Pax Suffer High Temps In 777

If you think it's hot as Hades where you are right now, imagine being stuck INSIDE a plane at the gate with temperatures inside soaring upward past 100 degrees.

It’s bad enough sitting VERY closely to someone for hours on an airplane under normal circumstances. Well, passengers on a recent United Airlines flight from Chicago to Denver had to endure what is being called a wait from hell.

More than 200 passengers waiting at O’Hare’s International Airport Monday to board Flight 909 realized something was wrong. The problem was that their Boeing 777 parked at the gate was extremely hot... as high as 115 degrees inside.

"I couldn't breathe; I thought I was going to faint," said passenger Sandy Ball, in seat 37C.

The Denver Post reports that the plane's auxiliary power unit -- which generates electricity when engines are shut down at the gate -- was broken. That meant the air conditioning was out. to make matters worse, this was the only available flight to Denver for passengers... and United could not find a replacement plane.

United had to figure out how to cool the plane... or, put passengers up in hotels in Chicago. Guess which option they chose?

Maintenance workers first tried to pump cool air into the empty plane at the gate. No go. Then the crew started one engine, and called for a push back in an effort to get the temperature to drop. More than four hours later, the jet was back at the gate.

By 7 pm, all were on board... minus a few passengers who decided they preferred to wait in a cool airport for an alternate flight... and the door closed. By this time, it was slightly cooler in the cabin... down to the low 90s.

As passengers waited for the promised engine start that the plane's pilot said would help cool things off further... some passengers began to complain of heat sickness and claustrophobia.

"I was going to stand up and scream," Ball said. "They endangered our lives putting us on that plane."

In fact, Captain Michael Glawe gave an ultimatum to United -- get air hooked up for the start in one minute, or empty the plane. He was worried about heatstroke in the cabin.

Finally... an hour after they had boarded, the engine started and the plane took off. Passengers tell The Post that within an hour, it was so cool in the cabin that they were grabbing blankets.

"Our crew did the best job they could to get that plane cooled as quickly as possible," United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said Tuesday. "We're extremely sorry."

FMI: www.united.com, http://coolerbars.com