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Josie Sirna, her husband, along with their three kids and one niece, were heading to Italy for a family reunion, with other family members coming from as far away as Australia.

“Everyone had a silent cry at different points while we waited on the tarmac,” she said. “At least one of my kids got to see an entire movie, before she realized we were not in the air.”

Sirna said passengers were told the mechanical issues with the plane had affected the air conditioning system, so for much of the time they could only circulate the air already in the plane.

“It did get hot at some point, and that’s when I realized you just hit the nozzle for the air,” she said. “It wasn’t cold air, but at least it wasn’t hot air.

Sirna said that flight staff did what they could, but were preoccupied trying to answer questions from passengers trying to figure out their options.

“What annoyed me was that they were talking to all these different people. But it’s been two hours, can we get some more water?” she said. “They didn’t run out of water, but let’s face it — in a sense, it was rationed. We got the first cup at 3:30 … and they didn’t distribute again until after 6:30.”

What was more frustrating for Sirna was that she and her family were required to stay on the plane the entire time.

Passengers were told that, even while the plane was connected to the gate, they would not be allowed to get back on the plane if they disembarked.