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Passengers Stuck In Plane Overnight In Rochester

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Aug 9, 2009 11:05 pm US/Central

Passengers Stuck In Plane Overnight In Rochester

Reporting
Liz Collin
(WCCO) A flight to the Twin Cities Friday night was a whole lot longer than anyone bargained for.

Storms diverted a Continental Airlines flight to Rochester, Minn.

ExpressJet Airlines operated the plane that was flying from Houston to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. It took off from Houston about 9:30 Friday night.

The plane was scheduled to land just after midnight on Friday but it didn't get in to the Twin Cities until 11 a.m. Saturday.

The passengers were stuck on the plane on the tarmac in Rochester all night. They landed there about midnight.

Link Christin was one of 47 passengers on the small plane that holds 50 people and has rows of two seats on one side and single seats on the other.

"I just thought it was outrageous," Christin said.

Christin said the crew wouldn't let them into the terminal and they were only offered one drink all night -- no food.

A spokesperson from ExpressJet said the passengers couldn't go into the terminal because security screeners were not working and they wouldn't be allowed back on the plane.

Christin said babies were crying and the only bathroom started to smell.

"I appreciate the fact that they're not trying to land in those conditions. Its when we were on the runway it was no longer a weather thing, it was a how do we take care of these people for the next 6, 8, 10 hours and that was not a weather issue. That was a logistic issue about getting us off the plane into some place where we could breathe and eat and be comfortable," said Christin.

Finally, about six on Saturday morning the passengers were let into the airport when screeners showed up. They had to wait for another crew to show up to fly them to the Twin Cities.

When they landed at MSP Saturday morning, Christin said people ran up to the counter to complain.

"We sincerely apologize for their experience. We were trying to keep their safety and the Homeland Security regulations as our two highest priorities," said Kristy Nicholas from ExpressJet.


(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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