AirTran flight delayed nine hours

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 29 (UPI) -- A recent AirTran Airways flight from Columbus, Ohio, to Orlando, Fla., took more than 12 hours to complete thanks to a 9-hour delay, a passenger says.

AirTran Flight 373 passenger Julie Ralston said despite spending hours sitting on a Columbus airport tarmac this week, the airline managed to leave her luggage behind, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel said Thursday.

"I'm at my parents' (house) with no clothes," Ralston said following Wednesday's flight. "It's been an exhausting day."

AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson said in hindsight, the airline should have canceled the flight rather than force passengers to wait hours while ice and snow were removed from the airplane.

Ralston's fellow passenger, Tiara Berger, told the Sentinel she accepted the delay at face value rather than get angry like so many of her fellow travelers.

"To get mad only makes things harder on me," Berger said regarding the airline, which has offered all 84 passengers free round-trip tickets for their troubles. "They couldn't help it."