A passenger aboard a United Airlines flight from Scotland to Chicago says a weather diversion turned the 8-hour flight into a 20-hour travel nightmare, as the airplane bathrooms “filled up,” and travelers were left stranded on the tarmac with nowhere to go. Due to stormy weather, Heather Fields’ July 27 flight from Edinburgh to O’Hare International Airport was rerouted to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where passengers were stuck on the plane for about four hours after landing, Fields told ABC 7. Toilet paper ran low; food ran out.
We were able to serve ourselves water. There was very little information as to what was happening.” The delays became even more extensive when passengers were informed that the flight could not take off because United’s crew had exceeded their allowable duty time. And they were going to need to take us off the runway and wait for a replacement crew,” Fields said.
The travelers were then instructed to exit the aircraft and wait outside on the tarmac — where they stayed for five hours, according to Fields. Fields, who lives in Costa Rica, says the passengers were later let off the plane near a customs building. However, they were told that there were no agents available to process them, forcing them to remain waiting outside.
And so I asked, as other passengers did. It became evident that United didn’t have a plan for us,” Fields said. Fields said that United sent the stranded travelers pizza, but not enough to feed everybody.
A replacement crew arrived several hours later and the flight departed for Chicago around 10:30 p.m. Fields said that since the flight arrived at O’Hare so late, she wasn’t able to get through TSA to reach the domestic terminals before it closed. She said she arrived in Denver about 20 hours after she was originally supposed to land.
After complaining to United over email, Fields was initially offered $200 flight credits, before the airline upped their offer to $500. However, that still wasn’t enough in Fields’ eyes. In a statement to The Independent, United said, “We apologized to this customer for her experience, provided her with an electronic travel certificate and refunded some of her fees as a gesture of goodwill.” The airline added: “Customs and Border Patrol in Green Bay were unable to clear customers but allowed them to deplane on the tarmac into a controlled area.
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