Diverted airline passengers 'held without food or water'

Airline passengers diverted to a holding airport on a flight from London to the US were kept on board for hours without food or water, they claimed today.

The Virgin Atlantic Airways flight to Newark, New Jersey landed at Connecticut's Bradley International Airport last night because of bad weather.

Passengers said they arrived at about 8.20pm local time and were kept on the plane until about 1am today (6am Irish time).

Some told CNN that people were yelling and screaming. At least three people fainted and were taken away in ambulances, passengers said. The aircraft was carrying 300 passengers and 14 crew.

"It was like four hours on the ground without any air conditioning. It was crazy. Just crazy," passenger Beth Willan said. "There were babies on the plane. And we are in dark and hot. You try to be patient but people were yelling and screaming."

Virgin Atlantic confirmed that Flight VS001 on the Airbus A340-600 was diverted because of bad weather in the Newark area. It said the passengers were taken on buses to Newark on today.

"Virgin Atlantic would like to thank passengers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused," it said.

A Virgin spokeswoman said that Bradley Airport "isn't used to dealing with international flights" and had to call customs and immigration officials back to the airport last night to process the passengers. She said the airline was forced to keep people on the plane.

"It was a situation that was beyond our control," said the spokeswoman, who refused to give her name. "There were weather conditions. ... Bradley had to get customs and immigration to the airport."

The spokeswoman said she believed passengers were kept on the flight for about three hours. She said the planes have water fountains aboard, but she was not sure if any food was left over after the in-flight meals had been served.

Ken Cast, an airport operations specialist, said Virgin is not one of the airport's carriers and the airline had to call in personnel to handle the passengers.

"Being an international flight, it's not like you can let people wander aimlessly," he said. "They need to be processed, and they need to be kept safe. Everyone has to clear customs.

"The rules still need to be followed," he said. "Everyone was safe. They may have been uncomfortable, but they were safe. It's better to be on the ground wishing you were somewhere else than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground."

He confirmed that a few passengers who were not feeling well were treated by paramedics.

A new federal rule on flights stuck on runways that went into effect in April bans US carriers from making passengers wait on planes for longer than three hours.

International airlines are not subject to the three-hour delay rule, even if they land or takeoff from US airports.