United passengers spent 15 hours stuck in plane

Passengers on board United Airlines Flight 179 from New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport to Hong Kong International Airport were faced with multiple travel nightmares this weekend. First there was a medical emergency that prompted an unplanned landing at a military base in Canada late Saturday; then passengers couldn't leave the plane after it was on the ground, according to a statement from United.

Flight 179 was diverted to Goose Bay Airport, a military base in Canada's Newfoundland, where "medical personnel met the aircraft at the gate and the customer was transported to a local hospital," United said in a statement Sunday.

Because the plane landed so late at night, there were no customs personnel available. The passengers had to spend the night in the plane for more than a dozen hours. The cabin had heat and power while it was on the tarmac. United said in a statement they had sent a relief aircraft to transport customers back to Newark.

Some passengers on the jet tweeted pictures of the incident and reported that a cabin door broke "on the ground" at the military base, possibly because of the frigid temperatures there, well below zero.

Even in summer it's cold in Canada