Imagine this, you’ve just spent a great vacation in Mexico and are headed back to the United States on your way home. Instead of landing at your scheduled airport and going off to your connecting flight, you land at a different airport and are forced to spend the night onboard. As reported by View from the Wing, that’s exactly what happened to passengers on Delta Air Lines flights from Mexico City (MEX) and Los Cabos (SJD).
Flights Forced to Divert due to Bad Weather in Atlanta
The incident occurred on Thursday night as aircraft were attempting to land at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). Severe weather was in the area and both aircraft involved in this incident, along with many others, were circling while trying to land.
Delta Flight 599 from Mexico City, operated by a Boeing 737-800, was the first to divert to Montgomery Regional Airport (MGM), landing around 8:30p local time. This was followed by Delta Flight 1828 from Los Cabos, operated by a Boeing 737-900, which landed roughly forty minutes later.
Flight 1828 initially attempted to divert to the larger Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM) but it was also experiencing bad weather at the time. The flights sat on the tarmac for roughly an hour before eventually heading to the terminal.
Flight Crews Time Out
The crews on both flights ended up timing out as weather in Atlanta hadn’t improved by the time they ran out of duty hours. With no reserve crews in Montgomery, passengers would be spending the night in the Alabama capital, but not in hotel rooms.
Montgomery Regional Airport doesn’t have a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility which meant passengers and crew were not allowed to deplane as both flights were arriving from outside the United States.
According to reports, passengers were stuck onboard for roughly eight hours. The crew was offering water and cookies to the passengers stuck onboard. At some point, around 5:00a, somebody finally made the decision to create a sterile area in the terminal building and allowed passengers to deplane. Why this took roughly eight hours to develop what seems like a very simple plan is beyond me, especially considering the crew timed out well before this.
Finally, on Friday morning, Delta flew replacement crews to Montgomery. Flight 599 departed around 11:15a CT and arrived in Atlanta around 12:45p ET. Flight 1828 departed around 12:20p CT, arriving in Atlanta around 2:00p ET.
Summary
Two international Delta flights were forced to divert to Montgomery Regional Airport earlier this week after weather impeded their arrivals at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Unfortunately for the passengers onboard, the crews on both flights timed out and with no Customs and Border Protection facilities, they were forced to spend the night onboard the aircraft. Both flights ended up arriving in Atlanta the next day after replacement crews were flown in.
