BUFFALO, N.Y. — For many, the sound of their ticket getting scanned on the way to their summer vacation is something they look forward to all year.
But for some, taking to the skies lately has made them wish they just stayed home.
On Sunday, Cayla Conn’s husband Tim was aboard United Airlines flight 5701 with service from Chicago O’Hare to Buffalo.
His flight that was supposed to take off at 6 p.m. CT was delayed until 7:03 p.m., then traveled almost the entire distance to Buffalo before being diverted back midair at 7:53 p.m. and landing back in Chicago at 8:44 p.m. CT.
“I don't know how they took a whole plane of people here without being able to land,” Conn said.
The problem according to Buffalo International Airport: construction.
The airport’s main runway has been under construction since May, and the project will run through the summer. A spokesperson for the airport addressed the issue in a statement to 2 On Your Side:
“Pre-planned construction is happening on our runways from 9 p.m. until morning during select weekends. All runway closures were scheduled well in advance and our carriers adjusted their flight schedules to provide for arrival times prior to the closures. However, when flights are running late, like with the recent storms, it will result in flights being canceled if they cannot make it here in time. Minor delays, like 15 minutes past the closure time, we can accommodate but any longer would affect the reopening time in the morning causing all flights to be delayed. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
It comes after just last week a Delta flight asked 12 customers to volunteer to get off to make sure the plane wasn’t too heavy due to the shortened runway.
Michael Boyd is an aviation expert with nearly four decades of experience in the industry. He says the airlines are at fault.
“They made the decision to put them on that airplane,” he said.
We reached out to United Airlines and were informed that the flight was operated by SkyWest and therefore it is the regional airline’s responsibility.
“That is outrageous because it was United Airlines passengers,” Boyd said. “They sold the ticket, whether they put that of passengers on the airplane from a big company in Asia or their own airplane or SkyWest. They know it’s their passengers.”
We also reached out to SkyWest, but they did not immediately get back to our request for comment.
RELATED: