Newark International Airport (EWR) has been in the news a lot lately for irregular operations. While things have largely improved on the air traffic control and runway construction front, yesterday afternoon was a complete mess for a different reason, with many passengers being trapped on planes for well over five hours.
Bad weather shuts down Newark Airport, traps passengers
On the afternoon of Monday, July 14, 2025, Newark dealt with a pretty terrible storm, which impacted operations. Of course bad weather happens, and that’s something we can’t control.
However, what’s noteworthy about this weather event is for just how long passengers were trapped, as flagged by JonNYC. The ramp shut down for an extended period of time due to weather, as planes were able to continue landing, but weren’t able to depart.
This obviously caused some issues, as planes landed without there being any vacant gates. With United being the biggest carrier at Newark, of course it was most impacted by this. So, for how long did aircraft get stuck? Let’s look at some examples…
Flight UA1205 from Chicago (ORD) touched down at 4:36PM, and finally got a gate at 10:04PM, meaning passengers were stranded on the plane for 5hr28min. YOWZERS!
Flight UA3412 from Louisville (SDF) touched down at 4:44PM, and finally got a gate at 10:10PM, meaning passengers were stranded on the plane for 5hr26min.
Flight UA145 from Porto (OPO) touched down at 3:43PM, and finally got a gate at 8:36PM, meaning passengers were stranded on the plane for 4hr53min.
Flight UA78 from Tokyo Narita (NRT) touched down at 4:56PM, and finally got a gate at 8:44PM, meaning passengers were stranded on the plane for 3hr48min.
Those are just a smattering of examples, but this is more or less what we saw across the board for afternoon arrivals. Expect lots of continued operational disruptions, since there were a ton of delays and cancellations, and a lot of crews will also probably not be able to work trips today, due to the number of duty hours they had yesterday.
This was no doubt an unpleasant experience for all. Well, maybe some crews didn’t mind it, since they were getting paid, as the door was closed. For wide body captains, there are worse gigs than getting paid $350 per hour just to sit there and wait out a delay. I suspect this was easier on pilots than on flight attendants, as the latter actually have to deal with customer frustration more directly.
Were airlines violating the tarmac delay rule?
We don’t have that many consumer protections for airline passengers in the United States, but one policy we do have is the tarmac delay rule. With this, airlines are required to allow passengers to deplane the aircraft during extended delays on the tarmac.
For flights at US airports, airlines are required to provide passengers with an opportunity to safely deplane within three hours of landing on domestic flights, and within hours of landing on international flights.
Airlines can face massive fines if they violate this rule, so were the rules actually broken here, given that some flights were stuck on the tarmac for more than three to four hours? Well, this is where the rules get a little murky. The Department of Transportation (DOT) stipulates that “exceptions to the time limits are allowed only for safety, security, or air traffic control-related reasons.”
That’s actually not defined that clearly in the regulations. Though given that the ramp was largely closed for the safety of airport ground staff, I suspect that this would fall in the “safety” category, and therefore airlines would have an out.
Then again, what would cause a delayed gate arrival of over three or four hours if it weren’t weather or air traffic control? It’s not like airlines keep passengers on planes just for giggles.
It’s hard to say exactly how this should have otherwise been handled. Should flights have diverted to other airports where passengers could maybe deplane, and then the crew would time out and passengers would be stranded? It seems like airlines did their best, but their hands are tied when the ramp closes, and ground staff aren’t allowed to work.
Bottom line
Newark Airport had an absolutely awful Monday afternoon, as bad weather greatly impacted operations. While flights continued to be able to land, departures weren’t possible, leading to a lack of available gates.
Some aircraft ended up being stuck on the ground for over five hours, before actually reaching a gate. While the tarmac rule in theory exists to avoid situations like this, I suspect this would qualify for the time limit exception, due to safety.
What do you make of this Newark mess?
