OTTAWA, CANADA — Angry airline passengers are demanding an explanation after they were forced to stay on board a hot plane for six hours with nothing to eat or Air Transatdrink.
More than 300 people were on Air Transat flight 157 from Brussels to Montreal on Monday, when it was diverted to Ottawa because of thunderstorms, the Washington Post reported.
Passengers said they were not allowed to get off the plane, even when the air conditioning stopped working and they ran out of food and water.
When the plane landed, the crew reportedly said they would stop to refuel for half-an-hour or so. But four hours later, and with the jet still stuck on the runway, the power went out … leaving everyone both figuratively and literally in the dark.
Transat somehow managed to get the lights back on, but with no sign of an end to the sweaty situation, at least one passenger called 911.
Police, paramedics and the airport's emergency response team arrived and distributed water.
Six hours after it landed in Ottawa, the plane eventually took off.
According to the airport, 20 flights were diverted to Ottawa because of the bad weather but it was only Transat flights that had such big issues.
The airport said staff were on standby with food and water for any plane that requested them, but Transat never did. And when the airport tried to contact Transat to deplane, the airline didn't respond.
Montreal-based Transat claimed in a statement that the airport was so packed that it couldn't get loading bridges to the plane to get passengers off, or refill its empty water tank.
Canadian federal authorities have ordered Transat to explain just why they wouldn't let the passengers get off the plane, CTV News reported.
