Passengers aboard a JetBlue flight from the Dominican Republic to Boston, USA, reported that the plane was forced to make an emergency diversion due to the 35°C heat inside the plane.
JetBlue Flight 1924, scheduled to depart Wednesday afternoon, was delayed more than three hours due to an alleged air conditioning problem.
In posts shared on social media, passengers said the airline had decided to maintain the flight and told them the air conditioning should work once the plane was airborne.
However, after departure, the interior of the plane was not cooled and the Airbus A321 pilots decided to return to Santiago de los Caballeros Airport in the Dominican Republic.
A passenger posted on Twitter that the flight was grounded for more than two hours waiting to take off due to the air conditioning problem. “There were a lot of elderly people on the plane. They didn’t offer us water or allow us to use the toilets,” he wrote.
Another passenger, mental health consultant Julio Tavarez, confirmed on Twitter that the flight was delayed because the air conditioning was not working. “We got on the plane and it was very hot. They told us that once we started flying, the air conditioning would work immediately. The air conditioning didn’t turn on, which prompted us to return to Santiago,” he reported in a post.
The cabin temperature reached 35 °C and the passengers became nauseous. Some fainted and had to be taken to hospital, according to JetBlue flight attendant union president Tyesha Nicole Best on Twitter.
“People are passing out, being taken to the hospital while the flight has to turn around. What do we do about planes that keep taking off with overheating problems?” she asked.
In a statement, a JetBlue spokesman confirmed to the PYOK website that the onboard climate control system was not working properly and apologized for the inconvenience.