Passenger on Board Las Vegas Delta Flight Describes People Needing Oxygen Tanks
A passenger on board Delta Air Lines' overheated DL555 flight from Las Vegas to Atlanta spoke with Insider.
She said it was the worst travel day of her life.
As she and others sat on the hot plane for hours, multiple passengers and a flight attendant required medical care.
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After a long weekend of work in Las Vegas, April Love planned to doze off on her Delta Air Lines return flight from Las Vegas to Atlanta, but her day descended into what she said was the worst travel experience of her life.
Love, a CEO and publicist who works in the entertainment industry, was on Delta flight DL555 — a flight that never took off and left four passengers requiring oxygen tanks due to excessive heat, Love said.
On the plane, vents were not working amid a heatwave, Love told Insider, and the plane sat on the runway for hours in sweltering heat, until passengers were eventually allowed off.
Delta Air Lines did not immediately return Insider's request for comment. In a previous statement, the airline issued an apology to the customers, said it was investigating the incident, and confirmed that first responders were required on the flight.
Passengers sat in triple-digit temperatures for hours without working vents
"It was the worst travel experience in life, and really dangerous," Love told Insider. On Monday, temperatures in Las Vegas rose as high as 116 Fahrenheit, or about 46 Celsius, in the afternoon, when the flight was scheduled to take off.
Before boarding, passengers dealt with an hour-long delay as the airline initially needed to find an additional crew member to take off, Love told Insider.
On board, Love told Insider that passengers sat for hours in the heat with no ventilation or refreshments.
"At the two-hour mark, we hadn't gotten any water," Love told Insider. "It was super uncomfortable, I was sweating and the vents weren't working."
Passengers were told that the plane was waiting for its turn to use the runway, according to Love and a Fox Business producer on the flight.
But as they waited for close to four hours, one passenger soiled themselves, one person threw up, and several people required oxygen tanks due to the heat, Love said.
"The pilot made an announcement that 'we have several medical emergencies that we need to address,'" Love told Insider. "And when we returned to the gate, they wouldn't let us off until after they let the EMTs on."
Officials at Harry Reid International Airport did not immediately return Insider's request for comment to confirm the number of passengers who needed medical attention.
24-hours of a travel day without leaving Las Vegas
Love, who is diabetic, said that she tried to walk to cooler areas of the plane as she struggled with being trapped in the hot plane.
On Friday, the Department of Transportation announced that they were investigating what went wrong on the flight, according to CNN.
The DOT did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.
Eventually, after a flight attendant was taken off the plane on a gurney, according to Love, they were back to square one with too few flight attendants, and the flight was canceled. Passengers from the plane, which included the elderly and babies, were offered hotel vouchers from Delta.
But the hotels had no rooms available, Love told Insider.
She eventually paid for her own hotel, slept a few hours, and returned to Harry Reid International Airport early the next morning for a new flight to Atlanta, rounding off a 24-hour travel day — where she hadn't even left Las Vegas.
As of Friday, Delta has offered Love 20,000 miles and an emailed apology. Back in Atlanta, she has gone to the doctor after feeling under the weather all week due to her travel experience.
"It's not just an email, I need somebody in front of a mic," Love said. "You put our lives in jeopardy."
Source: Insider
