14-hour layover from LA to Ft.Lauderdale (what??)

Here's the story

An unruly, 81-year-old blind passenger aboard a Spirit Airlines red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Florida forced the pilot to make an emergency landing in Texas for a 14-hour layover with about 100 on board.

The elderly blind man was kicking and screaming, passengers told ABC News Ft. Lauderdale affiliate Local 10 News.

Passengers were reportedly kept in the plane on the tarmac for an extended period, without air conditioning, before being allowed into the terminal. The airline then told the waylaid passengers that they would be shuttled by bus five hours north to Dallas, because Spirit does not operate a flight between Houston and Ft. Lauderdale.

Passengers then became irate, yelling and screaming at airline staff.

"It was terrible. It was unreal. It was painful," passenger Theresa Shaviano told Local 10.

Source: Yahoo News

Wow, so could you imagine this happening to you? Federal law states that you can only be held "hostage" for up to 3-hours and all accommodations needs to be met, this means food and water.

Source: airconsumer.ost.dot.gov (WARNING! PDF!!)

I suppose it's valuable to have at least one passenger that knows their rights when flying, and since this is the travel section, why not be informed before another repeat of this incident happens? Feel free to discuss

If they got them there on a jet, they can get them outta there on a jet. Pilots have strict rules on thr hours they can work, just like us truckers, and i hear they are pushed into cheating logbooks and such, and most airports that can handle jumbo jet traffic have a lot of it, this can mean holding patterns for extended periods of time. Ao i could potentially see a 14 hour layover. But after that it shoulda been right back in the air. Wtf?