Planes grounded after Ethiopian Airlines crash: Live updates - CNN

While waiting for her flight from Istanbul to Birmingham, United Kingdom, Sara Tor heard the airport intercom announce her plane was changing — to a Boeing 737 MAX 8.

"I hate flying as it is," she told CNN. "When I saw it was one of the new ones I was absolutely terrified."

Nevertheless, she boarded Turkish Airways flight 1969 for the four-hour flight.

About two hours into the flight, she says she noticed something odd.

"Well they didn't tell us straight away but I could feel something was different," she says. "And the map on the screens was showing we'd turned back."

The pilot then announced they would be turning back to Istanbul because UK airspace was closed, citing weather conditions. (Around that time, the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK closed the airspace to all Boeing 737 MAX model planes.)

The flight turned around and landed about two hours later at the same airport from where they left.

Tor says Turkish Airways told the passengers they will be put on a Wednesday morning flight instead.

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