The Transportation Department is investigating the extended tarmac delay of a Virgin America flight at Newburgh-Stewart Airport (about 90 miles north of New York City), while en route to Kennedy Airport from Los Angeles.
The flight was stuck on the tarmac at Stewart for 4.5 hours because of bad weather, according to Virgin America. According to published reports, it took passengers about 16 hours to complete the entire trip.
Those same reports say that Virgin America was feeding passengers rationed potato chips and that flight attendants were rude to stranded flyers.
In an online apology posted on the carrier's web site, airline CEO David Cush said, "The severe weather conditions, the effective closure of JFK, and the fact that we are not equipped to handle flights at Stewart International Airport created a difficult situation, but ultimately, it is our responsibility to ensure that our guests are handled with the care and respect that they deserve when they buy a ticket on our airline."
Cush further said, "We pride ourselves on putting the well-being of our travelers first and making sure that, in stressful situations, we put our guests at ease. We failed this on Flight 404. After an internal review, I contacted all the guests onboard beginning Sunday evening to apologize for their experience, refund their flights in full and extend future flight credits."
Virgin says it gave passengers the option to leave the aircraft at Stewart, and that 20 of the 126 aboard chose to do so. The airline said five cases of water were delivered to the flight while it was stuck on the tarmac.
Lacking ground staff at Stewart, the airline said it relied on JetBlue personnel to help Virgin America's plane and passengers.
Virgin America said it had complied with DOT rules for the flight.
New DOT rules that go into effect April 29 subject airlines to fines of up to $27,500 per passenger for flights if they don't deplane passengers after a tarmac delay of three hours. The airlines also must provide passengers food and water during such delays.
Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, said, "What happened with Virgin America underscores the need for such a rule. The airlines continue not to focus on this as a problem."
