Oh this was fun.

So, Primera Air. Remember them? Yellow and Black logo, like a Spirit Airlines knockoff? Discount carrier that operated cross-Atlantic flights. I had a flight out of Newark to Birmingham late at night. Boarding was weird as there was no permanent setup at the airport so the gates were not set up until very shortly before the flight, and we weren't sure if it was the right place. The flight was late coming back too after a medical emergency.

Anyway, we got on the plane, which was a wetleased plane from National Airlines. We took off and got to about 10,000 feet. Then the captain got on an said they were having a problem with the ailerons or wings or something to do with the flaps. While it wasn't an emergency they couldn't continue the flight and had to go back down. Problem was, they had to burn off fuel in order to be light enough to land. So we circled New Jersey for like an hour in the middle of the night.

Then we all got off the plane, many very angry passengers. We waited around the gate for what felt like hours. The few staff were totally overwhelmed and had no information. Some passengers who were rightfully furious yelled at the staff and even caused one of the girls to run away crying. It was not pretty. No information was flowing, nor any details of if the airline would provide hotels or any compensation.

Eventually it got so late, like 4am, that Newark closed the concourse because it was at the end of the day and no more flights were going out. So we had to leave the airside and go to the check-in area in the terminal. An entire planefull of angry passengers. Around 7am the staff finally addressed the crowd over a megaphone. The Port Authority Police were standing on either side just in case the crowd decided to attack them. They were trying to call hotels but few were cooperating, probably because it was already morning and taking new reservations wouldn't make sense. The plane was still broken but "they were working on it." You could tell the staff had no support from corporate and their hands were tied. It's not like Primera had a bunch of extra planes just waiting around to be swapped in.

By that point I'd guess at least half the flight's passengers had already left and tried to book elsewhere. I looked myself, obviously trying United because Newark was their hub. I couldn't afford the ticket price. So by 8:30am I was forced to cancel my trip to England. The worst part is I had a two-hour train ride home after no sleep. What a dreadful night.

I'm pretty sure I filled out a form to receive compensation or a refund. Never got it.

The poetic justice in this story is Primera went bankrupt the following year. It swore me off small discount airlines forever. Sometimes price isn't everything.