Freak Winter Storm Diverts Flight With No Place To Deplane Passengers, Investigation Underway

Passengers on board a JetBlue flight from Fort Lauderdale to Newark were diverted to Hartford Bradley International Airport in Connecticut Saturday, but with airports shut down all over the northeast due to a heavy snowstorm, there was no gate at which to park the plane.

So they waited, and waited some more, and seven hours passed before the airplane was able to move to a gate to allow the more than 100 passengers to deplane ... along with the passengers on other planes diverted to Hartford due to the weather ... to spend the night on cots and chairs in the airport terminal.

Blame it on the weather. The early-season snowstorm which roared up the east coast leaving millions without power caused nearly two dozen planes to be diverted to Hartford, according to ABC News. The pilot of the Fort Lauderdale flight eventually got on the radio and asked ATC to send police to his plane to take care of an issue. "I'm going to need to have the cops onboard," he said. "I need some air stairs brought over here and cops brought onboard the airplane. (W)e can't seem to get any help from our own company," he said, according to a recording on LiveATC.net.

A JetBlue spokeswoman said the infrastructure at Hartford was "just overwhelmed." Jenny Dervin said that 23 flights were diverted to Hartford, including six from JetBlue. In a statement, the airline said "We worked with the airport to secure services, including remote deplaning and lav servicing. Our flights were six of the 23 reported diverted into Hartford, including international flights. The airport experienced intermittent power outages, which made refueling and jetbridge deplaning difficult. We apologize to the customers impacted by this confluence of events."

The incident is under investigation, and JetBlue and other airlines which kept passengers on planes beyond three hours are subject to fines totalling $27,500 per passenger.

FMI: www.jetblue.com