.

In a statement, Delta apologized to customers:

Delta apologizes to customers of the 975 New York-JFK flight to Los Angeles, which was delayed last night due to adverse weather conditions in the Northeast airspace. Los Angeles Thursday morning. "

The airline also told Business Insider that it was considering offering passengers a gesture of goodwill in order to make more excuses. We did not know right away if it was referring to the $ 100 voucher and the 5,000 miles offered to Moran.