2 Abu Dhabi Flights Were Stuck On The Ground For Over 10 Hours

flickr / curimediaChanges are coming.

A weather delay over the weekend in Abu Dhabi stranded not just one but two airliners on the ground for more than 10 hours each.

A 13-hours tarmac delay on an Etihad flight headed for Germany ended when the plane was ultimately sent to another city - after a 73-year-old man died before takeoff.

But a second Etihad plane sat for 12 hours at the same fog-bound airport before making a 16-hour flight to San Francisco.

You do the math: That's a lot of hours. A couple of days, really, when you add it up.

Not surprisingly, Etihad announced on Wednesday that it will review its policies about takeoff waits, according to USA Today.

The US Department of Transportation stipulates that airlines in operating in the US must allow passengers to leave the plane after a three-hour wait.

Etihad obviously blew threw that, but of course the flights originated in Abu Dhabi. 

Excessive waits are rare in the airline industry, but when you have both a death and two extreme delays on the same day, change is going to come, and it's going to come quickly.