American Airlines passenger goes viral after being stranded in the Bahamas for hours without a passport

Dimas Henriquezan American Airlines passenger, has become the face of travel nightmares after a TikTok video he posted went viral. In the video, Henriquez described the grueling experience of being stuck in an airport terminal in the Bahamas for hours after his flight from Puerto Rico to Miami was diverted due to bad weather. What was supposed to be a routine domestic flight turned into a 44-hour ordeal that left Henriquez and his fellow travelers exhausted, frustrated and without essentials.

The chaos began on August 3, when American Airlines Flight 2421 from Puerto Rico’s Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU) to Miami International Airport (MIA) encountered severe weather and had to be diverted to Nassau (NAS) in the Bahamas. According to a statement from the airline to WFAA, the flight could not be safely diverted to another location in the mainland U.S., leaving Nassau as the only option. After the plane landed, passengers faced further delays due to weather and FAA-mandated crew rest periods.

In his TikTok video, Henriquez gave a firsthand account of what happened after the flight landed in the Bahamas. “We were on that plane for two hours maximum. Because of the weather, we were flying around in circles for about 30 minutes. Then the pilot decided, hey, we need to land in the Bahamas,” he explained. What made the situation worse was that most of the passengers, who had been expecting a domestic flight, did not have their passports. Henriquez described the confusion and panic that set in when passengers realized they were basically trapped in a foreign country.

After landing, the situation continued to deteriorate. Henriquez described how passengers were left sitting on the tarmac for hours before being allowed to disembark. Once at the terminal, they faced further delays, limited information and a lack of basic resources. “We can’t leave. Not only can we not leave the airport, we can’t leave the terminal. There’s nothing we can do,” he said. Passengers were reportedly given minimal food – just “fresh cookies and sodas” – and had to endure freezing temperatures without blankets.

With each passing hour, his frustration grew. Henriquez found that American Airlines’ lack of communication only added to the stress. At one point, he mentioned speaking Spanish over the airport’s PA system to help fellow passengers who didn’t understand the spoken language.