Officials give varying accounts of nine-hour plane diversion
TACA airlines says events were out of its control. A statement from Ontario airport says the airline did not request that passengers be allowed to exit the plane. Passengers are still confused.
One woman screamed she might have a heart attack. Another panic-stricken woman clamored for her medicine. The bathroom could not be serviced for nearly six hours and at one point, drinking water was at a premium.
It all happened within the confines of a TACA International Airlines flight from El Salvdor that sat on the tarmac at Ontario International Airport for nearly nine hours Monday, as officials tried to sort out protocol in the wee hours of the morning.
Dense fog had forced Flight 670, en route to Los Angeles International Airport, to be diverted to the Ontario airport about midnight Sunday, where it remained until mid-morning on Monday.
Just why the flight's 132 passengers were forced to wait for so long on the cramped aircraft -- with little relief -- remained a matter of dispute today.
According to a new statement issued by airline officials, a series of events beyond their control caused the plane to be further and further delayed. The plane originally had planned to refuel and wait for the fog to clear at LAX, TACA officials said. A large demand for fuel from other diverted flights pushed the TACA plane's departure back. Local customs officials also instructed TACA to wait until it arrived in Los Angeles to process its passengers into the country, the airline said.
Airport officials, however, gave a different story.
According to a statement from Los Angeles World Airports, which operates the Ontario airport, TACA never asked that passengers be allowed to exit the aircraft at Ontario. In addition, it never requested that passengers be deplaned to bus them to LAX, airport officials said.
As the plane waited until mid-morning for fog to clear at LAX, the airline did not request that U.S. Customs and Border Protection process passengers so they could stretch their legs or sit in the terminal.
Customs officials were not at Ontario airport after 1:30 a.m. Customs does not staff the airport around the clock, airport officials said. Although the airport did not have customs staff on hand to process exiting passengers, it could have summoned them, according to the airport agency.
"It is also unknown why, even after [the airport] suggested, TACA staff did not request clearance to have their passengers deplane for humanitarian reasons," the agency said in a prepared statement.
At 2:45 a.m., TACA said it was informed that customs officials at LAX could not wait any longer for the flight to arrive and passengers could be processed when the office reopened at 6 a.m.
