Starving passengers endure 19-hour US flight
Apologies are still coming in after a hellish 19-hour US flight that reached a low point when the cabin crew strolled through the plane offering starving passengers a choice of meals: four or five Pringles or a tiny cup of almonds.
The passengers were aboard Virgin America’s Flight 505 from California to New York, normally a five-hour trip. When they finally arrived, it was not by plane but by bus.
The culprit for the ordeal: torrential rain storms.
During the flight, the passengers were given water and some Pringles. And plenty of grief from the plane’s crew, reported passengers.
"We were diverted and everyone was fine about that. It’s just a bummer," passenger David Martin told ABC News.
But even the crew became rattled when passengers tried to get off the plane.
"One of the flight attendants told a passenger to ‘shut the hell up’ and that they were ‘getting on their nerves.’ They were not handling it well at all," he said.
The ordeal prompted a response from Virgin America CEO David Cush, who sent a letter of apology to each of the affected passengers. He offered a refund as well as a $100 credit. "We pride ourselves on putting the well-being of our travelers first and making sure that, in stressful situations, we put our guests at ease. We clearly failed this on your flight" he said.
After take-off, high winds and poor weather in New York forced the flight to divert to Newburgh Stewart Airport, about 90 miles north of New York.
That’s where the plane was apparently stuck on the ground for nearly seven hours before passengers finally were put on buses for a 2.5-hour ride to JFK .
"The Virgin America flight crew eventually contacted JetBlue, which has facilities at Stewart Airport. JetBlue then provided buses that carried the passengers to JFK in the middle of the night,” said NBC Los Angeles.
When the buses arrived to transport the Virgin America customers, a JetBlue employee boarded the jet saying: "Ladies and gentleman, we’re here to get you off the plane." The employee was greeted with cheers.
A postscript: the Virgin plane left Stewart empty but beat the passengers back to JFK.
By David Wilkening
David
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