American Airlines passengers in Miami stuck on sweltering Boeing plane: Travelers

American Airlines passengers were stuck on a sweltering Boeing plane for more than an hour while waiting to depart from Miami to Costa Rica late Thursday night, two travelers told FOX Business.

Passengers on American Airlines Flight 1353 say they got off the plane twice before being transferred to another plane at Miami International Airport. FlightAware data says the Boeing 737 ultimately departed about five hours after its scheduled departure time and arrived in San Jose earlier this morning.

“All the little kids were crying, and it got to the point where when we got there the second time, it was like it had to be at least 95 degrees in there. It was ridiculous,” said passenger Daniel Solana, who said he He told FOX Business he was traveling with his 3-year-old son to his nephew’s baptism. “The majority of the passengers were upset, and they just wanted answers. And every time they got off the plane, they didn’t have answers.”

One video obtained by FOX Business shows passengers trying to calm themselves by waving papers while the flight captain is heard saying over the intercom, “Power’s not working for us today.” Another clip shows the plane’s lights flashing, prompting one disgruntled passenger to complain, “Here we go again!”

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Passengers on American Airlines Flight 1353 were told the plane was experiencing electrical problems. (Courtesy Terry and Bobby Barbour)

American Airlines said on Friday it was looking into the situation.

When he first got on the plane, Solana says, “it was a little hot” and “they kept telling us we had some electrical problems, but they wouldn’t tell us anything else.”

After about an hour and twenty minutes, Solana said the passengers were ordered off the plane.

“Basically they just said we’re going to fix the plane and then we’re going to get out, so we’re all sitting in the arrivals hall saying, ‘Okay, are you going to fix the power outage?’ Especially with all the things that happened with Boeing, and the plane was a Boeing 737.”

Passengers were then asked to start boarding the same plane again, but it remained hot inside the cabin, Solana says.

“Both times I was on the plane, I was drenched in sweat the entire time,” he said. “I would go to the bathroom and get tissues and wipe my face.”

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American Airlines planes appear at Miami International Airport on May 9, 2024. (Jakub Purzycki/Noor Photo via Getty Images/Getty Images)

After sitting on the runway for another hour, Solana said four to five attempts to start the plane’s engines without the help of generators were unsuccessful, eventually leading to another deplane. He said some passengers were shouting, “Open the door, open the door, it’s hot!”

Another passenger, Bobbi Barbour — who was traveling to Costa Rica with her mother for a wedding — told FOX Business, “Just as we were about to turn back, the lights went out again and the pilot kept trying to turn them on and turn the plane. The plane came back and that’s when everyone started screaming.”

Solana added: “It had already been four hours – the whole thing was that I was with my son, there were more kids on the plane and it was hot. We weren’t offered a bottle of water, or some chips or anything. That was my whole gripe.” With them.”

The passengers were eventually put on a second plane that was “nice and cool” compared to the first plane, according to Solana, but they had to wait a little longer to depart as the cabin crew had to remove a “very drunk” passenger and his luggage.

An American Airlines Boeing 737 takes off from Miami, Florida, on December 29, 2020. (Reuters/Marco Bello/Fox News)

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Solana also said, “When we got here” in Costa Rica, “it was funny that the jet bridge broke.”