Weather Diversions, French Cargo Plane Force UAL Pax To Sit In 777 All Night

It was the red-eye flight from hell for 155 passengers stuck on a United Airlines 777 in Milwaukee (WI) -- all night long Friday and into Saturday morning.

UAL 256 was headed to Chicago from Denver when it was diverted to Milwaukee because of storms. When the aircraft landed at General Mitchell Field in Milwaukee, a bad situation got worse -- there was only one gate capable of accommodating the wide-body jet and it was in use by an Air France cargo flight. It, too, had been diverted because of weather.

So why not just move the Air France cargo flight? Because in doing so, the AF crew would have exceeded their maximum allowable cockpit time. The 155 passengers aboard Flight 256 had to sit on the tarmac for some seven hours.

"We're looking into why the airport was unable to make other accommodations for us so we could get passengers off the plane," said United spokesman Rich Nelson in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.

"We were all very frustrated," said passenger Dan Nettesheim. He told the Sun-Times that he lives in Milwaukee, but had his car parked at O'Hare. "A woman I sat next to had an 11 a.m. wedding in Chicago, and all her clothes were in her luggage, which they couldn't get to." Nettesheim said the pilot announced there were mechanical problems with the aircraft and left the passengers with nothing more than pretzels and water.

It wasn't until 0500 local time that United, with help from Northwest, got a moveable stairway in place and deplaned the passengers. They were then bused to Chicago.

United clearly wants to make good. Nelson said the airline is offering the passengers who were stranded a round-trip domestic ticket on the house.

FMI: www.ual.com