Flight Home From DC Field Trip Turns Into Another Learning Experience

Are you tired of reading about passengers stranded on airline flights yet? If you are, you might as well skip this next story... as those problems aren't limited to American and JetBlue.

Sunday night, a group of middle school students from Indiana were stuck onboard their United Airlines flight, as they tried to return home from a field trip to the nation's capitol.

"It was incredible and it was so hot. And it was really uncomfortable and everybody was sweating," passenger Rocki Kaminski told Chicago's WLS-TV of the six-hour ordeal on the tarmac at Dulles International.

"There were a lot of people in the aisles and extremely hard to move," added Mark Borowiak. "They only gave you one granola bar and water." Ashton Balch, another passenger on United Flight 591, added "If you wanted to go to the bathroom there was a line. You couldn't fit through."

"I think it would have been better to take us back to the gate because it was really cramped," said passenger Amanda Kollar.

After a six-hour ground hold, the 767 finally took off for the two hour flight to O'Hare... but the wait wasn't over, even after the plane touched down in Chicago.

"We all wanted to go home because we were tired. And once we got to Chicago, we had to drive back to this area. And we were wondering when we were going to get home," said student Kristen Pesut.

Parents who waited anxiously for their children said the situation is another example of why airline passengers need a "bill of rights," an idea that has caught fire lately after a rash of similar incidents in Texas and New York. One parent complained United's website showed the flight had departed, when in reality it had only left the gate.

"I would rather hear they don't know what's going on, rather than put information on a web site that indicates the plane had taken off when it hadn't," said Mark Borowiak.

"I think after like three hours or something, they should go back to the gate. It would be much better if they were in the terminal getting food or whatever instead of sitting on plane," said parent Carolyn Osborn.

A spokesman for the airline -- who did not want to appear on camera, WLS noted -- apologized for the delay, saying it was unavoidable.

"Though the unpredicted snow squalls and blizzard conditions impacted our operations, we are always striving to do better for our customers and improve their travel experience," the spokesman said.

FMI: www.united.com