Guttenberg Councilman David Delle Donna was coming home from a vacation to Italy and Switzerland on Sept. 11 when two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center.
Delle Donna, his wife, Anna, and their two daughters, Stefanie and Dorothy, were aboard an Al Italia flight en route from Milan to Kennedy Airport when they were suddenly rerouted to Canada – as all American airports were closed.
They had no idea that it would take them a car rental and five days to get home.
"We were in the air about three hours outside of New York when it was announced that the plane was being diverted to Montreal because of security problems in New York," Delle Donna said. "We didn’t think much of it at the time. But when we got to Montreal and they said that the airport was full, and we were being sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia, that’s when I started to wonder that something was wrong. I asked a flight attendant why weren’t we being taken to Boston or Philadelphia and she said that all of the air space in the United States was closed. I really started to worry. Maybe something was wrong with the plane. I started thinking a lot of crazy thoughts, but nothing like what was really happening."
Delle Donna said that the range of emotions he and his family were experiencing went all over the place.
"We were ready to land, then we couldn’t land, then we had to go to Halifax," Delle Donna said. "And we weren’t told anything. But I could see the concern on the faces of the flight attendants. They must have already known what was happening. The range of thoughts was so wild and I was thinking the worst, like maybe we were being hijacked."
Told not to use their phones
Delle Donna said that the 313 passengers on his plane were told not to panic, but that they were landing in Nova Scotia. When they landed, the passengers were told not to use their cellular phones.
"That’s how I found out what really happened," Delle Donna said. "I found out by word of mouth. A 25-year-old guy from Connecticut jumped on his cell phone and called home and he told me. I couldn’t believe it. You never think that could happen."
Immediately, Delle Donna started to worry about family members. His stepson, Joseph, works in the New York Mercantile Exchange, across the street from the World Trade Center.
"But I found out that he was still on the ferry on the way over when the second plane hit," Delle Donna said. "And they just turned around immediately and went home. My nephew worked on the 38th floor of Tower One, but he was on vacation that day."
Delle Donna’s ordeal was far from over. Because 54 European flights were re-routed to Halifax, Delle Donna and the other passengers remained in the plane, on the tarmac, for nine hours, not knowing what was going to happen.
"It was an eight-hour flight, then a one-hour delay as to where we were going to go, then nine hours on the ground in the plane," Delle Donna said. "They had so many flights and people that they had to handle all at once, so it was madness."
Eventually, the passengers were allowed to get off the plane and were shuttled through U.S. Customs. They were then transported by bus to Dartmouth High School’s auditorium, near the Halifax airport.
"When we arrived at the high school, there were plenty of American Red Cross people waiting to register us, as well as a lot of local volunteers that were there to help the passengers," Delle Donna said. "It was about 2 a.m. and we all went to someone’s home to spend the night and had to be back at the high school at 8 a.m. to see how we were going to get home."
But the United States airports all remained closed for several days, which meant that Delle Donna and his family were stranded in Nova Scotia.
"Honestly, they all treated us so well," Delle Donna said. "They had tables of food for us. They had soap and toothbrushes and towels in case we wanted to get cleaned up. The people there were absolutely fantastic. The next morning, they had computers set up if you wanted to get on the Internet and telephones to call people at home."
Delle Donna said that there were no hotel rooms to be found, because there were several conventions already booked in Halifax. That’s why there was a call for volunteers to open their homes.
Wednesday turned into Thursday and Thursday became Friday and the Delle Donna family was still in Halifax, not knowing how or when they would return home.
Finally, Al Italia gave the passengers an option on Friday – to either return to Milan with the plane or to take chartered buses back to New York. Delle Donna chose the bus route.
"We waited for three days and we then had to take the bus back to New York for 21 hours," Delle Donna said. "We had to go through customs again to receive our luggage and then we got on the bus. It didn’t matter to me. We were finally going home."
The buses entered the United States at Bangor, Maine, where they had to go through a more heavily secured customs process that took two hours. But at 3:25 p.m. Friday, the Delle Donnas were on their way back to Kennedy Airport. The bus arrived at the airport at 11:45 a.m. Saturday morning.
Delle Donna had a car service waiting at the airport to take them finally home.
"The ordeal was an inconvenience, but the people up in Halifax treated us like we were on vacation," Delle Donna said. "Everyone there had their lives turned upside down, but they were so nice and generous to all of us."
Added Delle Donna, "I got on a plane Tuesday just like the other people who lost their lives. They thought they were safe and I thought no different. It’s such a sad situation and it makes you wonder. Others had far worse experiences. Others lost so much. I still had my wife and children with me. I will never forget it and I will never forget how the people of Halifax treated all of us."
Delle Donna said that the events of the last few weeks have put a damper on his campaign for mayor. The mayoral election will be held next month.
"I find it very hard to worry about campaigning at this point," Delle Donna said. "People are too busy concentrating on more important things, like their lives."