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600 airline passengers faced the weirdest sleepover ever, when snow left them stuck on planes overnight

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Hundreds of people spent a snowy and freezing night trapped on board parked airplanes last Thursday.

Six flights, with around 600 passengers total, were unable to take off before Munich Airport’s 1 a.m. curfew due to the bad weather, the airport said in a Monday statement.

The airport police department has prepared a report on the incident, which is set to be submitted to the public prosecutor on Tuesday, Sven Otto, chief inspector for the Upper Bavaria North Police, told Business Insider.

He added that no complaints have yet been filed with the police by affected passengers.

Around 100 flights were canceled in Munich on Thursday, and temperatures dropped to 30 degrees Fahrenheit. There were long lines to de-ice planes, while runways were periodically closed at short notice to clear the heavy snowfall, the airport said.

Munich, Europe’s 10th-busiest airport, typically shuts at midnight, but it received a permit that day to operate an hour later.

When the six flights couldn’t depart on time, there was no space left to park at the terminal due to all the cancellations, the airport said.

However, the passengers couldn’t be transported to the terminal because “bus service was severely restricted” due to “the late hour and communication problems,” it added.

Five of the flights were operated by Germany’s Lufthansa Group, and another by Air Arabia, a budget airline based in the UAE, according to the airport.

It said that airlines “provided the passengers with the best possible care on the aircraft.” Although those on board spoke of their distress.

“There was no food or drink for us. There were no blankets for us either,” Søren Thieme, who was on one of the Lufthansa planes, told Ekstra Bladet, a Danish newspaper that first reported the incident.

He said passengers on the canceled flight to Copenhagen asked if they could enter the airport, but they were told it was forbidden, and that all the bus drivers had gone home.

“We’re simply trapped here, along with the staff, too,” he told the newspaper.

Lufthansa and Air Arabia did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider.

Munich Airport said it “apologized expressly” to the affected passengers.

“Our top priority is always the safety and satisfaction of our passengers, and these incidents do not meet our standards.”




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A recurring character in the Epstein files: Snow White

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Snow White has made another appearance in the Epstein files.

A June 2010 email contained in the latest tranche of documents released by the Justice Department shows the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein asking an unidentified person to get a costume of the beloved Disney character.

“i would love to take photos of you in a snow white costume,” Epstein wrote. “you can get it from the costume store.”

“Will get it!” the person responded.

The email — which was first reported by The Financial Times — isn’t the only time that the guest of the Seven Dwarfs has been mentioned in the files.

A few weeks later, ex-Barclays CEO Jes Staley sent an email to Epstein, whom he had known for years, that said: “That was fun. Say hi to Snow White.”

Epstein responded: “[W]hat character would you like next?” When Staley said “Beauty and the Beast,” Epstein replied: “Well one side is available.”

Also in July 2010, an unknown person emailed Epstein with the cryptic comment: “the snow white was f..ed twice as soon as she put her costume))”.

It’s not known if there is any connection between the various references to Snow White.

The Staley email exchange was initially released after the government of the Virgin Islands sued JPMorgan Chase, alleging it facilitated Epstein’s sex-trafficking activities in the Caribbean, where he owned two islands.

The VI lawyers claimed in court papers that the Disney princess references were code for young women. Staley, who was a private banker at JPMorgan before he went to Barclays, testified in a different case that he did not remember the emails.

Epstein — who had dealings with the rich, famous, and powerful even after he pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008 — killed himself in a Manhattan prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sweeping sex-trafficking charges.

Scrutiny of Staley’s ties to Epstein led to his departure from Barclays in 2021. Two years later, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority banned him from management positions in financial services.

Staley appealed, which resulted in him taking the stand, where he testified that his relationship with Epstein was largely professional. He also testified that he had sex with one of Epstein’s staff members at the apartment of Epstein’s brother. The ban was upheld.

Lawyers for Staley didn’t immediately return a request for comment.




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Man uses $4,999 autonomous snow blower to clear his driveway during winter storm: ‘I’m inside sipping a coffee’

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Forget robotaxis — a man and his robo-snow blower were the envy of X during the weekend’s winter storm.

More than 250 million Americans are thawing out after a massive winter storm swept the country with freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall.

Tom Moloughney, however, stayed inside. He watched a nearly 230-pound robot clear his long New Jersey driveway, documenting the process in a video posted to his X account.

Moloughney is a certified techie, host of the State of Charge YouTube channel and a senior editor at InsideEVs. He’s been reviewing a $4,999 autonomous snow blower from robotics company Yarbo.

The storm dumped about six inches of snow in Moloughney’s town over 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service. It was the perfect opportunity to give the bot a whirl.

“This is going to be a great test to see if this robot can handle a 6,000 sq.ft. driveway during a major winter storm,” Moloughney wrote on X. “I’m inside sipping a coffee while it’s doing its job and so far so good!”

Videos Moloughney posted during the storm showed the Wi-Fi-connected machine clearing snow from his long driveway, a walkway, and the curved area in front of his two-car garage. When its battery ran low, the robot returned on its own to a charging pad, recharging for about an hour and a half before heading back out into the freezing temperatures.

According to Yarbo’s website, the autonomous snowblower can clear snow up to 12 feet of snow, throw it as far as 40 feet, and operate in temperatures as low as minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit.

“It will continue to do that until the driveway is completely done twice,” Moloughney updated viewers on X during the storm. “I’ll then send it out again and continue to do so until the snow stops.”

Still, the robotic helper hasn’t been flawless, according to Moloughney. The reviewer said the machine required extensive digital setup before the storm and struggled to establish GPS connectivity in parts of his driveway. During a previous storm, he said hail fell before the snow, leaving a sheet of ice the robot couldn’t remove. And, during a previous storm, hail fell before the snow, leaving a sheet of ice covering his driveway before the bot cleared the snow.

Moloughney and Yarbo did not respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.

Despite the hiccups, Moloughney said the robot worked through the night as the final flakes fell, calling its performance “kicking ass.”

You can watch the reviewer’s unboxing of the robo-snow blower in the video below.




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Influencers convinced me I needed to build an igloo for my kids. The results made this snow day bearable, and it was free.

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Years ago, we bought a geodesic climbing structure for my three kids, who were all under 5. We thought it would keep them entertained all year long without our supervision, but the reality could not be more different. The structure sat untouched through the seasons.

On Sunday, while preparing for the massive snowstorm that was headed toward Maine, Instagram fed me a reel of a couple building an igloo with the same climbing structure we have. I sent it to my husband, who came running from the room next door and said, “We have to do this!”

It turned out to be a hit with the kids, and it was surprisingly easy to pull off.

We used sheets to make it eco-friendly

The video I watched showed the first step to making the igloo is wrapping the perimeter of the climbing structure tightly with plastic wrap.


Man covering structure with a sheet

The author used bed sheets instead of serenwrap.

Courtesy of the author



We opted for a more eco-friendly option and decided to use king-size bed sheets. My husband had the idea to soak them in water first so they wouldn’t blow away in the strong wind as we were prepping the igloo. We soaked them in a tub and carried them outside quickly. The temps in Maine were in the teens, so we had to drag the sheets across the climbing dome quickly. I was actually surprised at how quickly the sheets hardened in the cold air. We just wrapped the ends of the sheet around a pole and didn’t need anything else to secure it in place.

We covered the entire structure, leaving one small triangle so the kids could crawl in and out of it, and had the rest of the dome totally covered.

I didn’t want to get my hopes up

We had tried something similar years earlier, and the sheets never hardened enough to stay on the dome. I didn’t want to get my hopes up this time around, so we left the sheets and walked over to a friends’ house to play before the snow.


Kids inside a climbing dome

The author had low expectations for the results.

Courtesy of the author



We were back home when the storm had already started, and we could see snow accumulating on the dome. I really wanted to check on it regularly because I was worried the weight of the snow would collapse the igloo’s roof. But I’m from Argentina, and I don’t do well in negative temperatures, so I let it be and decided to check it in the morning.

We woke up to tons of snow and a perfect igloo

We got absolutely dumped with snow overnight; it was the biggest snowstorm I’ve experienced since moving to Maine 6 years ago. And to my surprise, the igloo worked.


Woman inside igloo

The igloo turned out to be great for everyone.

Courtesy of the author



Immediately, my kids were excited to climb inside, even exclaiming that it was way warmer in the igloo than outside it. They called over friends and neighbors, and they all played inside the igloo while I worked and my husband snowblowed around our house.

It’s the first time that I copied something from a viral reel or TikTok video, and it really paid off. And the best part is that it costs us nothing.

Next time we get a snowstorm warning, I at least know which sheets to pull out ASAP so we can start building quickly.




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Nathan Rennolds

Huge winter storm barrels toward East Coast as snow and ice blanket large parts of US

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A massive winter storm is battering the US this weekend, bringing heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain to millions of Americans.

The storm, which is set to stretch over 2,000 miles from New Mexico to Maine, hit the south-central US on Friday night and has since been making its way eastward.

The National Weather Service (NWS) warned it would move into the Mid-Atlantic states on Saturday night before pushing into the Northeast late on Sunday, leading to “considerable impacts” to much of the eastern half of the US.

Here’s where the storm is set to hit hardest.


US winter storm hits Little Rock, Arkansas, in 2026.

Impact of the storm on Little Rock, Arkansas.

Will Newton/Getty Images



Heavy snow is continuing to fall across large parts of the US on Sunday morning, but it is expected to concentrate in eastern regions by the evening.

The NWS has predicted that more than 12 inches could fall from the Ohio Valley through the northern mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Sunday, with almost double that possible in parts of New England and the inner Northeast.

The agency said power outages, tree damage, and dangerous travel conditions are also likely across parts of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic as a result of freezing rains and lingering icing.

Major cities in the weather system’s projected path include Atlanta, Charlotte, Richmond, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she had “authorized all state employees to work remotely on Monday” in an effort to reduce travel.

“I encourage other employers to do the same, just to keep people off the roads and think about this,” she said.

Some of the worst hit states so far include Arkansas, where some areas recorded around seven inches of snowfall through Friday night into Saturday.

The NWS said the state had so far experienced “wave one” of the storm, with a second wave due to hit overnight into Sunday.

Oklahoma, which saw several inches of snow on Friday night, was also bracing for a second round of snow into Sunday.

Speaking to Fox News on Saturday, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said the state could deal with the snow and that he was more concerned with power outages.

More than 430,000 customers from New Mexico to Kentucky are without power as of Sunday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.


American Airlines plane during winter storm 2026.

An American Airlines plane pictured during the winter storm.

Ron Jenkins/Getty Images



Moving forward, the NWS said heavy snowfall is likely to lead to “widespread travel disruptions and closures” that could last a number of days.

Travel has already been hit hard this weekend, with airlines canceling thousands of flights across Saturday and Sunday.

Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International are the worst affected airports on Sunday, per flight-tracking site FlightAware.

Many airlines are waiving rebooking fees for flights to and from affected regions.




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