Why Aeromexico took nearly five hours to release passengers at Oakland airport

OAKLAND >> It turns out, the Aeromexico flight from hell that languished on the Oakland airport tarmac for nearly five hours Thursday as sweaty passengers fainted, cried and screamed for help, could have been avoided.

After Flight 662 was diverted to Oakland from San Francisco because of fog, Oakland International Airport officials quickly offered a gate for the plane to park, but the flight crew turned it down. The pilot told airport officials he planned to keep people aboard, quickly refuel and fly to SFO so the plane could make its return flight to Guadalajara later that afternoon, according to a source familiar with the incident.

The plan backfired — big time.

The Boeing 737 wound up parked on the tarmac for nearly five hours — potentially violating federal passenger rights laws — with conditions inside rapidly deteriorating. With no air conditioning, water or food, passengers cooled each other with magazines, cried, screamed and ate whatever they could find in carry-on bags. As the hours wore on, some phoned 911, passenger advocates, and friends and family desperate to get off the aircraft. Two men were detained after becoming “unruly,” one woman wearing an oxygen mask was helped off the plane, and at least four passengers requested medical aid once they made it off the plane, the source said.

Aeromexico officials and Oakland airport officials did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.

Air traffic control discussions with the Aeromexico pilot, reviewed by Bay Area News Group, indicate the flight crew requested help from local authorities about 1:44 p.m. Thursday, saying angry passengers were forming groups and accusing the pilot of lying to them.

“The passengers are real upset because two hours ago they said that we’re lying to them — that the San Francisco (airport) was never closed,” the pilot explained at the start of a two-minute rant to an air traffic controller.

The pilot explained that two passengers had threatened the crew.

“One in special, that he’s gonna do something if in 10 minutes we do not move the plane,” the pilot said. “He was going to do, I don’t know what and he was going to open doors and just threatened the life of the cabin crew.”

He explained how he told passengers four times how he could not open the doors because it would violate regulations.

“But they don’t believe. They said that I’m lying. This guy said that I’m lying to them and he’s making groups in here. So we have a lot of things going on in here,” the pilot said.

The controller said deputies were listening to his requests.

“I really appreciate your help because this is making it worse and worse and worse,” the pilot said.

The incident started with the low fog at San Francisco International Airport earlier Thursday morning. Around 10:15 a.m., a controller working to line up planes at SFO asked the Aeromexico flight about its minimum runway visual range and was told by the pilot that it was 1,800 feet. The

fog had dropped visibility down to 1,200 feet and the pilot said he was low on fuel and could not circle until the weather cleared, so he was diverted to Oakland airport, according to air traffic radio recordings.

The plane landed and was offered a gate — which would have provided air conditioning for passengers — but the pilot declined as the plane was scheduled to return to Guadalajara at 12:25 p.m., according to the source. That flight was eventually canceled. The Oakland airport received seven other SFO fog-related diversions Thursday with no problems, the source said.

For husband-and-wife passengers Jaime Quirarte and Erin Morgan, of San Francisco, who were returning from a family visit in Mexico, hearing the real reason the plane did not disembark quickly at Oakland airport left them “speechless.”

“It’s clear they are putting money and business above the health and safety of passengers,” Morgan said. “We were really treated like luggage, not like humans. We’re pretty pissed.”

Even if the plane had pulled up to a gate, it would still have had to wait for customs officials who were not due at the airport until noon, when the first scheduled international flight

landed, the source said.

After a couple hours, the crew told Oakland airport officials they expected to be on the ground another two hours before they could take off for San Francisco, the source said, which would eclipse the four-hour maximum set by the Passenger Bill of Rights for international flights at U.S. airports. Ultimately, deplaning decisions are made by the airlines.

It’s unclear if the Department of Transportation or the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate, said FAA spokesman Gregory Martin. One passenger advocate group said the department that handles such inquiries is closed due to the federal government shutdown.

With 182 passengers on board and fines of up to $27,000 per stranded passenger, Aeromexico could face almost $5 million in fines if found to have violated the rules.

Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies first were alerted to a passenger threatening to open the aircraft door shortly before 1:30 p.m., according to Sgt. Ray Kelly. One sergeant requested buses in case passengers forced themselves off the plane when deputies arrive.

Dispatchers received two 911 calls from the plane. One from a man who said he was going to open the plane’s door and another who reported a woman had fainted, Kelly said.

Around 2 p.m., an air traffic controller asked the pilot how he’d rate the threat level on the plane from 1 to 5. According to the FAA, a 4 is the highest threat, meaning an “Attempted or actual breach of the flight deck.”

“About a 3 or 4 because the passenger is … just threatened the stewardess in the front door, he’s trying to enter to the cockpit,” the pilot reported. “We really need to open the (plane’s) door … We have a real problem, a huge problem right in here.”

Deputies eventually opened the plane’s door at 2:24 p.m. and immediately felt a sweltering heat from the cabin and a gaggle of passengers filming with their smartphones. The pilot too was filming, Kelly said.

Two men were briefly detained by custom’s officials, but eventually released after passengers vouched for them. The entire plane was empty by 3:22 p.m.