Airline apologizes for trapped passengers

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- ExpressJet Airlines says it's sorry 47 passengers aboard a flight to Minneapolis were forced to spend a night trapped in a grounded plane during the weekend.

Airline spokeswoman Kristy Nicholas told Monday's (Minneapolis) Star Tribune that weather problems at Twin Cities International Airport Friday night forced the pilot of a Houston-to-Minneapolis flight to land in Rochester, Minn., where the regional jet sat on the tarmac for nine hours.

ExpressJet was operating the plane as a Continental Express flight, the newspaper said. ExpressJet's Web site says it flies more than 200 50-passenger Brazilian-made Embraer ERJ145 aircraft for Continental Airlines.

Nicholas told the newspaper that passengers couldn't be let off of the plane and into the terminal due to federal regulations. Security screeners at the Rochester airport had gone home for the night.

"That was not provided as an option by ground services personnel at the airport," she said.

Passenger Link Christin told the Star Tribune being inside the small jet for hours was like being trapped in a "sardine can" with overflowing toilets and crying babies.

"It's not like you're on a (Boeing) 747 and you can walk around," said Christin, a professor at William Mitchell College of Law.