Passenger describes being on plane for 9 hours during airport blackout

ATLANTA — As crews worked to restore power to the world’s busiest airport Sunday night, hundreds of people were stuck on planes.

Tamika McMillan was traveling from Las Vegas with a layover in Atlanta when the power went out at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

McMillan said she and her fellow passengers spent nearly 9 hours on a plane on the tarmac before they were able to disembark. She said once they got inside the airport, things didn’t get any better.

“The bathrooms were over-flooded. Everybody was a little on ice, on edge. The temperament was a little hostile,” McMillan told Channel 2’s Liz Artz.

McMillan said several hours into their time on the plane, the crew ran out of water.

“What do you mean you won’t be able to help us? If we have to sit here for 10 hours you should be able to provide for 10 hours,” McMillan said.

She told Artz that she was worried for several elderly passengers on her flight.

[PHOTOS: Power outage paralyzes Atlanta airport]

“We can adapt, but they couldn’t adapt,” McMillan said.

McMillan said they finally got off the plane around 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

“People in wheelchairs, you know chair service, they could not get up escalators. They had to lift them up. So, it was a bad situation,” McMillan told Artz.

But most travelers Artz spoke with Monday said the thousands of people maneuvering around a dark airport worked to help each other out.

“Everybody remained calm. Nobody got upset. It wasn’t really scary, it was kind of surreal,” traveler Cathy Smith said.

Cox Media Group