Nearly 300 airline passengers were left stranded in remote Canadian military barracks on Dec. 10. The Delta Airlines flight was on its way to Detroit when it experienced mechanical trouble, the airline reported.
It was a difficult journey for the 270 customers, as well as ten crew members, who were flying from Amsterdam to the United States.
“I don’t know what day it is anymore. I didn’t know if we were even going to be able to get home on time or anything,” said Tony Santoro, one of the passengers who had been studying abroad for several months, when speaking to Fox2Detroit, who first reported on the issue.
According to a statement by Delta, the unexpected detour of the Airbus 330 to Happy Valley-Goose Bay in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, was made as a precautionary measure.
According to another passenger, the plane took a sharp turn during the flight. The pilot reportedly made the diversion just after 3 p.m. local time after noticing problems with de-icing equipment and reported the issue to the Federal Aviation Administration, which confirmed that an investigation into the incident is underway.
“The pilot said essentially that if the de-icer wasn’t working the engine could be damaged or it could be severely damaged, and it wouldn’t work,” the passenger said.
Delta Airlines said that crew duty times were affected due to weather and runway conditions at the Goose Bay airport causing the airport, which handles on average around 160,000 passengers annually, to suspend operations.
Passengers were moved to the military barracks in the community of around 8,000 residents.
“It honestly felt like a hotel. It wasn’t too bad. We had soap, water, everything,” Mr. Santoro told Fox2Detroit.
Joint efforts by the airline and local officials brought food and accommodations to the stranded passengers. The airline also confirmed that it would offer compensation to impacted passengers, however, it did not elaborate on the specifics.
The airline organized alternative arrangements for the passengers by deploying an additional aircraft.
“Delta sent additional aircraft to Goose Bay to bring customers to their final destination Monday. We apologize to customers for this inconvenience,” the airline confirmed.
The wait was not without difficulties, though, as passengers had to wait for several hours for another plane to arrive to take them to Detroit, many of them unprepared, not having coats for the cold weather or toiletries.
Another plane did arrive but was cancelled after passengers were informed that the crew had timed out the previous day, causing a further delay for the passengers.
Eventually, the next day the passengers managed to depart Goose Bay airport at around 5 p.m. However, for some, the adventure had not quite reached its end as they faced further challenges when attempting to retrieve their baggage, which had been accidentally loaded onto a different flight.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
