"One passenger in the footage claimed the pilot tried to land at least four times in New York and that passengers were already sick to their stomachs.

"My kids are panicking," the passenger said as he stood up out of his seat. "People are sick back there. We gotta get off this plane. It's dangerous … we tried to land four times already." "

Two approaches, and a divert to EWR. Eye witness accounts are worse than useless.

Too bad they didn’t have a flight attendant that was ready for a beer and a ride on a slide.

Should have just let them off. It's not like our borders are secure anyway. Anyone can just walk into this country unvetted.

I've been based in EWR for 18 years. There is customs available 24/7. It is minimal after a certain time but it is there. One of the reasons is to accommodate diverts. And flights that are ridiculously late. I pulled in at 3am one time and customs was there.
I am not commenting on what should or should not have happened on this flight, I'm just stating a fact

I’ve already tried explaining that logic on here... you are about to be accused of not having any international divert experience ...watch out

Perhaps. Although I read this elsewhere: “it’s not been 24 hours in a while. And FIS in C is limited to only to afternoons to evenings. There aren't enough Customs staff to run 24 hours. Or both terminals. And now with one less early morning flight (BOM), they open (with less staff) about 3:30 - 4:00 in the morning to handle the DEL and JNB flights” and “=12ptCBP had already processed TK29, the final scheduled international arrival into EWR for the night, which had arrived at 10:42 PM, and CBP agents then had just left for the night.” Given the overall staffing shortages at CBP, perhaps what’s traditionally been “always” and 24/7 isn’t quite “always” these days. Or maybe the info I have is wrong.

Wow you went pretty light on this guy!

I should have been detailed.
You are correct. The main customs halls in C & B have set hours. If you go down there at 2am it will be empty.
However, there are at least a couple of customs folks in the airport 24/7. If a plane diverted at say 1am and broke or the crew timed out, there is a mechanism to get the pax off the plane. It won't be efficient, but it will happen.

Oh, by the way. GO NAVY.😁

How many times has customs forced us to keep people on the plane (often with the door closed) for extended periods even when we’re at our planned arrival airport? I’m surprised this even a debate.

how many Dr’s do we have on this site. Lots of former medical professionals apparently