Transportation officials said that was incorrect -- passengers could have stayed in a separate "sterile" area.
Mesaba was the only airline with staff still at the airport during the incident earlier this month. The plane left Houston at 9:23 p.m. local time on Aug. 11, but was diverted by thunderstorms to Rochester. Passengers were kept for about six hours waiting inside the cramped plane amid wailing babies and a smelly toilet even though they were only 50 yards from a terminal.
In the morning they were allowed to deplane. They spent about two and a half hours inside the terminal before reboarding the same plane. They arrived in Minneapolis, their destination, after 11 a.m. CDT.
The flight was operated for Continental Airlines by ExpressJet, a regional carrier.
Mesaba is a subsidiary of Northwest Airlines, which is a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines.
"There was a complete lack of common sense here," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "It's no wonder the flying public is so angry and frustrated."
A spokesman for Mesaba parent Delta Air Lines Inc. did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
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