2 US-bound flights from Mexico stuck on tarmac for hours after being diverted to Alabama airport without customs staff

Nearly 300 passengers on board two international flights heading to Atlanta on Thursday were stuck for hours on an Alabama tarmac after their flights were diverted, amid severe weather, to a small airport without Customs and Border Protection staffing. Delta Air Lines flights 1828 from Cabo San Lucas and 599 from Mexico City were both on their way to Atlanta when flight crews had to divert due to inclement weather and selected Montgomery, Alabama, for their diversion point, a Delta spokesperson confirmed to CNN. Both planes landed at the Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama because Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport was not considered suitable as a diversion airport due to thunderstorms and dangerous conditions in the region, including wind shear, according to the Delta spokesperson. Because of severe lightning activity that went on throughout the evening, Delta flight crews “ran over their permitted duty times,” the Delta spokesperson said. International flights are obligated to arrive at an airport with Customs and Border Protection staffing and facilities for processing, which wasn’t possible until early Friday morning “when a special accommodation was reached with Montgomery airport officials and CBP,” the spokesperson said. “We sincerely apologize to our customers for this experience,” the spokesperson told CNN. “We fell short of how we aspire to serve and care for our customers amid thunderstorms in the Southeast U.S. Thursday evening. We are reaching out to each customer with a full refund of their booking.”<br/>