New Jersey-Bound Passengers Stranded In Florida

Spirit Airlines passengers bound for Atlantic City, LaGuardia, Newark and other destinations from Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday night were stranded in Florida overnight due to engine problems.

Police had to be called to the airport to help calm 600 upset passengers who were on in waiting areas at the gate or on planes waiting to take off according to CBS News.

One man in the back of the plane started screaming ‘Spirit let’s get some refunds or get some free liquor, this is outrageous’ and there were other people joining in, getting out of hand,” Brianna Niemann told WTVJ TV.

It wasn't much better in the terminal. "There's people laying on the floor, I mean it's just insane," passenger Heather Hart told Miami television station WSVN. "I can't stay over there. It's hot, there's screaming, children are crying. It's just a mess."

The airline has also been criticized on social media. Tweets directed to the airline went unanswered and its Twitter account, @SpiritAirlines, has not sent a tweet since October 11.

WSVN reports that a total of 10 flights were delayed on Wednesday night  from leaving. Some flights were delayed until Thursday. Adding to the frustration was the airline not allowing passengers switch to flights on other airlines.

Spokewoman Misty Pinson said there had been an engine failure last week on one of their places and the airline was doing a " proactive and voluntary check'' on aircraft as a precautionary measure. Some inspections can take up to 45 minutes. ""We apologize for these delays. We are working diligently to get our customers where they need to go as quickly as possible. We expect all checks to be completed this morning," she said.

Passengers were not aware of that and instead their flight kept being delayed and then delayed again.

A check of the Ft. Lauderdale Airport website's departure page still shows a number of flights as being delayed today. The site shows no flights scheduled today to Atlantic City, Philadelphia, Newark or JFK and LaGuardia Airports.