Andrew Garfield, Owen Thiele, Nick Robinson, singer Mark Ambor and Love Island USA's Dylan Wrona were all passengers on a Delta flight that made an emergency landing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on September 9, 2026, an ordeal that ended with several of the stranded travelers becoming friends.
Delta Flight 958 was traveling from Los Angeles to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport when it diverted to Albuquerque because of a smoky odor in the cabin.
"We apologize to our customers on Delta Flight 958 (LAX to JFK) on Sept 9, which diverted to Albuquerque due to a smoky odor in the aircraft," the airline said in a statement to E! News on September 10. "The aircraft landed uneventfully and our teams worked to reaccommodate customers as quickly as possible to their final destinations."
Thiele documents the diversion
Thiele, an actor and comedian who stars in the series Adults and hosts the podcast In Your Dreams with Owen Thiele, chronicled the entire experience on his Instagram Stories, later compiling the highlights into a grid post.
"We just had an emergency landing in Albuquerque," he captioned a photo of a firefighter on board the plane. "Any recs?"
He followed up with another post noting his famous seatmates. "Andrew Garfield on my flight," he wrote. "If plane went down it would've said Andrew Garfield and others. Nick Robinson here too. Andrew Garfield, Nick Robinson and others."
Garfield is known for playing Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man films and for an Oscar-nominated turn in Tick, Tick... Boom!, while Robinson has appeared in Love, Simon and the Jurassic World franchise. Ambor is a singer, and Wrona is a former contestant on Love Island USA, the Peacock reality dating series.
E! News said it had reached out to Garfield, Thiele and Delta for comment and had not yet heard back.
A trip to Dave & Buster's
After Delta offered the group hotel rooms, Thiele shared a selfie with several fellow passengers and said he had "made friends in the airport."
The unlikely group then left the airport together to fill their extended layover, heading to a local Dave & Buster's, the restaurant and arcade chain.
"In the back of a car going to Dave and busters with 9 people I've never met before," Thiele wrote. "I'm in the trunk."
More delays before finally reaching New York
After their arcade outing, the group returned to the airport for dinner once Delta told them a replacement aircraft might be available, though that plan hit its own snags.
"We got a call saying the flight is now smaller and we might not have seats," Thiele shared. "We Uber Eats food to the airport and forgot we had to go through security again to get it in."
The group's order from P.F. Chang's also turned out to be the wrong one, Thiele revealed, though he found some ironic comfort in his fortune cookie, which read, "a thrilling new experience is at your fingertips."
The passengers eventually boarded a new plane and made it to New York. Thiele said Robinson ended up sitting next to him on the second flight, and that he is now in a group chat with the friends he made during the ordeal.
Wrona did not join the others on their outing to Dave & Buster's, but he did post a selfie with Garfield from the airport, writing, "Our plane is here to save us."
