MINNEAPOLIS — When Link Christin boarded a Continental Airlines flight from Houston to the Twin Cities on Friday night, he expected to be on the ground in about three hours and ready for a comfy bed.

Instead, he was among 47 passengers who spent the night trapped inside a small plane, parked at the Rochester, Minn., airport, complete with crying babies and the aroma of over-used toilets.

The ExpressJet Airlines that operated the plane says the flight was diverted to Rochester because of Twin Cities thunderstorms and that airline regulations prevented passengers from getting off the plane.

Christin is incredulous that the airline couldn't figure out an option besides trapping passengers on the plane for nine hours.

“It's not like you're on a (Boeing) 747 and you can walk around,” said Christin, a professor at William Mitchell College of Law.

“This was a sardine can, with a single row of seats on one side of the plane and two rows of seats on the other. And they've got about 50 people inside, including babies, for the whole night. It was a nightmare.”

Continental Airlines, which issued the tickets for Flight 2816, initially referred inquiries to ExpressJet Airlines. ExpressJet spokeswoman Kristy Nicholas said the flight ran into several problems.

Today, Continental apologized.

"We are working closely with ExpressJet to resolve the issues surrounding this extended delay as service provided to customers on this flight was completely unacceptable.

"We are apologizing to our customers and will be offering them a full ticket refund and a certificate good for future travel."

The airline crew on the plane reached their maximum work hours in the air, so another crew had to be flown in. The alternative of chartering a bus didn't work out. And letting the passengers into the Rochester airport was not possible because they would have to go through security screening again, and the screeners had gone home for the day.

What about just letting the passengers sleep in the airport terminal?

“That was not provided as an option by ground services personnel at the airport,“ said Nicholas.