Passengers aboard a Delta flight departing from Kansas City were forced to sit on the plane for 12 hours before the flight was eventually cancelled.
As an ice storm bore down on Kansas City on Tuesday, Feb. 20, passengers aboard Delta Flight 2195 were forced to endure 12 hours seated on a plane that made several failed attempts to take off, the Kansas City Star reports.
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According to Ann Ngo, a passenger aboard the flight hoping to get back to Los Angeles, she sat on the plane from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with passengers only being allowed off the plane at various times to purchase food. She said that the plane backed away from the gate several times, but never took off, before the crew finally announced that the flight was cancelled.
“It was a s– show,” Ngo said, adding that her Delta flight the next day was again delayed, forcing her to book yet another flight that took off 34 hours after her original flight.
Ngo stated that she was forced to take two vacation days for the travel days and was only compensated with a $100 voucher from Delta for the travel problems.
Matt Montgomery, another passenger on the cancelled flight, said that when passengers departed the plane, no airline reps met passengers at the gate. Instead, they were given cards with a Delta customer service number.
“Delta apologizes to those customers whose flights were disrupted as a result of yesterday’s weather,” Lisa Hellerstedt, a spokeswoman for Delta, wrote in an email. “The significant amount of ice accumulation drove prolonged de-icing times, prompting some flights to return to the gate which in turn impacted wait times for arriving aircraft as Delta crews worked to clear departing aircraft of ice.
“Delta has proactively reached out to customers and (has) re-accommodated those affected on alternate flights.”
The cursed flight follows in a string of flights delayed and cancelled as a storm stretching from Texas to the Great Lakes battered the country.
On Tuesday, The National Weather Service issued winter weather advisories for parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin, while flood warnings were in effect in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan with flood watches in Texas and Arkansas.
The storm has resulted in 400 crashed and 250 spinouts in Minnesota, multiple tornadoes in Texas, and severe flooding in Indiana.
