Passengers onboard a 
United Airlines
flight between San Francisco and Houston on Tuesday unexpectedly ended up eating pizza in Alberqueque, after their flight was diverted due to a medial emergency. The flight, which decided to make an emergency landing in New Mexico shortly after takeoff from the Golden Gate city, saw passengers eventually stranded in the Southern state, enduring a seven hour delay.
Pilot steps in to feed passengers
The Boeing 737 MAX 9, operating at US2480, had departed from San Francisco near it’s standard departure time of 13:05, however after being forced to diver to Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ), passengers saw their standard arrival time of 19:02 vanish, and their arrival time as expected to be delayed by seven hours.
Photo: Albuquerque International Sunport
The pilot, stepped in to mitigate frustration with the passengers, ordering pizzas to feed the stranded group. Tanya Stamos, a 44 year old from Woodlands Texas, was onboard and spoke to Fox News about her experience:
“Not long into our flight, the captain had come on and asked if there were any health care professionals, [and] if so, please let the flight attendant know and head to the back of the plane.”
Medical emergency from a collapsed passenger
Shortly after departure from San Francisco International Airport
(SFO), a male passenger had collapsed in the bathroom and the pilot made the immeidiate decision to make a emergency landing by diverting to Albuquerque to seek medical help. Around 15:30, the flight landed at the New Mexico suinport, and was met by medical officials to provide aid. The remaining passengers remained onboard on the airport tarmac.
Following the arrival, the pilot spoke on the loud speaker onboard the aircraft, to note that the aircraft and crew were going to refurbish the medical equipment already used onboard and would then depart just 90 minutes later (17:00) local time.
Source: GCMap
Shortly after the first annoucement on arrival in Albuquerque, the pilot then came onto the loud speaker again, and requested passengers to disembark the aircraft, with no explanation why. In Stamos’ relay of events to Fox News, the passengers then were made aware a new
cabin crew
were required to operate the remaining sector of the flight.
“After sitting there for a couple hours trying to figure out what was going on and the captain to find other flight attendants to serve us so we would not be stuck there overnight, it was near 7:30 p.m. or so.”
$15 vouchers offered, for closed restaurants
United Airlines offered $15 food vouchers to the plane load of stranded passengers
, however unfortunately by then the airport’s restaurants were already closed, so the decision was made by the pilot to contact the local pizzeria and have 30 pizzas delivered for his 150 passengers.
The flight eventually was able to depart around 23:00, which meant the arrival into Houston was not until 02:00 the following morning. The pilot stood at the front of the cabin on arival into Texas
, thanking all the passengers for their patience during the ordeal.
In communiucation between United Airlines and Fox News, the airline commended the pilot’s actions, stating:
“(United Airlines) loves to see our pilots going above and beyond for our customers when the unexpected happens.”