Who Dropped the Ball on this? Airport Operations?


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., May 29 (UPI) -- Having your flight delayed is a hassle, but being locked inside the airport terminal is worse, a Florida man said of the Daytona Beach International Airport.

Robert Rega, having sat out a three-hour weather delay in Atlanta, was one of 99 people locked inside the Daytona airport when their flight arrived after hours because of the delay in Atlanta, the Daytona (Fla.) Beach reported.

The frazzled travelers were locked in the terminal Thursday just before 1 a.m.

"To be locked inside the gate area -- it was pretty wild," said Rega, who works for IBM. "We were all stressed to begin with from having to wait in Atlanta."

Rega said he called 911 twice because the Volusia County sheriff's deputy who patrols the airport couldn't be found.

DBIA spokesman Steve Cooke -- who said the passengers were only cooped up for seven minutes -- said the incident is an obvious breakdown in communications somewhere between the deputy, airport operations personnel and Delta Air Lines.

"It was an unfortunate mistake," Cooke said. "It will never happen again. I've been here 12 years and it's never happened."

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2011/05/.../UPI-73591306688604/#ixzz1NsUjCGc8