Posting online from the stuck flights, travelers allege that incoming and outgoing Delta jets at Boston Logan International Airport in Massachusetts have been severely hit by the delays. While some 36 flights have been cancelled out of the airport today, according to Flight Aware.
Local WBZ reporter Brandon Truitt shared a thread on Twitter about the developing situation and a graphic said to show the queues of planes. “Passengers report being held on planes for hours after landing,” he said. “This row of @Delta planes allegedly waiting for gates… Seems like a ripple effect is taking place. Impacting departures due to crews timing out.”
While broadcast meteorologist Michael Page, who covers New England weather, tweeted a chart plotting one flight’s details, with the caption: “Developing: hundreds of #Delta passengers stuck on the tarmac at Logan Airport tonight, amid apparent staffing issues during deicing. This flight from Minneapolis landed at 8:02 PM; didn’t arrive at the gate until 11:39 PM. 3 hours 37 minutes. Longer than the flight! #Boston.”
One Twitter user, who said they were an affected passenger, also claimed the delay was caused by a shortage of staff available to de-ice all the aircraft, which must be done before take-off for safety reasons. The person wrote: “Thinking that @Delta needs to shell out the money to hire more grounds crew at @BostonLogan. Got planes sitting on the tarmac with people inside for four hours waiting for their turn to de-ice. Flights being canceled because pilots are timing out.”
Another wrote: “@Delta @BostonLogan our flight from Boston to Cincinnati has been sitting on runway over three hours with no end in sight. If it takes 15 minutes to de-ice, please help me to understand our current situation.”
While passengers who had reached their destination were stuck too. One, who said they had been waiting for 90 minutes, tweeted: “What are our rights??Our pilot is not getting any updates. The bathrooms are not working!!!!! This is inexcusable! send buses out!”
But those wait times were dwarfed by by some other unfortunate passengers.
One miserable passenger tweeted three updates of his derailed journey to the airline’s Twitter account, revealing he had spent almost seven hours stuck on his grounded plane. “@Delta really needs to work on the de-ice process at @BostonLogan. DL3528 still here at 21:00… and not de-iced… scheduled out at 18:30…” he began. He then tweeted again several hours later to say: “Update… it’s 23:25 and we’re still in @BostonLogan on the plane!!!! Returning to the gate!!! Been on plane for 5 hours.” This time he also tagged the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and various Boston-based media organizations. He tweeted again almost two hours after that to conclude: “It’s now 00:45 on DL3528 and we’re still on the plane since 18:00.” At that point, someone called Traci replied from the Delta Twitter account to say: “I apologize for the long wait time to get through to us and appreciate your patience. Please meet me in DM [direct messaging] for further assistance.”
Other passengers reported that things weren’t much better for those actually inside the airport. One Twitter user messaged Delta to complain: “Flights from Boston were cancelled only after midnight after making us wait 3hrs at the airport with no communication from staff. No hotel reservations available at this point so now hundreds of people are sleeping on the floor of the airport. First and last time flying @Delta.” The airline replied: “I do apologize for any inconvenience this has caused… We are experience (sic) excessive air traffic and weather related delays in Boston. Please DM us here if you are in need of assistance rebooking.”
A photo shared by WCVB reporter Emily Maher showed passengers preparing to spend the night on cots laid out in the airport.
Delta’s Twitter account has not tweeted about the unfolding incident, despite replying to numerous passengers who messaged the account with their complaints.
Newsweek has reached out to Boston Logan and Delta for further information and comment.
Boston is currently in the grip of a grim weather front, with temperatures set to plunge on Monday.
The East Coast has been badly hit this winter. Late last month, upstate New York was buffeted with a lake-effect storm that impacted Buffalo and surrounding cities. The National Weather Service described the weather front as bringing “paralyzing snowfall” to the region.
And the other side of the country has suffered too. Just last week, a rare winter phenomenon was blamed for a 30-car crash involving a dozen semi-trucks in Washington state. The pile-up on the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90 in Washington near Kittitas Valley on Wednesday morning is thought to have been caused after freezing fog caused black ice to form on the road. Freezing fog occurs when fog forms and the weather is cold enough that the water droplets freeze on contact.
Forecasters have warned more misery is in store for travelers across the rest of the U.S. Weather experts predicted an enormous cross-country storm is due to hit the central parts of the U.S. this week, bringing with it the possibility of freezing temperatures, flooding, and tornadoes.
