Passengers on Virgin Atlantic aircraft were stranded ahead of a lockdown of JFK airport in New York due to winter storm Juno when their flight to London was cancelled after six hours on the tarmac.
The flight was due to take off at 6.30pm local time on Monday but sat on the ground for six hours before returning to the gate after midnight after having trouble de-icing and with a sick passenger.
A travel ban took effect at 11pm on Monday in the New York area, preventing cars from travelling and halting all public transportation.
Even if the passengers had somewhere to go for the night, they were unable to get there, according to local reports.
The airline reportedly handed out $15 vouchers to be spent at McDonald’s, the only restaurant that remained open at the airport.
The delay occurred when a passenger became sick and needed urgent medical attention, Virgin Atlantic said. The aircraft was then de-iced, but suffered a minor mechanical issue.
By then the crew was no longer able to work the flight after going out of hours and the aircraft returned to the terminal.
The airline apologised for the disruption and said passengers were provided with blankets and meal vouchers.
The flight was re-scheduled to depart at 6.30pm last night. Passenger Felix Kunze tweeted pictures of the scene at a deserted JFK.
“We’re stuck at JFK, no roads, no cabs, no stores open, no hotel rooms. Nightmare,” he tweeted.
“Worst thing about all this is: a @VirginAtlantic flight scheduled an hour AFTER us, left on time. We just got screwed,” he tweeted.
While New York City escaped the worst of the storm, coastal New England was battered yesterday by a blizzard of blinding snow and winds that topped hurricane speeds. Streets in Boston were empty of all but snowplows.
New York City, New Jersey and parts of Connecticut lifted travel bans.
But major airports in the north-east of the US were still deserted after more than 7,700 flights were cancelled.
The city of Worcester, about 60 miles west of Boston, had at least 25 inches of snow on the ground while all of Nantucket island lost power as a 78 mph gust of wind was recorded.