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En route to Rome from Newark Airport last month, the a 31-year-old Rahway resident and her fellow passengers spent seven hours on a United Airlines flight without air conditioning.
On the runway.
When they got on their flight on Monday, July 3, which was scheduled to depart at 5:30 p.m., Dragone noticed the plane was extremely hot. The pilot and flight attendant said they were getting a mechanic to fix it.
What was supposed to take 20 minutes ended up taking hours.
Dragone said passengers were constantly told they were about to take off, only to be stuck on the sweltering plane without the chance to deplane.
"The flight attendants were not visible," Dragone said. "They were saying they aren't getting paid."
Passengers were screaming to be allowed to get out, but no one responded, Dragone said. A nurse on the plane was treating people who were suffering from heat exhaustion, and a passenger on the flight found a case of water and was passing it out.
In a statement, United Airlines said customers were offered the opportunity deplane and were provided snacks and beverages.
"Our crew eventually exceeded their legally permitted duty hours and we had to cancel the flight," the airline said in a statement. "We regret we couldn’t provide our customers a better travel experience and offered compensation in the hopes of having an opportunity to welcome them back."
Dragone said since the plane was not at a gate, they were forced to stay on the flight.
After her flight, Dragone said United Airlines has been unresponsive to her plight even as her viral TikTok video showing a woman, identified by Business Insider as critical care nurse Christina Ieronimo, acting as a spokesperson representing fellow passengers.
"A girl had a panic attack and passed out so that was a health concern and nobody listened to me," she says in the video, passengers surrounding her as she speaks to an airport worker at the gate.
"We had elderly people, we had babies, we had pregnant women. Not even water. What about diabetics?"
"I was not on the aircraft," the worker responds.
"You need to get on the phone and you need to talk to somebody above you and they need to come here and help us," the nurse tells him. "We were trapped on that plane for 7-plus hours, in 70-degree heat, treated like animals."
Dragone said United Airlines initially refused to reimburse her, and then said they would forward her claim to customer service.
Having not heard back, Dragone said she attempted to speak to a customer service supervisor. She was kept on hold for 45 minutes only for someone to hang up on her. United has only offered them $200 credits, which Dragone and her family have refused.
"We were stuck on there," Dragone said.
Dragone said United Airlines also refused to assist her grandmother, who required the use of a wheelchair, forcing her to walk to the gate when they finally arrived in Rome on a later flight.
"My uncle had to go find a wheelchair and we pushed her throughout the airport," Dragone said.
Prior to her experience, Dragone and her family were loyal United members, even using a United Airlines credit card. She said her family plans on severing all ties with the airline.
"It's truly not worth it," Dragone said. "I hope nobody has to go through something like that.
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