Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, presided over Mass in an unlikely place on Sunday after his flight was grounded in Canada for days because of excessive winds.
Dolan, 75, was on United Flight 23 from Newark Liberty Airport on Thursday when it was diverted about 3 hours into the 6.5-hour flight to Dublin, Eire after a passenger suffered a medical emergency, the airline informed CBS Information.
The aircraft was diverted to St. John’s, Newfoundland, at about 2:30 a.m. on Friday, in response to Flightradar24, so paramedics might help the unwell passenger.
After the passenger was taken to a neighborhood hospital for remedy, about 259 passengers and 12 crew members had been unable to right away get again on their flight to Eire as a result of excessive winds within the space grounded their flight, in response to United. Additionally they couldn’t entry their baggage that was caught on the aircraft.
The Archbishop of New York stated the native parish took him in throughout the delay, and he thanked them for the hospitality on Sunday.
“We left Newark, New Jersey, Thursday on our way to Dublin…and we ended up here with you and we’re still. We are unable to get out due to inclement weather,” Dolan stated throughout a Mass on the Basilica Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
United Airways stated it offered resort lodging and meal vouchers to stranded passengers. Climate circumstances ultimately improved and the flight to Eire departed Sunday morning, the airline stated.
Passengers whose flights get diverted to rural northern Canada generally get caught for an prolonged interval, normally within the winter. On this case, St. John’s is a small airport that doesn’t usually deal with a big Boeing flight, and it’s the place United Airways doesn’t have many assets.
In 2023, greater than 200 passengers had been caught at a navy base in distant Canada for over 21 hours after a Delta flight touring from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, skilled a mechanical problem and wanted to make an emergency touchdown.
The choice to divert to those sorts of airports is made out of absolute necessity nevertheless it additionally makes for a really irritating expertise for the passengers and crew.
