'There was no warning:' Passenger recounts diverted flight from LVIA

HANOVER TWP., LEHIGH COUNTY, Pa. — A woman who was on a flight from Lehigh Valley International Airport that was diverted after dangerously low cabin pressure was detected said the suspected depressurization happened without warning to passengers.

“There was no turbulence before," said Lisa Romano of Lower Macungie Township, who was among 43 passengers on United Airlines flight 4166 Sunday, from LVIA to Chicago O’Hare.

"There was no warning of anything.”

The flight, on a 2006-built Bombardier CRJ-550 regional jet, was operated by regional airline GoJet.

Romano said that about an hour into the flight, the plane’s yellow oxygen masks suddenly dropped from the ceiling, and she immediately started feeling “breathless.”

The oxygen masks “just dropped, and you realized you needed them,” she said.

Smoke from the chemical oxygen generators was visible in the cabin, stoking fears of a fire, she said.

A sense of uncertainty and dread followed, she said.

“All of us, I think, have an idea of why you lose cabin pressure — none of them are good," Romano said. "My mind was running away with me.”

'He was actively saving us'

As the pilot began making an emergency descent, dropping 30,000 feet in about seven minutes, Romano said she began recording a message on her phone saying goodbye to her family, just in case.

Soon after reaching an altitude of 10,000 feet, where passengers can breathe without supplemental oxygen, the plane turned toward Detroit Metro Airport.

It landed normally there about 25 minutes later, and passengers deboarded through a jet bridge.

Once everyone was safe on the ground, the pilot said they had experienced a “rapid decompression event,” according to Romano.

“We did not hear from the pilot until the very end — literally, we had landed,” she said. “What was scary is the experienced travelers knew he wasn't updating us because he couldn't.

"He was actively saving us.”

Romano praised the actions of the crew, whom she described as heroes who stayed calm and professional in a crisis. She also commended United Airlines' staff in Detroit, who she said took good care of her.

However, she also criticized United for an email apologizing for the diverted flight and offering her 6,000 frequent flier miles. The tone of the email did not match the gravity of what she experienced, she said.

“They didn’t take it seriously,” Romano said. “This wasn't your normal, ‘Oh, we diverted to another airport.’”

'I was super nervous today'

In a statement, GoJet spokeswoman Liz Dray wrote that the flight "was safely diverted to Detroit to address a possible cabin pressure issue."

Representatives for United Airlines did not responded to multiple requests for comment. Neither airline has explained what caused the issue.

Even Romano, who described herself as a frequent business traveler who has flown more than 2 million miles on United alone, was shaken by the experience, she said.

When United staff told her a different aircraft could take her from Detroit to Chicago on Sunday afternoon, Romano said she could not bear the thought of another flight.

“I said to them, ‘I am not in any emotional or physical state,’" she said. "Like, I was shaking, I couldn't eat. There was no way I was getting on another plane yesterday.”

Romano said that on Monday morning, she boarded a plane from Detroit to San Francisco, finishing the trip she began the day before.

If she didn’t have to travel for work, she said, she would have been perfectly happy to rent a car, drive home, and avoid air travel for a while.

“I have the kind of job where, if I succumb to fear of flying, I'm not going to have a job,” she said. “I was super nervous today boarding the plane.

"But I literally said to myself, ‘Well, what are the odds an event like this, that 99 percent of people have never experienced, would happen to the same person twice?’”