According to Brobible, a New York woman who posts on TikTok as Brielle (@brielleybelly123) said she spent nine hours at Newark Airport and still went nowhere. In a video that had gained 47,200 views, she stated she was “back in the room that I started my day in” after being taken off two different planes in one day.
Brielle said her flight was scheduled for 4 p.m. She arrived at 2:30 p.m. and described boarding as on time. After she sat down, she said the plane did not move. She stated it, then started “thundering and lightning, raining cats and dogs, like monsooning outside.”
The crew announced lightning within five miles, and that the plane could not take off yet, she said. After two 30-minute waits, she stated that they deplaned passengers and later cited maintenance issues. She later boarded a second flight that, she said, sat on the tarmac for about two and a half hours and then could not depart because it had run out of fuel for the one remaining route.
She said her bag stayed on the first plane after that flight was canceled
Brielle said that as she left the first aircraft, she saw “water everywhere, just water coming from the top of the plane, rolling down, and just puddles into like where the flight attendants like roll their little trays.” After more delays, she stated the departure was pushed to 6:45 p.m. She said she called Emilia, also called Lia, who “always handles my flights” and had booked the original ticket with points.
Emilia found another flight that had been set for 5:30 p.m. and delayed to 6:45 p.m., Brielle said. She stated she reached that gate at 6:15 p.m. with no boarding underway. She said passengers boarded at 8 p.m.
She described sitting in a middle seat and feeling “claustrophobic as f–k” next to “two big guys.” Such chaotic boarding and deplaning experiences are not uncommon, as when American Airlines passengers were fully boarded for a midnight flight, then kicked off because of the pilot’s last-minute admission.
The pilot said the plane was “just backed up on the tarmac” and would take off shortly, she stated. At 9:30 p.m., she said the crew reported they were being rerouted to avoid bad weather. At 10 p.m., she said the pilot told passengers the weather was so bad that three routes did not work and “the one route that we could find, we have now run out of fuel for it” after sitting on the tarmac for two and a half hours.
Brielle said her carry-on had been forced into checked baggage on the first flight and was still on that plane. She stated she later saw that the 4 p.m. flight had been canceled around 8 or 9 p.m. At baggage claim, she described “a line out the f–king wazoo” and said staff told travelers they were “not letting these bags off these planes” and that the bags would go to the final destination.
The Points Guy reported that a United spokesperson said, “If a customer is re-booked or re-routed, we do our best to re-route the bag tag so it travels with them.” The same guide said that if a bag does not arrive, United tells passengers to file a delayed baggage claim and that flyers can track bags in the United app.
According to Squaremouth, Department of Transportation rules from October 2024 still entitle passengers to an automatic refund for a significant delay or cancellation if they decline an alternative flight or travel credit. Airlines generally cannot keep passengers on a domestic aircraft for more than three hours on the tarmac unless a safety or security reason prevents deplaning, and must offer food and water no later than two hours into a tarmac delay.
Squaremouth also said that weather is considered outside an airline’s control, while maintenance is often considered controllable. In its summary of airline commitments, Squaremouth listed United as offering rebooking on a partner airline, a meal voucher after a delay of three hours or more, and a hotel for an overnight delay in controllable cases, but not a travel credit for a three-hour delay.
Tarmac delays can lead to uncomfortable conditions, though the problems aren’t always limited to the wait itself, as a Frontier flight was delayed for hours before fog filled the cabin. Brielle said she was then flying to Los Angeles the next day without her bag and on a different airline.
She stated that United options were on standby until the following evening. Emilia then texted that she had booked a first-class ticket for 7:30 a.m., Brielle said. “This was the worst travel day of my entire life,” she said. “Now I understand why people say they don’t like traveling.”
Viewers reacted to the video. One commenter wrote, “omfg i would make this everyone’s problem.” Another wrote, “this is ACTUALLY insane.” One person described a similar Newark delay, writing, “They had us stuck on Newark train for an hour the other day with no warning so we could get off at any point (one track open) sprint through airport to get to gate on time, we’re on tarmac for over an hour bc “21 planes in front of us”.”
Another wrote, “Wait I literally had this same exact situation with United a month ago except we were all there for a full 24 hrs.” A further commenter wrote, “once you deplane and they add another vague time goal, just go home (in my experience lol).”
Published: Sep 8, 2026 12:00 pm