Dozens Of Flights Delayed At DIA
DENVER (CBS4)- There were dozens of flights delayed at Denver International Airport on Thursday evening. United Airlines was under a ground stop after receiving approval from the Federal Aviation Administration when they had issues with deicing equipment.
The flights were delayed both arriving and departing DIA while snow continued to fall in the Denver metro area. Several United Airlines incoming flights had to wait for a gate to open forcing some passengers to sit on the tarmac for hours.
Hundreds of passengers were lined up at the United Airlines customer service counter inside DIA.
Mark Rosenthal flew in from Richmond, Va. He says the wait for a gate to open was almost as long as the flight.
"I think that was the most painful part. We've landed here, there shouldn't be any delay for us... that is the most trapped I've felt on a plane in a long time," he said.
James Bode was another United Airlines passenger who ended up stranded on the tarmac.
"We landed and we were waiting for about 10 minutes already when the captain said the gates were all full and we were going to have to wait for an unknown amount of time," Bode said.
Several passengers complained on Twitter about the delays with deicing. DIA responded to the passengers with a tweet.
Those trying to fly out of DIA were also impacted. Heidi Hammond was with her teammates from the Colorado School of Mines women's basketball team. They were headed to Lubbock, Texas for a game on Friday when their flight was canceled.
"First it was just delayed and then it was canceled. We initially thought it was just due to another flight being deleted but when it was canceled we assumed it was because of the snow," Hammond said
Passengers were urged to check with their airline for the flight status although most of the flights affected were United Airlines. It was unclear when the ground stop would be lifted.
United Airlines issued this statement at 7 p.m. Thursday: We are experiencing some extended delays because of deicing, and some of the equipment operated by our vendor is out of service. Our team is working closely with our vendor to get the aircraft deiced and get our customers to their destinations. We apologize for any extra delays.
A spokesperson for United couldn't say exactly how many flights were impacted only that their crews are working to get all planes deiced and get passengers on their flights as soon as possible
The National Weather Service said that there was .07" of snow accumulation with below-freezing temperatures at DIA on Thursday evening.
Karen Morfitt Joined the CBS4 team as a reporter in 2013. She covers a variety of stories in and around metro Denver. Connect with her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter @karenmorfitt or email her tips.
