A United Airlines passenger was furious at being stuck on a plane for 7 hours before her flight was canceled. She never expected to go viral.

01.09.2023 - 19:01 / insider.com

A passenger who was stuck on a sweltering plane before her flight was canceled told the airline staff she was unhappy with how she'd been treated. She had no idea a fellow passenger was filming her, and that it would eventually go viral.

On July 3, Christine Ieronimo, a critical care nurse and children's author based in Connecticut, was intending on traveling from Newark, New Jersey, to Rome, Italy, for a vacation with her family when they all ended up sitting on an unmoving United Airlines plane for seven hours.

Passengers aboard the plane said they were left without food or water as temperatures soared to 80 degrees Fahrenheit due to a problem with the air conditioning. 

A spokesperson for United Airlines previously told Insider in a statement that the flight returned to the gate to "address a temperature issue" and was later canceled because the "crew eventually exceeded their legally permitted duty hours." 

After the flight was canceled, passengers returned to the airport, where Ieronimo complained to airline staff about how passengers were treated, oblivious to the fact that she was being filmed, she told Insider.

After the family arrived home from their trip two weeks later, Ieronimo went back to work, where a colleague informed her that she had been captured in a viral video on TikTok about the situation which went on to spark online outrage. 

The TikTok, posted on July 17, was filmed by a passenger named Christina Dragone and shows a crowd of travelers standing opposite a United Airlines staff member in the airport after the flight was canceled. Ieronomo was at the head of the group, expressing concerns about the way the situation was handled. 

The clip blew up, receiving 2.5 million views, and Insider previously reported that the incident didn't reach the public eye until after posts were made about it on social media, passengers spoke to news outlets, and the US Department of Transportation said it would investigate the matter. United Airlines has now also said it will investigate.

Ieronomo told Insider she did not have a TikTok account prior to going viral, and was initially worried that being filmed could lead to backlash against her, depending on how the clip was received by viewers. 

"I was afraid I was going to get vilified," she said. 

Although it is relatively common for TikTokers to film others in public spaces where there is little expectation of privacy, Ieronimo said that being at the center of a viral TikTok put her in an unexpected situation. 

"I'm not looking to be a TikTok star. I didn't ask to be videotaped. I wasn't asked to have it placed on TikTok, so it's been incredibly overwhelming, the attention that it has gotten," she said. 

Dragone did not immediately respond to