Dozens of flights were diverted to Boston’s Logan Airport on Saturday night, leaving many passengers having to find their own ways to their final destinations.
As many as 25 international flights and some additional flights from New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., had to land in Boston after thunderstorms swept through parts of the Northeast, according to the Massachusetts Port Authority.
Logan Airport accepted the diverted flights but could not provide gate, fuel or aircraft service, according to an Air Traffic Control Advisory, leaving many airplanes crowding parts of the tarmac.
Some passengers told NBC 10 Boston they were stuck on the plane for as long as six hours. Some said they had no food, no power and no bathroom access. Since all the hotels in the area are booked, many people ended up sleeping in the airport.
NBC10 Boston
According to MassPort, passengers were bussed to terminals and are working with their respective airlines to reach their destination, but some passengers say that they’ve been on their own to rebook travel.
“It’s not like it was, you know, a hurricane or anything, it was just like some bad weather,” one man said. “Eventually the plane ran out of gas or something and it just turned off. And it was like really hot in there. It was ridiculous. I called 911 it was so bad.”
“The bathrooms were not working either,” he added.
“All the hotels are booked, so I’ve been here all night, I’ve been sleeping on my clothes,” one woman said. “It kind of felt like an insane asylum.”
It was another chaotic day at Logan on Sunday with hundreds of flight cancellations and delays, stranding some passengers here in Boston due to the weekend’s severe weather.
“Boston’s like a big city, it’s amazing to me that every single hotel was full,” another woman said.
“I called my husband, I said ‘this is my life now, I’m just going to be living in Logan for the rest of my life. I cannot get out of Boston,”’ one traveler told NBC10 Boston.
She shared a text with us from Delta that said she could find another flight by checking out alternative airports and flight options, or get an eCredit for a future trip or a refund for any unflown portion of her ticket.
“I don’t want a refund, I don’t want a credit, I don’t want an e-ticket. I need to get home to my family and my job,” she said.
Another woman said she was spending her birthday in the airport, unfortunately.
“I’m probably not going to not end up on my flight because there’s no other flights,” she said.
Passengers tell NBC10 Boston that they waited more than two hours to talk to agents, and some were still unable to book a flight.
“Right now they’re booked through Monday, so there are no flights available going back down to Nashville until Tuesday morning, first thing, so we’ll be here for at least two nights it looks like,” one man said.
Passengers are reminded to keep in contact with their airlines, calling them instead of waiting in line at the ticket counter to try and re-book.
Dozens of international flights landed in Boston due to weather, leaving many passengers stranded as they found their own ways to their final destinations.
United released a statement Sunday about the multiple flights that were diverted to Logan.
United said three flights — UA169 (Venice – New York/Newark), UA55 (Paris – New York/Newark) and UA65 (Lisbon – New York/Newark) were diverted to Boston due to adverse weather conditions.
Another flight, UA69 (Stockholm – New York/Newark), had planned an extra stop in Boston to allow for a crew change due to one flight crew member’s illness. While in Boston, however, the flight was eventually cancelled due to weather.
The airline said passengers on each of those four flights were provided with meal vouchers and hotel accommodation, and they are working to get them to their final destinations as soon as possible.
Waivers are currently in place for customers traveling to, from or through New York/Newark and other impacted cities, the airline added.
Meanwhile, American Airlines said Sunday that it is monitoring the track of Tropical Storm Debby and has issued a travel alert allowing customers whose travel plans are affected to rebook without change fees.
“American will continue tracking this system with our customers’ and team members’ safety top of mind,” said the airline, adding that customers can reschedule their travel online or by calling Reservations at 800-433-7300.
American also said that they had canceled their operation in Key West and Sarasota for the remainder of Sunday due to local conditions there.