A meltdown is a term used to describe when an airline’s operations come to a screeching halt. But for our context today, meltdown takes on another meaning: passengers becoming ill on a Delta Air Lines 757 baking in the hot afternoon sun in Las Vegas during an extended flight delay.
Delta Airlines Las Vegas Meltdown: Passengers Faint In Heat Onboard Sweltering 757 Jet
On Monday July 17, 2023 passengers boarded Delta flight 555 from Las Vegas (LAS) to Atlanta (ATL). It was 114ºF outside. Due to a missing crew member, passengers sat waiting onboard the Boeing 757-300 aircraft for four hours.
Passengers were not held as prisoners onboard, but were strongly advised to remain onboard so that the flight could leave as soon as the missing crew member showed up. Everyone did.
Until it became unbearable after the third hour.
Although the aircraft was at the gate and hooked up to an auxiliary power unit in order to cool it, passengers reported the plane became sweltering hot. How hot?
Passengers onboard reported the heat as “sweltering.” Some passengers vomited. Others used oxygen masks. Another hour passed and the paramedics were brought in. Several passengers and at least one flight attendant were removed from the aircraft on a stretcher.
One passenger posted the following video:
I am just shook. #delta #deltaairlines pic.twitter.com/FE5b5WIPba
— Krista Garvin (@Kristaanngarvin) July 18, 2023
I want to be careful not to sensationalize the story, but what was Delta thinking? Sure, most passengers seemed to be doing okay, but it also sounds like it was a sauna-like situation onboard.
With at least one crew member becoming ill, the flight was ultimately canceled. Delta has apologized for the situation:
“We apologize for the experience our customers had on flight 555 from Las Vegas to Atlanta on July 17, which ultimately resulted in a flight cancellation. Delta teams are looking into the circumstances that led to uncomfortable temperatures inside the cabin, and we appreciate the efforts of our people and first responders at Harry Reid International.”
It really boggles my mind how this delay became so grievous in the first place. I understand that sometimes crew members call in sick and a last-minute replacement is needed. But doesn’t Delta have a reserve base or a system in place to know when that crew member is coming so as not to keep passengers waiting on a hot plane in 114ºF heat for 40 minutes?
As One Mile At A Time wryly noted, “If you’re waiting to deplane passengers until the first group of people pass out, you’ve waited too long…” Yep.
CONCLUSION
A delayed Delta flight in the midst of summer heat in Las Vegas resulted in at least five passengers and a flight attendant being removed from the 757-300 in a stretcher. This really gives a whole new meaning to the word meltdown in the context of the aviation industry.
image: Tomás Del Coro
I guess making flying miserable is not enough, now the airlines want to kill their passengers slowly.
What?! How could this be? Some of the posters here assured me that delta is perfect! This must have been an undercover operation by united
A question for someone with knowledge of these situations: don’t the flight or cabin crew have a temperature reading inside the cabin? There must be guidelines for moving passengers into the terminal when it becomes threatening to their health to stay onboard. As far as the late flight crew member, if they didn’t call in with an ETA so the rest of the crew knew what they were dealing with, they should be reading the want ads right about now.
Who gave the orders to stay on the plane that long? I’m sure the crew was communicating with their dispatch / ops center about the passengers with medical complaints. Somebody needs to accept blame for this.
Climate change. We blame climate change on this. lol
They probably didn’t want the passengers to get off the plane becuase the crew would not get paid. They begin getting paid once the aircraft is loaded amd ready to takeoff.
Actually, if the plane is at the gate and the brakes are set.. FAs are not getting paid. They don’t get paid until the doors are closed, brakes are pulled and they push back.
Except on Delta, where they are paid at a 50% rate.
If I were on that airplane, I would have gotten off – they could arrest me and I would sue them for attempted murder.
There are provisions for pax to deplane until departure is imminent, pax stay near gate or return to aircraft in 10 minute etc. Crew wanted to split Vegas asap FA arrived. Crazy how Crew behave sometime. And probably as senior on a turn. Oh well… .
And they better not dare blame it on the weather when the issue of compensation comes up…..
I feel like blaming the airport is more likely than blaming the weather, depending on the details. That said, if te jetbridge was connected to the plane the whole time, then Delta would have a hard time blaming the airport. On the other hand, if the jet bridge was disconnected and the ground crew refuse to reconnect the jetbridge to the plane, then it wouldn’t be Delta’s fault because since LAS is not a Delta hub, ground crew are managed by the LAS airport authorities
Article says APU was providing power. If APU is running absent engine power, the boarding door has to be open and jetbridge attached. And it gets very loud by that door (personal experience).
What happened to a bloody perfect customer service Delta Airlines?
Cabin crews and flight deck not communicate or perhaps simply not care enough?
I can’t believe the plane didn’t taxi back to a gate (if one was unoccupied) sooner so the ground crew could hook up the AC hose & turn on the AC. If passengers aren’t allowed to deplane after 3 hrs., there is a $27,500 fine to the airline for each passenger.
I can almost guarantee they were waiting on a pilot. As a flight attendant, I can’t imagine how hot it must have been. We don’t have an open collar option for men. We wear a necktie, a button-up shirt, and a vest that doesn’t breathe all summer long. I feel like I’m about to pass out for most of the summer and the company really doesn’t care. They would rather leave right away as soon as the pilot gets there, and have crew and passengers nearly ill for however long it takes to get them there than do the humane thing and wait to board once the pilot arrives.
At Delta, your safety is our first priority (just kidding. Nobody will get fired or lose their pension over torturing their customers and hospitalizing a couple weaklings. We own this country)