A map showing the rough location where a Delta flight from JFK to Accra, Ghana, was forced to turn around.
A map showing the rough location where a Delta flight from JFK to Accra, Ghana, was forced to turn around.Google Maps/Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images
  • Arieh Smith was on the Delta Air Lines flight that turned over the Atlantic.

  • A fuel issue forced the flight back to New York.

  • Smith told Insider that the crew didn't understand how freaked out some of the passengers were.

A passenger who was on a Delta Air Lines flight which made a U-turn over the Atlantic Ocean told Insider he was left "terrified".

Arieh Smith, who has more than five million subscribers, was on the flight which left from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and was headed to the airport in Africa.

Smith said in a video that when the plane was flying over the ocean, the pilots turned the plane around and returned to New York.

Smith said that she was terrified. I began texting and crying in my seat. I didn't think we were going to make it.

Smith said that passengers began to murmur when the captain walked down the aisle to look out the side windows. The captain said there was an issue with the fuel and the plane had to return to the airport.

Smith thinks the crew didn't understand how freaked out some of them were.

Smith said he was too emotionally and physically exhausted to travel again, so he went home.

The airline initially offered Smith meal vouchers and a hotel stay in response to the disruption, but the next day he was Refunds for the flight

The plane had to make a U-turn due to operational reasons, according to a Delta spokesman. According to Newsweek, Delta said the problem was due to a fuel discrepancy between the left and right tanks.

Smith leaned into the cockpit as the pilots told him they couldn't continue the flight because they couldn't balance the fuel manually.

The plane landed safely and the passengers got off the flight, according to the Delta spokesman. Customer support teams helped customers get to the airport.

Smith told Insider that he wouldn't try to fly to the West African nation again. I think the universe is telling me not to go because I have tried to go three times.

Business Insider has an article on it.