A trouble-ridden American Airlines flight to Bermuda left several passengers and their relatives feeling they were less than "something special in the air''.

And despite one airline official's insistence that American did everything in its power to accommodate passengers, at least one has vowed never to fly with American again.

Briton visitor Adam Stacey was one of the 153 passengers who landed in Bermuda yesterday afternoon -- almost 15 hours after the scheduled arrival time.

Flight 1444 was originally set to arrive in Bermuda at 10.05 p.m. on Sunday.

But it was forced to turn back due to cross winds gusting more than 35 mph around Bermuda.

However, according to Mr. Stacey, he and more than 100 other passengers were not as much the victim of bad weather, than of poor communication and organisation by the airline.

He recalled that the aircraft arrived late in New York to pick up passengers on Sunday night.

"No one explained why the plane was late getting in,'' he said.

Then about a half hour before the flight was scheduled to land in Bermuda, there was turbulence and strong winds.

After trying to approach the runway several times, the pilot turned back.

But according to Mr. Stacey, it was upon their return to the Big Apple that the situation nose dived.

"We were on the plane for at least half an hour waiting for passes,'' he said. "It took two hours to get our baggage off the plane.

"It was about 1.30 a.m. when they finally arranged for a bus to take us to the Ramada Hotel which was 20 minutes away. But they only had one bus.'' Because the bus could only carry about 30 people, it took at least three trips before the last of the 140 passengers were picked up, he estimated.

In addition to waiting in freezing temperatures, Mr. Stacey said passengers had to queue at the hotel for some 40 minutes before securing a room because there were only two staff members on duty.

Mr. Stacey, who decided to fly with American because of the cost, said he intended to make his complaints known in a letter to the airline.

Passengers air complaints over flight "Everything they did was poorly organised,'' he stressed. "The bags were taken off the plane today within a half hour. But yesterday it took two hours.

They must have known they needed more bag handlers in New York and more buses.

We were left in the baggage claim area and no one offered us coffee or a seat in the departure lounge.'' Mr. Stacey added that he hoped he would not have to endure similar treatment when he returned home in two weeks.

Another passenger, who was more understanding, said: "People were tired and nerves were frayed and American was not helping. The way they handled things from when we got back to New York was not very professional.'' And a friend of one of the passengers pointed out that the situation could have also been handled much better on the local front. "What is really concerning is that American Airlines did not have a single representative on hand to let us know what was happening,'' he said after riding to the airport in the rain and waiting hours.

"It was midnight before we even knew the pilot had done a U-turn and headed back to New York. As if that wasn't bad enough, it was a Customs officer who told us. Everybody waiting thought the plane had touched down, because we heard an aircraft on the runway at 11.11, the flight's delayed arrival time.

"But half an hour later nobody had come through to the arrivals area. Only then did somebody have the foresight to ask the Customs officer what was going on.

"All he could say was that our plane hadn't arrived yet. He could not explain why nobody from the airline was around to keep those waiting informed.

"It's hardly good customer relations, is it? I thought American Airlines were meant to be a leading world corporation.

"Is this the way they conduct their affairs? Leaving people in the lurch, not even knowing what's happening to their friends, relations and loved ones? "Surely there should have been somebody around to keep everybody waiting clued in about the flight. Anything could have happened to it, as far as we were concerned.'' But American Airlines local manager Carol DeCouto while sympathetic to the complaints said: "Our staff were busy calling everybody who would have met the flight, including caterers. So a duty officer from Airport Operations said he would go out and tell everybody who was waiting what was happening.

"There were three of us calling all of the passengers who we had numbers for who were scheduled to leave on the morning flight.'' The airline managed to contact some 100 of the 120 people scheduled to leave on the early morning flight, Mrs. DeCouto noted. And the only ones they could not were those without contact numbers.

"We have no control over the weather,'' she pointed out. "We handled it the best way we could. The airline representative's job was to be on the ramps and they were there.

"We don't have a dedicated person to meet people on the curb who may be waiting for passengers.'' "We apologise for any perception or lack of information this person had,'' Mrs. DeCouto added. "I was not there. But I was assured that people were properly informed. However, I appreciate his comments and if anything was done wrong, we will learn from it.'' No one in American Airlines' New York office could be reached for comment.