Airline passengers stuck on airfield for 7 hours

NEW YORK - It was a passengers' nightmare at Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Conn., this weekend.

Passengers on at least three JetBlue planes and one American Airline plane say they were stranded on the tarmac for seven hours or more after being diverted from New York-area airports on Saturday.

The ordeal continued after they were let off and had to spend the night on cots and chairs in terminals. A passenger on one of the diverted JetBlue planes says the crew ran out of snacks and bottled water for the last few hours of the delay. "The toilets were backed up. When you flushed, nothing would happen," said Andrew Carter, a reporter for the Sun Sentinel of Florida, who was traveling to cover the Miami Dolphins game against the New York Giants. His plane took off from Fort Lauderdale for Newark at around 9 a.m. After being diverted to Hartford, the plane sat on the tarmac between around 1:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., he said. The saga continued long after passengers were let off the plane. The power outages made booking hotel rooms difficult. As a result, many just slept at the airport. When they awoke, hundreds had to wait in line for hours just to figure out which flight they'd be on. AP