Outraged American Airlines customers slam series of blunders that has turned them all into ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS trapped in airport terminal
A plane full of American Airlines passengers was given illegal immigrant status when their flight was diverted to the Bahamas.
Only a few of the 100 passengers aboard Flight 2421 had their passports with them Saturday afternoon when they boarded the two-hour flight from Puerto Rico to Miami.
It wasn’t until Sunday afternoon that they finally reached Florida Airport, after their flight was diverted to the Caribbean island, where they had to spend the night in the terminal.
A North Carolina passenger went viral with a passionate TikTok, which has now been viewed 2.6 million times since he filmed it in the middle of the night, surrounded by his hungry, thirsty and exhausted comrades.
“It’s like The Terminal with Tom Hanks,” wrote one shocked viewer.
Passengers had been stuck in the airport terminal for seven hours when the TikToker gave his passionate update from the Bahamas at 5:40 a.m.
American Airlines Flight 2421 was scheduled to take two hours to reach Miami after departing Puerto Rico at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, but arrived in the city Sunday afternoon
U.S. citizens flying from the mainland to the U.S. territory in the Eastern Caribbean do not need a passport.
But Hurricane Debby gained strength over the sea, becoming one of 2,000 storms impacted by the Category 1 storm when it reached Florida.
“We were flying around in circles for about half an hour because of the weather, then the pilot decided, ‘Hey, we need to land in the Bahamas,’” the TikTokker told his followers.
“This is another country.” The pilot asks, “who here has their passport and who doesn’t?”
“And lo and behold, not everybody does that, because everybody expected them to go from the US to the US.”
Three hours after takeoff, the Boeing 737 landed in the Bahamian capital of Nassau, but the problems for passengers were only just beginning.
“We land the plane, we sit on the tarmac for two hours, we get off the plane, turns out the pilot can’t do overtime or something, so we had to get off the plane,” the TikToker named @griptape_dimas said.
“We got off here, we can’t leave the terminal because we’re not allowed to be here. We’re here illegally and not only can we not leave the airport, we can’t leave the terminal, we can’t do anything.”
The passengers were herded into an air-conditioned terminal where they spent the night without food, water or blankets.
Passengers were left without food, water, blankets or medicine in the freezing terminal
‘Within the first hour of getting here, we were told, ‘The plane is coming, oh, they’re getting off the plane, oh, it’s only 20 minutes to get here.’
‘After about five hours, everyone closes the doors, everyone here runs away, for about six to seven hours, with no food, Briscoff cookies and sodas and frozen, zero information.
The two American Airlines employees on the scene struggled to provide meaningful updates as the hours passed, but they enlisted the bilingual influencer to translate their announcements into Spanish.
“After five hours, I knew the whole idea of a plane leaving Orlando with a new crew was bullshit,” the TikTokker lamented in his 5:40 a.m. update.
‘We actually looked at the computer. After a while they turned the computer off because they didn’t want us to look at it.
‘Now people have medical emergencies, there are medications on the plane, they are on the plane!
‘They told a gentleman here that he can’t pick it up because of the laws and bureaucracy.
“They won’t call immigration because they say, ‘They’re going to tell us the same thing.’”
‘We’ve been here for seven hours now; no food, no water, it’s cold, no blankets, we only have one bathroom for a hundred people, dogs, children, no information.’
Keeping track of data Flight radar suggests that their original plane left Nassau without them at 10 p.m. Saturday night and landed in Miami just over an hour later.
But it wasn’t until 10:15 a.m. on Sunday morning that the desperate passengers finally boarded a plane and took off for Miami.
“This isn’t even a cool airport,” the young TikToker noted.
‘Mom said I wasn’t allowed to get off the plane, you’re basically an illegal immigrant now.
“Hopefully they’ll give me my Bahamian green card.”
Millions of people were shocked by the TikTokker’s testimony and many predicted a hefty compensation for the affected passengers.
Tracking data from Flightradar.com shows the plane’s meandering path on Saturday night before it was diverted to Nassau in the Bahamas
“Bring these people home immediately so this man can apply for a job at CNN,” one person wrote.
“Make sure AA gets you guys a real trip to the Bahamas so you can really experience it,” suggested another.
‘That’s why you ALWAYS take your passport with you when you fly, even if you’re flying domestic. You never know when you might have to stop in another country,’ added a third.
Dailymail.com has reached out to American Airlines for comment.