Famished passengers were forced to ration potato chips during a 16-hour nightmare Virgin America journey from Los Angeles to New York.
A scheduled five-hour flight turned into a 16-hour ordeal that included seven hours sitting on the tarmac.
Frustrated passengers said flight attendants became abusive, while food and drinks ran so low that Pringles were rationed to four chips per person.
"That's all we got - four chips and half a cup of water," the New York Post reported Justin Gordon, 23, as saying.
Another customer described how the tension took its toll on Virgin staff.
"One guy said he had a question, and the flight attendant started shouting at this guy, 'You are really getting on my freaking nerves! You need to shut the hell up!'," David Martin said, who regularly updated his Twitter page and posted videos throughout the incident.
"[We] tried to bring cookies on the plane to the mothers with babies, and the flight attendants started snapping at us."
Strong winds measured at over 95km/h in New York were blamed for the delays, which saw the plane circle JFK Airport before being diverted 145km to Newburgh.
But despite landing at 5.15pm, passengers claim they were stranded on the tarmac until close to midnight.
One woman suffered a panic attack and was escorted from the aircraft by police.
Buses then took about two-and-a-half hours to transport the people to JFK.
Virgin America CEO David Cush phoned Mr Martin, the CEO of a social-networking company, after being informed of his online postings the next day.
He apologised and offered a refund and $100 credit to all passengers.
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