Air France flight from Paris to Seattle diverted to Canada after passengers report ‘smoke in cabin’

It’s been a travel nightmare for passengers who were onboard Air France flight 338.

What was supposed to be a direct flight from Paris, arriving in Seattle on Tuesday morning, turned into a two-day-long nightmare.

“We are traveling well-beyond, we’re probably at around 40 hours, I’ve lost track of time now. It’s just getting to be a little unbearable at this point,” said Kim Lee.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner had to make an emergency landing in Nunavut, Canada.

Passengers say the plane started to smell like burning rubber mid-flight.

“One lady that was in our row she said she smelled something really strong, and she also saw the smoke,” said Lee.

Air France is calling it a ‘heat smell in the cabin.’

Danielle Stubblefield says her mom was on the flight.

“She called me twice yesterday in the morning and sounded very exhausted and very weak,” said Stubblefield.

Immediately Stubblefield panicked because her mother has a lung condition and was not able to access her medication for hours.

After waiting for more than eight hours in the remote community of Northern Canada, passengers were put on a flight to JFK in New York, but the nightmare didn’t end there.

“When they got to New York, they were bussed to a hotel and given a room, but they were told that they need to stay by their phone because they didn’t have any flights arranged for them and they were not going to be flying together anymore,” said Stubblefield.

Several passengers, including Kim Lee and Sophia Schweitzer, were eventually booked on a Delta flight 491 scheduled to arrive in Seattle on Wednesday at 3:32 p.m.

It’s important to note the flight has been delayed twice already.

“Air France needs to step up. They need to give people a travel vouchers for another flight at the minimum as well as cover some of the expenses that people have undergone,” said Lee.

©2024 Cox Media Group