"The plane was hot when we got on, and we just sat there miserable for quite some time — somewhere close to three hours."
That is how Tony Morales, a passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight stuck on a tarmac in Phoenix, described his ordeal on msnbc.
Morales shot video of himself profusely sweating on the plane, and posted it on YouTube.
"The mood on the plane was we couldn't believe what was going on — uncomfortable, hot, miserable — it just wasn't fun."
Morales said a passenger got off the plane about 30 minutes into the wait. That's when he started filming.
A Delta flight attendant said the woman deplaned for medical reasons, Morales recalled. Passengers were told it was unsafe to move around the cabin since the plane had moved away from the gate, he added.
"We have reached out to this customer for more information on his experience as the timeline we have does not coincide with his account," Delta spokesperson Susan Chana Elliott told msnbc. "Although, we can confirm that the flight did return to the terminal, passengers were offered water during the delay and provided the option to deplane when it was determined that the flight could not depart due to the maintenance issue."
Morales said passengers were, indeed, allowed to deplane, but not in a timely fashion. "Once they decided the engine couldn't be fixed, we did get off the plane, but this was over 2 1/2 hours into the ordeal," he said.
He also said passengers were offered water only when the airline decided the plane was going back to the gate. "At no time while we were sitting on the tarmac were we offered water or offered to deplane," he said.
"No one came on the intercom and said, 'Hey, it's hot, we don't know how long it's going to be ... if you'd like to get off we'll pull back in and let you off' ... that was never offered."
Morales said Delta offered him a $100 travel voucher, but that was the extend of them reaching out. "At no time did they ask me for more information, for the video, for anything. They haven't called me ... there hasn't been any effort for contact."
