When Derek Clarke first took his seat on Delta Flight 555 from Las Vegas to Atlanta on Monday, he noticed the cabin was warm. The temperature outside was in triple digits that afternoon as a prolonged, unprecedented heat wave smothered much of the Southwest.
Maybe the plane's air conditioning hadn't turned on yet, he thought briefly before putting on his headphones and watching the movie selections.
But the situation deteriorated, with some passengers and crew falling ill, resulting in a canceled flight that joined the litany of airline horror stories on social media. The Department of Transportation is investigating the incident, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told the Reuters news agency.
“I want to know how passengers can stay in triple-digit heat on board an airplane for so long,” Buttigieg said, calling the problem “infuriating” and “shocking.”
The flight disruption, which lasted several hours, illustrates how the heat wave is making life miserable for Americans, increasing the risk of wildfires in California and prompting health warnings in places like Phoenix, where temperatures topped 110 degrees for 21 consecutive days, setting a new city record. Previous heat waves have delayed flights, making commercial flights even more challenging for beleaguered travelers.
Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas recorded temperatures of more than 100 degrees on Monday, according to the National Weather Service. Sin City is under an excessive heat warning until 8 pm Saturday.
The oppressive heat wave is expected to last until August.
On the East Coast, the Federal Aviation Administration warned this week that thunderstorms could cause flight delays in Washington, Chicago and Philadelphia, among other cities.
“We apologize for the experience our customers had on flight 555 from Las Vegas to Atlanta on July 17, which ultimately resulted in the cancellation of the flight,” a Delta spokesperson said. “Delta teams are investigating the circumstances that led to uncomfortable temperatures inside the cabin and we appreciate the efforts of our people and Harry Reid International first responders.”
Passengers had the opportunity to exit the plane each time they returned to the gate that day, a Delta spokesperson said.
Clarke, 49, had arrived at the airport around noon to catch his 1:47 p.m. flight back to Atlanta. While he waited at the gate, a Delta agent announced that the flight was delayed because the staff was missing a crew member, he said.
When passengers finally boarded, a flight attendant made an announcement for passengers to open the vents as much as possible to maintain air flow, he said. Some small children were sitting next to her, whose vents she helped open.
As the southwestern United States suffers an unbearable heat wave, a Delta flight from Las Vegas to Atlanta is canceled due to rising temperatures inside the plane.
The plane door was closed. The cabin became uncomfortably warm. “I thought it was a normal flight where we would take off and it would cool down,” he said.
According to Clarke, about 30 minutes passed when the crew said they needed volunteers to get off the plane because it was over their weight limit. A Delta spokesperson confirmed that customers were asked to give up their seats and attributed the problem to the way metal, a plane's main material, reacts to extreme temperatures. Some passengers got out and the door closed again behind them. The Delta spokesperson declined to comment on the number of passengers who left the plane.
As the plane taxied down the runway, the pilot announced that they were near the front for takeoff, Clarke recalled. But what he estimated was that almost 90 minutes later, an announcement said several more planes were moving in front of them, he said.
The cabin was stifling.
Passengers around Clarke fanned themselves with airline brochures. Their clothes stuck to their skin. She could see one of the flight attendants talking and disconnecting the phone.
“The next thing you know, some team members start moving quickly up and down the hallway,” he said. He also spread the word around the cabin: a passenger had fainted. Another passenger was vomiting.
Two passengers were taken to the front of the plane and given oxygen, said Clarke, who was seated nearby.
Other passengers described the ordeal in similar detail in social media posts. April Love, an Atlanta-based publicist, shared a photo on the staff's Facebook account of her treating passengers with oxygen. “Medical emergency!!” she wrote across the photo in bold black text with a mermaid emoji.
“It was really hot, so I got up because it was really hot,” Love said in an interview. “I was a little scared… and nervous.”
The flight returned to the gate and paramedics boarded the plane. Fox Field Producer Krista Garvin posted a video on Twitter of a yellow ambulance with flashing lights parked next to the plane. In the video, the captain can be heard over the intercom apologizing for “the situation is very hot back there.” The captain can also be heard saying that the cooling system was working “as best” as he could while passengers were on board the plane.
A Delta spokesperson said the plane's air conditioning and refrigeration system was working. Passengers were given the option to exit the plane when it returned to the gate, but the same announcement also said there were no other flights to Atlanta, passengers said. Clarke said he needed to return to Atlanta and decided to stay.
Delta declined to say how many total passengers received medical attention, but the airline said one passenger and a flight attendant were transported to a local hospital for heat-related illnesses. Garvin published that he had seen three people “taken out in a wheelchair.”
The cabin looked like a “hot box,” Clarke said.
The ordeal unfolded for about three hours, according to passengers and Delta. The plane returned to the gate once again and all passengers were taken off the plane so the plane could “cool down,” Clarke said. The collar of his shirt was soaked. A wet spot formed on his back.
“It looked like it had been in the gym,” he said. Passenger after passenger stepped off the plane and glistened with sweat, she said.
Delta ultimately canceled the flight, citing weather conditions, a spokesperson confirmed. An internal investigation is underway. It is unclear what temperature was recorded inside the cabin.
No other Delta flights were reported to have experienced similar problems that day, the spokesperson said.
Delta said affected customers were compensated for their hotel stays and received food vouchers. (Love said the hotels had no rooms available and she was forced to pay out of pocket for her accommodation that night.) Passengers will also be refunded the full price of their original ticket and will receive additional SkyMiles or an electronic travel voucher. a spokesperson said.
Love and Clarke said they received an apology email from Delta and were informed they would be credited with 20,000 miles. Clarke was concerned about what he said was a lack of transparency on Delta's part.
Clarke was rebooked on a Tuesday flight that was delayed several times before it finally landed in Atlanta.
