‘Sobbing’ Passengers Left Sitting In Hot American Airlines Plane For 6 Hours Passengers are calling out American Airlines after they were left on a hot airplane with no food or drinks for six hours on Sunday. Problems began when the plane, which was supposed to take passengers from Charlotte to New York city, experienced issues with its fuel tank, according to passenger Genna Contino. After three hours, Airline officials moved all the passengers to another plane, which promptly taxied onto the runway, she says. And then it stopped. To save fuel, the pilot turned off the air conditioning, Contino says. With no air conditioning, food or beverages, “people started sobbing and having panic attacks” — but passengers were told they weren’t allowed to leave the plane, Contino adds. Responding to the complaint, American spokesman Andrew Trull blamed “maintenance issues and weather” for the unpleasant experience. “While certainly an unfortunate delay, it is something we apologize to our customers for, with the combination of maintenance and weather,” Trull says. Should American do more than just issue a half-hearted apology to its passengers?
