Northwest Airlines experiences two long delays in two days.

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-1999 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

Northwest Airlines has denied that there is a problem at the airline after suffering a second lengthy flight delay in one week.

Passengers were stuck on a Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport runway for three and a half

hours on a plane bound for Washington before the flight was cancelled due to bad weather on Sunday. On Monday, KLM Dutch Airlines passengers waited six and a half hours onboard a plane - serviced by a Northwest Airlines ground crew - at Chicago before the flight was cancelled due to an engine problem.

One Northwest Airlines spokesman has admitted that some passengers could have been treated better and said that the airline will be offering free tickets and an apology to those involved according to The Associated Press.

However, another spokesman claims that passengers were given the option of disembarking when the aircraft returned to the gates after just 13 minutes but 'Many people didn't take advantage of that'. Some passengers deny this claiming that the airline refused to let them disembark because there was no secure place for the passengers to stay.

The airline states that these two incidents are not related and that there is no ongoing service problem.

((Comments on this story may be sent to aii.feedback@m2.com))