Airliner diverted to Ontario airport lands at LAX after nine-hour fog delay

Dense fog forced officials to divert a plane carrying 193 passengers from El Salvador to Ontario International Airport for nearly nine hours. The TACA International Airlines Flight 670, en route to LAX, was redirected to Ontario about midnight, said Maria Tesoro-Fermin, a spokeswoman for the Ontario airport.

After a normal servicing this morning, the plane departed Ontario just after 9 a.m. and landed safely at LAX at 9:20 a.m., officials said. The plane’s crew was changed about 7 a.m. because it had run longer than its allotted hours, Tesoro-Fermin said. Passengers were provided with water and snacks during their long delay on the Ontario tarmac.

The National Weather Service has issued a dense fog advisory for the coastal areas of Los Angeles, Ventura and downtown L.A. Though the California Highway Patrol reported no major problems with the weather, motorists were warned to be prepared for near zero visibility in certain areas, or 1/4 mile or less at times. The advisory is set to expire at 9 a.m., but patchy fog was expected to continue through Wednesday night.

UPDATE: TACA Flight 670 remained on the tarmac this morning because local authorities at Ontario airport did not allow passengers to disembark, airline representatives said in a statement. Passengers were forced to stay on the Airbus 321 plane because authorities did not want passengers to pass through customs and enter the country, TACA said.

-- James Wagner

Comments

[LilyC]

Ontario is an International Airport. It's a shame they could not process the passengers through customs and bus them to LAX at the airline's expense. Heck, they could have walked there in 9 hours!

[olga]

I know someone on that flight, and she told me that people were not given water nor were they able to use the bathroom. One woman had a screaming panic attack, while the elderly passengers on the plane were becoming frightened because the plane was surrounded by police, so that no one would try to get offthe plane. The reason for the almost hostage like situation was because Ontario Airport had no customs officials to check the passengers in. From what I've been told, the whole thing sounds horrible to say the least, bordering on inhumane.

[Ashley]

Is it me or does it sound really odd that a flight to LAX was diverted to Ontario, to be kept there for 9 hours, when Ontario is maybe an hour and a half drive away...

[Haitham]

This is ridiculous. A passenger bill of rights urgently needs to be passed by Congress. If the passengers got together and filed a class action lawsuit for false imprisonment (what else could it be classified as?), the airlines and airport authorities would never get away with treating people so inhumanely. Imagine how traumatic it is to be stuck on a tarmac for that many hours when you're so close to your destination.

[RC]

Ashley, I think it's you. Did you not read the article? Being that LAX is near the coast, the plane could not land at LAX because of the fog. Ontario, being in the IE did not experience the same foggy conditions. Hope this helps you.

[Ed]

How could this happen! First the story from the LA Times is all wrong people were on the plane for nine hours with no food or water and the bathrooms didn't have any water in them. Now that you get this story wrong I wonder how many more you've gotten wrong in the past. Check you sources and editors don't let someone just write what they want. And shame on TACA and Ontario officials for the handling of this nightmare. Get you priorities straight. Why weren't the people just bused to LAX. What no back up plan. Shame on you.

[Bob]

I would like Ontario Airport (LA World Airports) to explain why they couldn't let them off in to a gate at the end of the terminal and close that end off. They wouldn't have to go through customs as you can get them right back on the plane when the weather clears. This is easily done at that airport. Or they could let them off at the Ontario International terminal and hold them there? Why weren't Customs bused out to Ontario as they were not processing any flights at LAX due to the fog? Why weren't the passengers bussed with their luggage to LAX? Terrorism threat? Not likely as they are all prescreened before getting on the flight.
Ask more questions LA TIMES!

[wow]

I sure hope I'm never diverted on a plane, say in England, and left there for 8 hours with SAS forces around me so that I couldn't slip in the country.

I mean, it would be an outrage, right?

We'd complain to the Prime Minister's office, right?

Then again, since I look the same as an english person, perhaps there would be no issue at all. coughcough.

[EP]

You cant always blame the airport. TACA should never have left their departing airport if they had checked the weather. They should have waited to arrive in LAX until after 9:00 am when the fog had lifted. If a plane has to divert to another airport due weather then unfortunately thats what happens. Its easy to say let the passengers off but there are strict immigration rules and I'm sure at midnight there are no officers on duty as they have no flights normally. And who would pay to bus passenger to LAX? Its a weather delay for Gods sake, if you owned an airline would you pay for mother natures disruption? Get real, if the passengers were told they would be billed for the transport I'm sure they would say forget it we'll wait it out!

Situations are always going to happen when you travel, get over it!

[Alonso]

I was on that plane. It was absolutely inhumane, both on the part of the airport officials and on TACA. A class action lawsuit may be necessary, or at least some fair compensation for the inhumane conditions in which we were. False imprisonment, as someone called it, is a good way to describe it. I don't have experience in these matters, but if someone out there was also on that plane and is looking for ways to make justice please contact me. allosa@gmail.com

[ARCE]

We were also on a flight from London to lax on the same night we landed at 0126 AM and there were no issues for our flight to land, I wonder why?

[ARCE]

We were also on a flight from London to lax on the same night we landed at 0126 AM and there were no issues for our flight to land, I wonder why?

[Katrina]

I agree that we all have to be flexible when we travel and I kept having to remind myself of that as I sat on the plane for 10 extra hours and had to call my employer and request an unpaid day off. We are (and TACA) so lucky that there weren't tiny babies on the flight without diapers or milk or that any people were without their medication (people without their oxygen or a diabetic patient). We were so lucky. The clogged toilets were nasty and it felt utterly absurd that we couldn't at least walk around outside the plane or use a working toilet!

It is definitely fair to question why the heck we didn't fly to LAX when other airlines were! Also, I think TACA should have paid for a bus for us to be transported to LAX. New information out by the Associated Press Newswires explains that we couldn't fly to LAX because our pilot wasn't authorized to land in the fog. With issues like that, it's definitely right to question what was going on...

um... we definitely deserve compensation

[Aida]

I was on that plain. Feelings about it are hard to express. Anger. How inhumane, I think they were trying to save money and that is why they did not transport us to LAX. At a point, the pilot said that his hours were over and that whatever happened after that was not his responsability and he threatened by telling us that there was a police officer assigned to the plane, just in case!!! I was so upset!! if it is not his responsability and they are not allowing us off the plain to be responsible for ourselves, then, who's responsability was it?
I called TACA and they said that if I wanted compensation, I should have asked for it at the moment we landed!!!, who wants to stay around at the airport for compensation after being inside of a plane for 15 hours, hungry, thirsty, tired, feeling sick, after being treated like an animal, loosing a day of work, no ride home, having to make work and babysitting arrangements from the plane, having been lied to by plane crew who said that the airport was closed at 8 am and had been closed all night and all of a sudden, we were ready to head to LA. Who wants to stay and complain at that moment.
It was until later that I realized how irresponsbile it was on their part.
Soooooo upsetting!!!

[TACA]

I suggest not flying Taca. There are few other choices that should be consider. I am employed by TACA and I do not fly TACA.

[Hugo Jimenez-Gutierrez]

To the lady or gentleman who said "I suggest not flying Taca. There are few other choices that should be consider. I am employed by TACA and I do not fly TACA."

Let me advice you to submit your resignation. If you don't believe that the airline who hired you is not safe [or whatever your reasons are to recommend
"not flying TACA"] probably some of the "few other choices" will hire you during this recession time.

[Chris]

Utterly appalling. I cannot even begin to express how much anger I feel about how these passengers were treated. When rules and regulations are more important in a society than COMMON SENSE and SIMPLE HUMAN DECENCY, there is little left in that society to be proud of. I wasn't on this plane, nor do I know anyone that was, nor had I even heard of TACA before. But reading this story makes my blood boil. Something needs to be done about this.

[Maria Victoria Maynard]

I was one of the passangers on that plane. I know that it is a law action sue related to the airliner diverted to Ontarion on Decembe 31, 2008
I would like to know how can I be part of that action sue.
If you have any information concerning that please let me know
Thank you
MVM