Passenger Pamela Kent told NJ.com that the pilot informed them they would be flying through “horrific storms, including tornadoes.”

“He seemed angry,” Kent added.

Lehigh Valley Live had reported tornado warnings west of Newark at the time.

One passenger even tweeted about the incident saying, “We have just been told that were heading straight for tornadoes and will likely be in the air an extra hour.”

“We would never put our crew or our passengers in a situation where it was unsafe to fly,” a United Airlines spokesperson said in a statement, according to Consumerist. “The safety of the passengers and the crew is always our No. 1 priority.”

TIME reached out to United Airlines for more information, but did not receive an immediate response.

Kent told NJ.com that the incident “unnerved” other passengers and that the flight had already been delayed by two hours at the time. The plane ended up deplaning twice and took off more than seven hours late, according to the news outlet, and about 50 passengers ended up getting off the plane.