What should have been a 75-minute flight turned into a nine-hour nightmare for passengers on a Southwest flight from Baltimore to Raleigh.
The incident happened on Southwest Flight 3094 on Friday, when the plane began shaking “like crazy”, causing several passengers to vomit and one person even passing out.
The plane was dispatched to Myrtle Beach Airport amid the turbulence, and passengers were left without food or information for several hours as their flight crew departed.
According to a couple on board, the plane was nearing its destination, Raleigh, when it was canceled at the last second due to bad weather.
“It was quite a horrific experience – we land in Raleigh and the plane starts shaking like crazy – then they decide to let us know 15 minutes later that we’re going to Myrtle Beach,” said passenger Nicholas Reed.
Passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight from Baltimore to Raleigh reported “terrific” turbulence, which diverted a plane to Myrtle Beach and left them stranded for hours
According to a couple on board, the plane was nearing its destination, Raleigh, when it was canceled at the last second due to bad weather
This is the original trajectory the plane should take. It was eventually diverted to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Reed was out with his girlfriend Krys Spence when they returned from a cruise.
According to CBS 17, the fully loaded Boeing 737 was held on the tarmac for hours only for passengers to get inside and find a closed airport.
“We had nowhere to go because they wouldn’t give us our bags,” Reed said. “A group of guys found a bar and went behind it and just started pouring drinks – because there was no security.”
Southwest officials told the Raleigh station that the weather problems the plane faced as it approached Raleigh also caused the jet to run out of fuel.
Reed and Spence said the plane, which was due to depart around 6.40pm on Friday, wasted almost an hour of fuel on the tarmac before takeoff.
After the plane finally took off just after 7:30 p.m., problems arose around 9 a.m. as they approached Raleigh.
“When they got to Raleigh, they started landing as usual. We had the window open in our seat so we could actually see the ground,” Reed told CBS 17.
That’s when things took and became a turn
“The wings flapped. They were shaking,’ said Spence.
“Two people vomited very close to us. But everyone was pretty quiet. I guess they were just curious like ‘this could be it,'” Reed confirmed.
Passengers were stuck for hours at the closed Myrtle Beach airport
This is Nicholas Reed and Krys Spence who were on the Southwest Airlines flight
“Two people vomited very close to us. But everyone was pretty quiet. I guess they were just curious like ‘this could be it,'” Reed said of the severe turmoil
This is the Raleigh-Durham International Airport to which the aircraft originally flew
During the flight, the aircraft’s altitude dropped to about 1,350 feet.
“Fifteen minutes goes by and the captain comes back and says, ‘Hey, we’ll be in Myrtle Beach in 25 minutes.’ We were like, ‘What?’ said Reed.
In a statement to local TV station, Southwest officials said they had been working quickly to get passengers back on track and on schedule after the disruption.
“We have made the decision to safely divert Southwest Flight 3094 (BWI – RDU) to MYR due to weather conditions at RDU,” officials said.
“We deployed another crew and aircraft to transport the passengers to their final destination as soon as we could safely do so,” it continued.
Reed and Spence said passengers were told another plane was on the way to take them to their final destination.
However, the second plane did not come for hours.
“Then this captain and our flight attendants all disappear and we’re stuck at the airport. There were no vending machines in the entire terminal. Of course all the restaurants were closed,” Reed said.
“So when we got back here to Raleigh at 4 a.m. it was a really horrible experience. They didn’t offer us meal vouchers or anything like that. I thought we were flying Southwest all the time,” Reed said.
For several hours, the passengers were in the airport without access to food
Spence called it the “worst flying experience ever” in a post on Facebook
After hours without food, drink or information about what was happening, the second plane finally arrived.
Just after 1 am, the plane from Baltimore arrived in Myrtle Beach to take the group to Raleigh.
“So when we got back here to Raleigh at 4 a.m. it was a really horrible experience. They didn’t offer us meal vouchers or anything like that. I thought we were flying Southwest all the time,” Reed said.
Southwest Airlines has since apologized for the inconvenience and encouraged passengers to contact customer relations with any concerns.