PROVIDENCE, RI (WPRI) — It was a travel nightmare for passengers on board a United Airlines flight traveling back to the States — that was grounded in Northern Ireland because of a disruptive passenger.<\/p>\n
Jessica Ricci was back home in Providence Monday, after her travel plans made international headlines. She said the whole thing started when she got onto a flight from Rome to Chicago on standby.<\/p>\n
I thought I was the luckiest person alive. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m so lucky, I get to be back home in time, Ricci exclusively told Eyewitness News.<\/p>\n
But during her flight, a rowdy passenger started causing issues. He started yelling at the flight crew, he really wanted crackers, Ricci explained. Demanding crackers, it was just more crackers. There weren’t enough crackers to satisfy this guy.<\/p>\n
The plane had to make an emergency landing in Belfast so the unruly man could be taken off the plane by police. The guy didn’t resist arrest or anything — he had this really creepy smirk on his face, kind of laughing, she said.<\/p>\n
It was then that Ricci learned the flight crew had reached their FAA maximum allowed flight time and the plane could not continue on until a new flight crew was assembled.<\/p>\n
Ricci said there were no open hotels and as United tried to find her and other passengers another flight, the floor of the airport was where she hunkered down.<\/p>\n
We put our blankets down and set up our pillows and belongings and said, ‘Okay, looks like we’re camping here for however long.’ And it kept extending and extending, she said. In total, I think almost 30 hours.<\/p>\n
Ricci said the passengers became friends and played games to pass the time. And finally, two days late, she was on a new plane. She said she landed at 2 am Monday.<\/p>\n
Now, United is making the flight to the US free, and passengers were offered vouchers for future flights. Officials said the unruly passenger appeared in court Monday.<\/p>\n
We were all just really irritated — really over mostly crackers.<\/p>\n
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