Passengers on an overbooked United Airlines flight from Chicago O’Hare to Newark International Airport received a startling warning just before takeoff on Tuesday.
Multiple individuals who were on the flight told NJ.com that after the cabin had been sealed, the pilot came on the intercom and announced that the plane would be travelling through ‘horrific storms including tornadoes.’
He then added that the trip would be ‘very turbulent’ before walking into the cockpit and shutting the door.
There were in fact tornado warnings throughout areas of Pennsylvania and New Jersey that were in the flight path, but they were only in effect until 8pm Chicago time.
The scheduled 5:54pm flight did not end up taking off until 1:14am on Wednesday, and landed in Newark just before 4am.
The airline did not respond to a request for comment.
Friendly skies: A United pilot told passengers travelling from Chicago to Newark on Tuesday evening that he would be ‘heading straight for tornadoes’ (file photo above)
Forecast: There were a number of tornado warnings in Pennsylvania and New Jersey on Tuesday, but only until 8pm Chicago time (tornado warning above)
On the way: The scheduled 5:54pm flight did not end up taking off until 1:14am on Wednesday, and landed in Newark just before 4am (flight path above)
A female flight attendant immediately got on the intercom after the pilot’s surprise announcement and tried to calm the passengers, a number of whom wanted to be let off the aircraft.
One person on the flight managed to capture the minute-long speech that was delivered by the woman, during which she reassured passengers that everything was going to be fine and there was no reason for concern.
The flight attendant also explained that the pilot only mentioned the weather to explain why there were delays, with the plane running over two hours behind schedule at that point.
She also appeared to be just as confused about what had happened as those seated in the cabin judging by the tone and inflection of her voice.
The flight returned to the gate about 20 minutes later after a maintenance issue arose just before the aircraft was set to taxi.
At that point, the pilot and flight attendants were replaced by a new crew.
That dismissal had nothing to do with the announcement however, but rather the fact that because of the severe delays at the airport the crew had ‘timed out’ and fulfilled their required hours for that shift.
Passengers were also forced to deboard and get on a separate plane, that at the very least also came with a new pilot.
Not every passenger made the switch however, with Pamela Kent electing to stay in Chicago and wait for another flight.
‘It was a general feeling of being rattled,’ explained Kent of having to listen to the ‘angry’ pilot’s storm announcement.
‘You want a pilot to have confidence. There was not that feeling.’
Humor: Sisters Elizabeth and Alexandra Svokos also detailed the flight from hell on Twitter as they travelled for 15 hours after watching the eclipse in Idaho
Getting real: Things then took a turn with the tornado announcement (above)
She made it: Elizabeth revealed that she finally touched down at 4am on Wednesday
Meanwhile, sisters Elizabeth and Alexandra Svokos detailed their nightmare trip home on the flight, with the two travelling for 15 hours in the end before getting back to New York City.
The young women managed to find some humor in the grim situation at the beginning, tweeting at United to say that free drinks should be provided since they were still sitting on the tarmac two hours after the scheduled takeoff.
Elizabeth then noted how hot it was on the plane before writing: ‘We have just been told that were heading straight for tornadoes and will likely be in the air an extra hour.’
And as the plane headed back to the gate after going nowhere for three hours, the sisters still managed to keep it together with some amusing tweets at the airline.
‘Back to the gate. @united please, I ran into my ex during the layover today, I just want to go home. But free drinks would be cool too,’ wrote Elizabeth.
She then followed that up by writing: ‘I feel like you’re not grasping the severity. I’m not wearing makeup. #UA1997.’
Her next tweet revealed that the pilot had walked off the flight, and when it came time for her to exit the aircraft there were no more jokes.
‘And upon de-planing, this officially became unfunny. @united, this is f***ed up,’ wrote Elizabeth.
The sisters were forced to board and then deboard another plane before getting on their final aircraft, which came with an unlikely and not very useful gift.
‘We are boarding plane #3. They gave us $10 meal vouchers for terminal shops that closed two hours ago. Lots of exasperated laughter #UA1997,’ wrote Alexandra.
That plane did eventually take off, and an exhausted Elizabeth tweeted just before dawn: ‘Landed. 4AM and still have to get home. Can’t wait to go to work in a few hours.’
The sisters had been returning from Idaho, were the watched the eclipse.
A fellow passenger named David retweeted their version of events on Wednesday, stating: ‘That was the last chapter in the most epic 48 sleepless hours of my life, including seeing total eclipse in Kentucky. Abs. doing best.’
He also asked Alexandra how she was doing, to which she replied: ‘I took a 15-second nap in the elevator at work so doing ~great~.’