Hawaiian Airlines passengers were stuck at the gate at JFK airport for nearly 33 HOURS, only receiving a $12 meal voucher in compensation

Passengers on a Honolulu-bound Hawaiian Airlines flight had to wait nearly 33 hours at the gate at a New York airport Tuesday after their plane grounded with a mechanical problem, before receiving a $12 meal coupon as consolation.

Footage filmed from John F. Kennedy Airport showed some of the dissatisfaction felt by the hundreds of stranded passengers on the flight, who were forced to wait hours overnight as they patiently awaited an update.

A series of delays ensued, during which the flyers were given little reason as to what was causing the inexcusable delay.

Finally, after several hours, the travelers were told that the failed takeoff and subsequent delays were due to some kind of “malfunction”, and were later told that they were waiting for a part to fly out of Georgia.

Nearly a day and a half later, the flight took off on Wednesday just before 7 p.m. It missed its 10 a.m. takeoff the previous day after the crew “reported an odor during a pre-departure cabin check,” it has since been revealed. Passengers were later offered the coupon as a form of compensation.

Providing an update to WNBC-TV Tuesday as passengers continued to wait, passenger Joe Rao, Jr. denounced how the prominent airline was handling the situation.

“Every time they delay it, they don’t give us a real reason for the delay,” Rao, Jr. lamented several hours after the travelers’ ordeal.

In a snippet soon after, he added: “We found out there was a malfunction of some kind, a mechanical problem of some kind, that needed to be remedied and they said the part needed to be flown in from Georgia.”

Incredulous, the passenger on the plane continued to specify: ‘Atlanta, Georgia’.

Hours later, after the unspecified part was finally delivered at 10 p.m., 12 hours after scheduled takeoff, Rao said passengers will still be stranded, despite being told it had been fixed.

“The pilot did not want to clear the flight because he said he smelled smoke,” he explained to the station, adding that for the next few hours, travelers would not receive any updates.

After nearly a day of waiting, during which travelers were reportedly not allowed to retrieve their luggage or even change tickets, passengers boarding a 10 a.m. flight from Hawaii were finally told to leave Wednesday, the New York-based NBC affiliate reported.

However, when it was time to board, some 24 hours into the plight for passengers, travelers were told that the plane had already been assigned a separate group of ticket holders.

Rao, who like everyone else only received a $12 meal coupon for his troubles, said passengers were offered virtually no explanation about schedule oversight and criticized the airline for offering the already taken flight as a solution.

Rao added that the idea came directly from the pilot, who is seen in the footage shared with WNBC surrounded by a seemingly endless crowd of passengers, who didn’t seem overjoyed to learn that another group of passengers had been assigned to the flight.

“The pilot suggested that we take that 10 am flight, the new flight,” Rao told the station.

A person who had been traveling with Rao and also spoke to WNBC added: ‘Them telling us you’re going to catch the 10am flight, it was absolutely impossible.

‘I don’t understand why you find it necessary to play with our feelings or simply not give us empathy or consideration as human beings.’