Passengers on board a United Airlines flight from San Francisco received an unfortunate welcome to Australia Friday.
They were forced to wait on the tarmac at Canberra International Airport for eight hours after their flight was diverted because it couldn't land in Sydney due to debris on the runway.
At first, passengers were kept from leaving the plane, but as food — and toilet paper — ran out, they were eventually allowed onto the tarmac but no further. Customs and immigration officials in Canberra wasn't set up to process the passengers.
"Until a request is received for formal border clearance, Customs and Border Protection is providing an area outside the aircraft in which passengers can get fresh air and stretch their legs without formally clearing the border," a spokesman from Customs and Border Protection said, according to reports in Australian media.
To make matters worse, the pilots ran out of flying time, which meant two more pilots had to be flown down from Sydney to fly the plane back.
"It's been horrible,” one passenger said. "They're frustrated. We're frustrated. We're all in the same boat."
"It was just a comedy of sequence and errors and who do you blame?" another passenger said.
Local
Passengers eventually made it to Sydney, landing safely some eight hours behind schedule.
Australian airport authorities have apologized for the inconvenience but stressed that safety of the passengers was their number one priority.
Finally landed in Sydney #UA863 — Fabio Calabria (@FabioCalabria) December 12, 2014
#StrandedInCanberra #UA863 #united863 pic.twitter.com/BZtGJ5snCv — Gustav Toppenberg (@gtoppenberg) December 12, 2014
Passenger @FabioCalabria (front) lives 10k from here. @Aussiepool1 (back) has been flying 30hrs from Chicago #UA863 pic.twitter.com/H2F9MqPr0i — Siobhan Heanue (@siobhanheanue) December 12, 2014
