Southwest Airlines is back in hot water after one of its flights was forced to divert and make a landing at a closed Myrtle Beach airport overnight. The diversion resulted in passengers being stranded for nine hours with no food or information overnight.
The flight aborted its approach into Raleigh-Durham International Airport at the last minute. Flight tracking data from FlightAware showed just how close Southwest flight 3094 got to its original destination, as the plane aborted the landing at 1,350 feet.
Southwest officials shared that the flight was diverted because the jet started to have weather issues, resulting in the jet having a low fuel situation.
The plane, a full Boeing 737, was able to land at Myrtle Beach safely, but the passengers were stuck on the aircraft for two hours before they were let into the airport, which was closed, for four hours, one couple shared with NewsNation.
Passengers on the aircraft spoke with NewsNation about the incident. The North Carolina couple depicted the flight from hell that saw three passengers vomit as the plane began shaking “like crazy” and someone having a panic attack and fainting.
“It was quite a horrifying experience. We go to land in Raleigh, and the plane starts shaking like crazy. Then they decide to tell us 15 minutes later we are going to Myrtle Beach,” Nicholas Reed told the media outlet.
While the passengers were finally off the plane and on the ground in Myrtle Beach safely, Reed shared that the nightmare wasn’t over, as they weren’t allowed their luggage or to go anywhere.
“One group of guys found a bar and went behind it and just started pouring themselves drinks — because there was no security,” Reed said.
Eventually, the plane reboarded, and the passengers made it to their destination hours after they were initially supposed to land in North Carolina.
Southwest Airlines has released a statement on the flight, explaining the delay and the reason for the diversion.
“We made the decision to safely divert Southwest flight 3094 (BWI – RDU) to MYR due to weather conditions at RDU,” the statement reads. “We brought in another crew and aircraft to transport the passengers to their final destination as soon as we were able to safely do so.”
Still, Reed shared that it wasn’t as simple as the airline put it, noting that they “got back here to Raleigh, [at] 4 a.m., so, it was a really terrible experience. They didn’t offer us meal vouchers or anything. I was like, we fly Southwest all the time.”
In its statement, Southwest apologized for the situation the passengers experienced but offered nothing about any possible future accommodations for the passengers.
“We apologize for the inconvenience and encourage passengers to reach out to our customer relations team with any concerns,” the airline said.
The incident comes at a tough time for the airline after its holiday meltdown led to the airline estimating it would see a net loss of between $725 million to $825 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to a securities filing.
“I know that no amount of apologies can undo your experience,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan wrote in a letter to the passengers of the more than 16,700 flights canceled last December.
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