A group of passengers traveling from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco said they were trapped inside an airplane more than a day when the airport was shut down by fog this weekend.

Passengers on the Etihad Airways flight say airline officials stuck them on a tarmac in Abu Dhabi and toyed with them for hours—12 hours.

"They kept telling us that we were going to leave, you know 15 minutes from now, 20 minutes from now, 30 minutes for now, for 12 hours," passenger Thomas Piani told reporters in San Francisco after finally landing in the city on Saturday evening.

The airline also allegedly refused to feed the passengers during the delay.

According to the AP, the passengers were told they had to stay on the grounded plane because the airport was already at capacity with other stranded travelers.

Etihad later released a statement blaming the "severe disruption" on "extraordinary weather conditions" and promising to waive change and cancellation fees.

[image via AP]