Passengers Trapped On Delayed Flight With No Air Conditioning For Three Hours

Three hours trapped in a ground hold on a plane without access to air conditioning? If you think they made that illegal, you’ve got another think coming, as passengers on a Lufthansa flight from Denver, Colorado to Frankfurt, Germany discovered on Sunday night.

According to a Denver news station, the passengers departing Denver International Airport had already been boarded onto the plane when the crew discovered some mechanical issues.

As any flyer who has been in this situation already knows, the air doesn’t circulate, and it tends to get pretty hot during a ground hold. Under new FAA regulations, passengers can’t be held on a plane for more than three hours when it’s a domestic flight.

And, while international carriers can make their own rules, Lufthansa apparently agreed, since it did allow the passengers to deplane after about three hours. Although the German airline hasn’t commented, airport spokeswoman Laura Coale told the Associated Press that paramedics were called out after the passengers had been onboard for about 90 minutes.

One passenger Sarah Bogue, who was being held with her toddler, apparently reached out to call Colorado 9News anchor Kyle Clark: “They ran out of water. I can’t even tell you how hot it is in here. They should at least let us off the plane to wait.”

While I’m skeptical that the flight actually did run out of water — they were stocked for a transatlantic journey after all — I get the idea. Bogue and other trapped passengers were very, very angry about the frustrating situation.

In the end, the passengers were briefly deplaned around 8:30, the plane was fixed shortly thereafter, and the jet took off around 10 Sunday night.

No one was hurt, and the paramedics weren’t needed. But, leaving that late, the grumpy and sweaty passengers certainly missed a great view.

WOW! RT @lufthansa_usa: A3: You never know what you’ll see out the window. Take a peek! #TNI#photography tips! twitter.com/Lufthansa_USA/…

— MidlifeRoadTrip (@MidlifeRoadTrip) May 9, 2013

You’d better believe that everyone will need a shower after the nine hour flight that followed a three hour plane hold with no air conditioning.

[Lufthansa photo by Lu&Si via Flickr and Creative Commons]