12 September 2023 , 00:30
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Passengers who said they were "abandoned" by Delta Airlines were reportedly told not to start a "revolution" after a flight was diverted to a Portuguese island.
Flight 157 from Ghana to New York had a “mechanical issue with a backup oxygen system” and was forced to land at Lajes Airport on Terceira Island in the Azores. A 12-hour wait followed in which some passengers claimed they had to beg for food and were told they were lucky the plane didn't crash.
A video posted online by Kiaundra Eggleston to Twitter had the caption: "This female rep told us we should be grateful that they allowed us to be here, and our plane didn’t crash in the sea."
Further confusion appeared when another passenger was supposedly told they were being diverted because somebody had fallen ill.
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One passenger said they were told they were lucky the plane did not crash (Nana Asante-Smith/Facebook)
The plane landed at Ajes after a 'mechanical issue' (@KiaundraSmith/Twitter)A Delta spokesperson said a plane from Lisbon arrived to relieve the passengers, whose bags continued to JFK Airport on the original plane.
Passenger Nana Asante said she and her fellow passengers were "abandoned by Delta and treated like encroaching roaches" by people working at Lajes. Since then, she has said a $400 voucher and an email about a full ticket refund was sent to her, but she has not yet received the cash.
“I walked to the back of the plane twice to ask the flight attendants what was really going on,” Ms Asante-Smith said of the troublesome flight. “They were kind and gentle, especially in the midst of my brewing anxiety attack. They reassured me that everything was just fine and that the oxygen was low in the cockpit. Nerve-wracking, but fine, because life happens and the unfortunate situation was not in Delta’s control.”
She added that some people like “the elderly, pregnant women, children, became restless, frustrated and confused.”
Ms Asante had been visiting Ghana with her friends and family in a celebration of her marriage. She told of the moment passengers were informed they would not be receiving any more food.
She wrote on Facebook: "We learned that we would no longer be fed, because according to an airport representative, Delta had informed them that we had already eaten in advance of our landing, a little before 6 am... We had no other access to food."
Eventually, a small cafe opened where people could buy themselves food. Later ham sandwiches were handed out, which caused further ire, Ms Ansante told Insider.
"Which is interesting, because anyone who is intimately familiar with West Africa or our Muslim brothers and sisters know that many people have dietary restrictions with eating pork," she said.
On Twitter, Ghanaian rapper Sakordie wrote that staff didn't have the "courtesy to update us on exactly what was happening."
He added: "This isn’t new with this airline, especially from this part of the world (Africa), they keep sending these weak old flights (business class almost same as economy) to pick us up knowing very well they are not safe, but still risk lives."
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In a statement, Delta said: "Delta flight 157 from Accra to New York-JFK diverted to Lajes Airport following a mechanical issue with a backup oxygen system. The crew descended to a lower altitude our of an abundance of caution during the diversion and the aircraft landed safely,” the statement said. “An alternate aircraft was dispatched from Lisbon to help our customers more quickly get to their final destinations while the original aircraft was repaired by maintenance technicians. We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travels."