200 passengers stuck on plane for over 9 hours

by Stephanus Surjaputra on December 2, 2008

The flight from El Salvador to Los Angeles was supposed to take 4 1/2 hours. Instead, passengers had to wait nine hours on the plane with no food or drink until firefighters provided refreshments to them.

The TACA flight was scheduled to land at LAX on Sunday night. Heavy fog, however, caused the flight to be diverted to Ontario International Airport, some 45 miles to the east. Confusion between the airline and customs caused the passengers to be held aboard the plane for nine hours. Including flight time, passengers spent approximately 15 hours on the plane.

Passengers were desperate to get off the plane. Some called 911 to report cramped conditions and illnesses. Others, including Jose Reyes of El Salvador, pleaded with the flight crew to let them leave the plane and be put on a shuttle bus to Los Angeles. Finally, they were given crackers and water by firefighters and airport personnel.

In a statement, El Salvador-based TACA said that “local authorities did not give permission for passengers to go through customs and enter the country.” However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mike Fleming said that the airline never asked for permission to let the passengers disembark.

It wasn’t clear why TACA didn’t arrange for a shuttle bus to take them to LAX because AeroMexico, another diverted flight, arranged for a shuttle bus for its passengers. It was also unclear why TACA didn’t ask for permission from customs personnel to allow passengers to wait in the terminal.

The Airbus A-321 plane finally left Ontario after 8 a.m. on Monday after a crew change because the original crew had exceed their maximum flight hours.

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Tagged as: El Salvador, Los Angeles International, Ontario International, TACA

  • The man who notices things

    Yet another story of modern society: no one at TACA had any responsibility. No one at TACA cared about the passengers. No one at TACA made any effort because, most likely, they are not rewarded for effort and specifically trained to NOT make any effort.

    You know what happened here . . . the LA station manager probably left at 4pm on sundays. There was a lower level person in charge. That person did not know the extent of their authority and likely could not ‘easily’ reach anyone with the authority to ask customs to go to Ontario. They would have needed to cobble together the passenger list, clear it through APHIS, and it would have been alot of work for someone which was probably getting off duty at 10pm, 2 hours after the scheduled arrival.

    no one at the ‘home office’ could be reached in management to approve deplaning in ONT instead of LAX, operations is probably closed after 10pm. So there was no one to authorize anything and no one who could approve even asking anyone to do anything. So, no one stuck their neck out because the corporate culture at TACA probably punishes people who stick their necks out. TACA is probably one of those companies where no good deed goes unpunished.

    It all got resolved within a couple of hours once management showed up in the morning. Evidence that the above is probably exactly how it happened.

  • colin

    So could passengers actually riot if kept on board for so long ? Especially with distraught kids to deal with.What if they threatened to take over the plane. A police force would send their SWAT team in and the people on board would be taken off. Mission accomplished. Sounds ridiculous but could it happen ?

  • Frank

    You know what happened here . . . the LA station manager probably left at 4pm on sundays. There was a lower level person in charge. That person did not know the extent of their authority and likely could not ‘easily’ reach anyone with the authority to ask customs to go to Ontario. They would have needed to cobble together the passenger list, clear it through APHIS, and it would have been alot of work for someone which was probably getting off duty at 10pm, 2 hours after the scheduled arrival
    ==========================================================

    ok, this DIVERSION happened at 11;30PM at night. It went to an airport that wasnt expecting it’s arrival. Secondly, the carrier was coming from an international destination. CENTRAL AMERICA. These immigrants/passengers needed CLEARANCE: passports, visa’s checked. Customs also needs to check luggage. Check for contraband.
    I highly doubt they could find the required individuals to do these procedures at that time of night.
    again, WEATHER caused a situation where inconvenience ruled. FOG prevented the carrier from getting to it’s final destination.

  • Joe Ehrlich

    No excuses allowed. You simply cannot hold people hostage on an airplane. We have already gone through this many times before. It doesn’t matter if it is a weather-related problem or a maintenance-related problem. You cannot treat people this way, period. Oh, and by the way, I would bet that the majority of the passengers on that aircraft are American citizens.

  • Frank

    On December 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 am Joe Ehrlich said No excuses allowed. You simply cannot hold people hostage on an airplane.
    ====================================================

    ok, first the media likes to sensationalize these types of RARE incidences. Remember, the airline industry has some 35 THOUSAND FLIGHTS PER DAY in this country. First, you had Northwest, during a —-> BLIZZARD, strand passengers on the runway for many hours a DECADE ago. Secondly, Jetblue had the incident at JFK during an—-> ICE STORM a few years ago. Thick ice everywhere! I flew that day, ice was 6 INCHES THICK. And, then American, diverted in Texas and couldnt get a gate. Now, TACA during FOG.

    Interesting how this happens to automobile travelers as well. Think you can drive the interstate in thick ice? Nope, you’re stranded. Easily, the same situation with a blizzard or fog. You can certainly make the MISTAKE of trying to drive/travel in that type of weather, but the AIR INDUSTRY has safety regulations in place. Just the other morning, my flight was delayed due to ICE PELLETS. Just cold enough to CLOSE THE AIRPORT. A change in temperature, a few degrees (higher) would make the difference in taking off. It was a highly congested airport, so the captain chose to wait in line on the runway. One hour later, we took off. We were one of the first to take off. And, NOT at the end of the line. 30-40 planes.
    Additionally, NO ONE, is allowed to enter this country without having their travel documents checked. I wonder if anyone was around at that time of night at ONT for immigrations and customs.
    And, again, this article may NOT have all the facts.

  • Wrona

    A Mexicana flight also landed at Ontario at the same time but had none of the same issues.

  • Frank

    On December 3rd, 2008 at 6:01 pm Wrona said A Mexicana flight also landed at Ontario at the same time but had none of the
    ====================================================

    the article never said, when Mexicana landed…..so I wasnt going to assume.

  • federico

    I think is just a bad airline doing bad business, people should not fly on airlines like Taca who have no respect whatsoever for passengers

  • Fred Kelley

    Wed evening at 6:30 we arrived on Singapore airlines on time at SFO. We were
    scheduled to switch to United about 10PM for LAX. The flight was rescheduled
    for midnight and then 1AM at which the plane arrived from Pittsburg and the pilot announced he was not going to fly to LAX so the flight was cancelled. They knew when the flight was delayed in getting to SFO that the pilot would be over-hours
    or whatever the problem was (they would not tell us) We arrived home the following afternoon with 4 missing bags. All told our flight from Bali to palm springs took 40+ hours. Flying is no fun anymore

  • http://tripso.com Julie Atchison

    I am sure the Man Who Notices Things & Frank got it about right. Red tape prevails and only Managers manage-when they are actually at work of course. I have one thing to add/ask. Would this have happened if the plane had not originated in El Salvador? Given the prevailing negative attitude towards people of Hispanic origin (something I’ve experienced countless times having worked closely with many Hispanic employees for over 20 years), I have to wonder if things would be different if they were American tourists returning from a posh resort in Switzerland.

    Julie49

  • http://TACAFlight ashton

    they are lucky I wasn’t on the plane–they would have had to arrest me! ==I wouldve gone off on the flight crew !

  • Laurel

    Ontario Airport is a small airport mainly used for domestic travel. There was a customs agent there but since the TACA flight was not supposed to be there the airport had made no preparations to accept the passengers. The passengers would have been allowed to wait inside the airport until their flight could continue on to LAX but the pilots or even the flight attendants did not ask if that was even possible. The whole mess is due to fog and stupid pilots. Leave the airport alone. It had nothing to do with red tape.

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