United flight diverted to military base, passengers spent hours stuck in plane

FAN Editor

Passengers on board United Airlines Flight 179 from New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport to Hong Kong International Airport were faced with multiple travel nightmares this weekend. First there was a medical emergency that prompted an unplanned landing at a military base in Canada late Saturday; then passengers couldn’t leave the plane after it was on the ground, according to a statement from United.

Flight 179 was diverted to Goose Bay Airport, a military base in Canada’s Newfoundland, where “medical personnel met the aircraft at the gate and the customer was transported to a local hospital,” United said in a statement Sunday.

Because the plane landed so late at night, there were no customs personnel available. The passengers had to spend the night in the plane for more than a dozen hours. The cabin had heat and power while it was on the tarmac. United said in a statement they had sent a relief aircraft to transport customers back to Newark.

Some passengers on the jet tweeted pictures of the incident and reported that a cabin door broke “on the ground” at the military base, possibly because of the frigid temperatures there, well below 0.

United apologized to its customers, saying “our crew is doing everything possible to assist them during the delay.”

Passengers were expected to return to Newark.

2019-01-20-flight-aware-united-airlines-flight-179.png
A graphic provided by FlightAware shows United Airlines Flight 179 turning around and landing at Goose Bay in Canada. FlightAware

In 2015, a United Airlines flight from Chicago to London was diverted, where passengers had to spend a night in a cold Canadian military barracks. There was backlash over that incident because the 11 crew members apparently spent the night in a nearby hotel.

United passengers forced to sleep in military barracks

Kris Van Cleave contributed to this report.

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