A passenger aboard a United Airlines flight from Scotland to Chicago<\/a> says a weather diversion turned the 8-hour flight into a 20-hour travel nightmare, as the airplane bathrooms \u201cfilled up,\u201d and travelers were left stranded<\/a> on the tarmac with nowhere to go. <\/p>\n Due to stormy weather, Heather Fields\u2019 July 27 flight from Edinburgh to O\u2019Hare International Airport was rerouted to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where passengers were stuck on the plane <\/a>for about four hours after landing, Fields told ABC 7. <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt was quite shocking,\u201d Fields said. \u201cThe bathrooms filled up. Toilet paper ran low; food ran out. We were able to serve ourselves water. There was very little information as to what was happening.\u201d <\/p>\n The delays became even more extensive when passengers were informed that the flight could not take off because United\u2019s crew had exceeded their allowable duty time. <\/p>\n \u201cWe taxied to the runway and almost immediately the pilot announced that actually they had timed out, their FAA timeout, and that they weren\u2019t going to be able to fly to Chicago. And they were going to need to take us off the runway and wait for a replacement crew,\u201d Fields said. <\/p>\n The travelers were then instructed to exit the aircraft and wait outside on the tarmac \u2014 where they stayed for five hours, according to Fields. <\/p>\n Fields, who lives in Costa Rica, says the passengers were later let off the plane near a customs building. However, they were told that there were no agents available to process them, forcing them to remain waiting outside. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a certain point where you think to yourself, \u2018Am I allowed to leave?\u2019 Which is a funny feeling, an American coming onto U.S. soil. And so I asked, as other passengers did. It became evident that United didn\u2019t have a plan for us,\u201d Fields said. <\/p>\n Fields said that United sent the stranded travelers pizza, but not enough to feed everybody. A replacement crew arrived several hours later and the flight departed for Chicago around 10:30 p.m. <\/p>\n \u201cWe went through customs in the international terminal and then everybody rushed to domestic to make whatever connection or try to get put on a connection,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Fields said that since the flight arrived at O\u2019Hare so late, she wasn\u2019t able to get through TSA to reach the domestic terminals before it closed. She said she arrived in Denver about 20 hours after she was originally supposed to land. <\/p>\n After complaining to United over email, Fields was initially offered $200 flight credits, before the airline upped their offer to $500. However, that still wasn\u2019t enough in Fields\u2019 eyes. <\/p>\n \u201cI shared that with United and it was really frustrating to receive a very short message just saying that was due to weather,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n In a statement to The Independent, United said, \u201cWe apologized to this customer for her experience, provided her with an electronic travel certificate and refunded some of her fees as a gesture of goodwill.\u201d <\/p>\n The airline added: \u201cCustoms and Border Patrol in Green Bay were unable to clear customers but allowed them to deplane on the tarmac into a controlled area. We provided food and beverages and after getting a new crew to operate the flight it departed for Chicago.\u201d <\/p>\n The U.S. Department of Transportation requires a full refund if a flight is canceled due to the weather \u2014 but since this flight had been in the air when the disruption occurred, it would not qualify for a full refund. <\/p>\n Fields said the situation was also \u201creally frustrating\u201d because she could see some other passengers struggling with the extended delays. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was really frustrating that we were not able to make choices for ourselves, but our basic needs weren\u2019t being met,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that\u2019s the crux of it for me to look at the elderly people that, you know, the woman who felt like she would faint. And then later I see her trying to sleep on the cold airport floor. You know, she\u2019s my mother\u2019s age. I see a woman in a wheelchair. And I wonder, how is this for her?\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1171031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,51,153450,4884,712,252693,16,15],"class_list":["post-1171030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scotland","tag-britain","tag-business","tag-domestic-politics","tag-great-britain","tag-scotland","tag-top-picture","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117163737041815164","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1171030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1171031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1171030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1171030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1171030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026-08-10T125424Z_1920123607_RC2CVMABF5UF_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-DULLES.JPG\")
A United Airlines flight that was diverted due to weather turned into a 20-hour travel nightmare, according to one passenger on board (Reuters)<\/p>\n![\"Passengers](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2280763717.jpg\")
Passengers were held on board for four hours before being let onto the tarmac, where they sat for five hours, according to a report (Getty Images)<\/p>\n