New York-bound airplane passengers spend day in Azores following emergency landing
Delta Air Lines Flight 127 left Madrid for John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday, July 6, The normally almost 8 and a half hour flight landed at Lajes Airport on the island of Terceira in the Azores a little more than five hours after departing Spain, according to Flight Aware.
"As safety comes before all else at Delta, the flight crew followed procedures to divert to Lajes, Azores (TER) after indication of a mechanical issue with an engine," a Delta spokesperson said in a prepared statement. "The flight landed safely, and we sincerely apologize to our customers for their experience and delay in their travels."
Lajes is a combined civilian and military airfield, according to the Atlantic Aeronautical Information Services website, under the authority of the Portugese Air Force, although a U.S. Air Force detachment is based there.
Terceira is an active volcanic island, according to the Copernicus Emergency Management Service, and is one of the largest volcanic islands in the Azores. "Increasing seismic activity in the island since 2022 led the Institute of Volcanology of the University of the Azores to increase the volcanic alert level of Santa Barbara volcano on Terceira Island," the service notes.
While the last Santa Barbara land eruption was in 1761, there were underwater eruptions between December 1998 and March 2000 along a ridge west of the island, according to the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution as well as a magnitude 4.5 earthquake on the island in March 2025.
The Atlantic Aeronautical Information Services notes Azores Airlines flies from there to JFK International Airport and is a "convenient stopover point," having one of the longest and largest runways in the Northern Hemisphere as well as "full rescue services."
There were 282 passengers and 13 crew members aboard the Delta Air Lines' Airbus A330. Passengers spent about 29 hours at Terceira before continuing to New York on Monday. The cause of the engine problem was not immediately known.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Delta plane bound for JFK lands in Azores after engine problem
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Fox News
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Plus, you'll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide — free when you join my Traditional ticket pricing relies on fare "buckets," where customers are grouped into categories based on when and how they book their tickets. Delta's AI ticket pricing system eliminates static rates, instead analyzing real-time information to calculate what a specific customer might be willing to spend on a seat for each particular flight. Delta President Glen Hauenstein describes this as a reengineering of pricing, calling AI a "super analyst" that works 24/7, seeking the optimal price for every traveler, every time. The airline has partnered with Fetcherr, which provides the underlying technology and also supports other global airlines. Let's be honest. Airlines aren't adopting new, high-tech pricing systems to make less money. Delta says early results from AI-driven pricing show "amazingly favorable" revenues. 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Would you trust AI to decide what you pay, or do you wish airlines would stop personalizing prices and return to transparent, universal fares? Let us know by writing us at Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy ReportGet my best tech tips, urgent security alerts and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you'll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide — free when you join my Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
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The root of the problem is the same: too many people now have access. The proliferation of premium credit cards, airline status programs, and paid day passes has democratized lounge entry, eroding the exclusivity that made these spaces desirable in the first place. It is unclear if Delta expanded too far, too fast, or if it was surprised by the number of lounge lovers in its clientele. UBS Global Wealth Management has noted a surprising trend in the upper middle class: the rise of the 'everyday millionaire,' or people whose assets fall between $1 million and $5 million. These are exactly the kind of people who would see themselves as lounge-worthy, and likely frustrated to find their small-M millionaire status doesn't go so far. The consequences for travelers are palpable. Social media and travel forums are rife with stories of travelers paying hundreds of dollars in annual fees only to find long lines clogging, say, New York's JFK terminals on a daily basis. The proof is abundant on TikTok. On the other hand, expectations are heightened. Travel research firm Airport Dimensions has conducted an 'airport experience report' for over a decade and found in 2024 that airport lounges are a contradiction: the definitive democratic travel luxury. This widespread expectation—and dissatisfaction—is not just a matter of comfort. For many, the lounge was a symbol of having 'made it'—a reward for loyalty, status, or financial success. Its decline has become a source of frustration and even embarrassment, especially for those who remember a more exclusive era. There's an emotional trigger behind an unpleasant lounge experience. The theory behind the malaise: elite overproduction The overcrowding of airport lounges is more than a logistical headache—it's a microcosm of a broader societal phenomenon. University of Connecticut professor emeritus Peter Turchin has developed a controversial theory of 'elite overproduction' which posits that frustration and even instability result when a society produces more people aspiring to elite status than there are elite positions. It's an unorthodox theory from an unorthodox academic: Turchin is an emeritus professor at UConn, research associate at the University of Oxford and project leader at the Complexity Science Hub-Vienna, leading research in a field of his own invention: Cliodynamics, a type of historical social science. The catch with Turchin's theory is that his own type of complexity science takes on a pseudo-prophetic quality, similar in some ways to William Strauss and Neil Howe's 'Fourth Turning.' And Turchin has foreseen that the United States has reached a stage repeated in civilizations throughout history, when it has produced too many products of elite education and social status for the realistic number of jobs it can generate. Decline and fall follows, Roman Empire-style. The Atlantic profiled Turchin in 2020, warning 'the next decade could be even worse.' Several writers have expanded on his ideas since then, approaching it from their distinctive and different sensibilities. Ritholtz Wealth Management COO Nick Maggiulli posted to his 'Of Dollars and Data' blog on the subject of airport lounges specifically, writing that the 'death of the Amex lounge' simply shows that 'the upper middle class isn't special anymore,' although he did not specifically link this to the concept of elite overproduction. 'There are too many people with lots of money,' he concluded. In the context of airport lounges, the 'elite' are not just the ultra-wealthy, but the vast upper middle class—armed with a combination of higher degrees, status, and premium credit cards—now jostling for the same perks. But what if much of society has been turning into some version of an overcrowded airport lounge? In an interview with Fortune Intelligence, Turchin said this theory makes sense and fits with his thesis when presented with the similarities. 'The benefits that you get with wealth are now being diluted because there are just too many wealth holders,' he said, citing data that the top 10% of American society has gotten much wealthier over the past 40 years. (Turchin sources this statement to this working paper from Edward Wolff.) Turchin said lounges are not by definition restricted from expansion in the same way that political offices are, with a core element of his thesis being there are too many sociopolitical elites for the number of positions open to them, but 'it's the same thing' in light of the difficulties many providers have in expanding lounge access. 'There is a limited amount of space, but many more elites now, so to speak … low-rank elites.' Turchin said these low-rank elites, or 'ten-percenters,' don't have the status typically associated with elite status. 'The overproduction of lower-ranking elites results in decreased benefits for all.' When asked where else he sees this manifesting in modern life, Turchin said 'it's actually everywhere you look. Look at the overproduction of university degrees,' he added, arguing that declining rates of college enrollment and high rates of recent graduate unemployment support the decreasing value of a college diploma. 'There is overproduction of university degrees and the value of university degree actually declines. And so the it's the same thing [with] the lounge.' Noah Smith argues that elite overproduction manifests as a kind of status anxiety and malaise among the upper middle class. Many find themselves struggling to afford or access the very symbols of success they were promised—be it a prestigious job, a home in a desirable neighborhood, or, indeed, a peaceful airport lounge. He collects reams of employment data to show that Turchin's theory has significant statistical support from the 21st century American economy. Freddie DeBoer largely agrees, framing the issue as 'why so many elites feel like losers.' He focuses more on the creator economy than Smith, but asserts that he sees 'think many would agree with me about 'a pervasive sense of discontent among people who have elite aspirations and who feel that their years toiling in our meritocratic systems entitles them to fulfill those aspirations.' Delta's plan to restore status In its lounge strategy, Delta is trying to walk a fine line: Offering a premium service to a class of consumers that is becoming more and more mass-market. CEO Ed Bastian acknowledged as much on the company's latest earnings call. While touting the fortunes of Delta's target customers, households making $100,000 or more a year, Bastian noted the income cutoff 'is not, by the way, an elite definition—that's 40% of all U.S. households.' Beginning February 2025, Delta implemented new caps on annual lounge visits for American Express cardholders, setting a maximum of 15 visits per year and requiring exceptionally high annual spending ($75,000+) to re-unlock unlimited access. Basic Economy passengers, meanwhile, are permanently excluded from lounge access, further tightening entry. Travelers can only enter lounges within three hours of their flight's departure time, discouraging extended stays and unnecessary early arrivals. Delta is opening and upgrading lounges in key markets: New Delta One Lounges in Seattle, New York-JFK, Boston, and Los Angeles feature larger spaces, exclusive amenities, and new design concepts for premium passengers. Major expansions are under way in hubs like Atlanta, Orlando, Salt Lake City, and Philadelphia, with multiple new or enlarged clubs opening between spring and late 2025—some over 30,000 square feet in size, making them among the largest in the network. Renovations to existing lounges (e.g., Atlanta's Concourses A and C) are aimed at maximizing capacity and improving guest experiences. Delta is also exploring emergency overflow options and flexible staffing to address unpredictable surges, especially during weather and operational delays. Delta executives are optimistic. They predict that by 2026, most crowding issues—aside from extreme disruptions—will be resolved on 'almost all days.' Continued investments in larger, better-designed lounges, coupled with tighter access controls, are expected to restore the premium experience customers expect. However, critics note that crowding still occurs at peak times, especially in flagship locations, and design/layout flaws occasionally undermine even the newest clubs. The success of Delta's fix-it agenda is being closely watched by both rivals and loyal travelers. But Delta may be overmatched in rehabilitating the overcrowded airport lounge as a potent symbol of this broader malaise. What was once a marker of distinction is now a crowded, noisy, and often disappointing experience. The democratization of luxury, while laudable in some respects, has left many feeling that the rewards of success are increasingly out of reach—or at least, not what they used to be. As airlines grapple with how to restore the magic of the lounge, they are also confronting a deeper truth: in an age of elite overproduction, the promise of exclusivity is harder than ever to keep. For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing. This story was originally featured on
