Allegiant Air Delay Leaves Passengers Stranded For 11 Hours

Passengers on an Allegiant Air flight say they were stranded for 11 hours. INSIDE EDITION speaks with one traveler who talks about the ordeal.

Furious passengers say they were imprisoned by an airline, trapped for 11 hours waiting for their flight to take off. The imprisoned passengers vented their outrage on cell phone video as they waited, and waited.

"This is cruel and unusual punishment," said one passenger on their cell phone video

Another passenger said on cell phone video, "I have been imprisoned by Allegiant Airlines for over nine hours and I am outraged!"

Yet another passenger asked a fellow flyer, "Are you going to fly Allegiant again?"

"No, never again. I'll probably tell everybody else not to fly them either," replied the fellow passenger.

One woman said on video, "My husband says we are never flying Allegiant again."

It happened aboard an Allegiant Air flight from Oakland to Provo, Utah, normally just a 90 minute hop.

At 9:30 a.m. their plane developed a landing gear problem moments before take-off.

Air traffic controller: "Allegiant 1032 - are you just going to push back into the gate?"
Pilot: "Yes ma'am."

A replacement plane had to be flown from Las Vegas, pushing the departure time back to 4:00 p.m.

Incredibly, that plane also turned out to have mechanical problems, and a third plane was flown from Phoenix, arriving at 6:40 p.m.

Moments before take-off, the third plane returned to the gate again for more fuel.

A passenger continued with her video, saying, "I have been at the airport since 10-to-6 this morning and I'm so fed up."

The flight finally took off at 8:48 p.m., more than 11 hours late.  

INSIDE EDITION's Paul Boyd spoke to passenger Sarah Rae Harris via Skype, asking, "What went through your mind when that third and final plane finally took off back home?"

"We were all cheering and all clapping on the plane. We were all very happy to finally get in the air," said Harris.

Allegiant Air, a regional airline based in Las Vegas, said in a statement: "Every effort was made to keep the passengers as comfortable as possible. We never want to delay our passengers but safety is our No. 1 priority."

It's not the first time Allegiant passengers have vented their frustration. Video of passengers singing "I Believe I Can Fly" during a four-hour delay in Las Vegas went viral in June.