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Grounded plane turns into pizza party for grateful passengers

Head chef Meghan O'Dea said she thinks Pi's Fibonacci pizza is a major contender in the competition.

On Monday night, severe storms forced an Atlanta-bound Delta flight to divert to Knoxville, Tennessee, leaving passengers stranded on the tarmac for three hours.

"Normal flight, going down to Atlanta, en route, the pilot came over the PA and said there was some real bad weather in Atlanta and we'll have to circle for a while and then maybe we can land. Well, we circled for a while, the pilot told us we're running a little low on fuel so we need divert so then we went over to Knoxville, Tennessee," said passenger Ryan Wood.

While no delay is a fun one, airport employees made the wait more bearable with an unexpected treat: pizza.

Thirty Pizza Hut pizzas were delivered — one report claims the number was as high was 60 — escorted by a police car, to the passengers in the parked plane.

"Of course we were all upset, but everyone was pretty accepting," passenger Jan Vazmina told TODAY of the delay. "The pilot kept the mood light and the flight attendants busted their butts to keep us hydrated."

"Yeah, it definitely put a smile on everyone's face when we saw them bring 30 pizzas on the plane," Wood added.

Bonus: the pizza was still hot.

Michele Carson-Vaughn, Delta Director of Field Services for the Southeast, said the pizza delivery was the Knoxville station manager's idea.

According to airline spokesman Morgan Durrant, Department of Transportation rules don't require airlines to deliver pizzas, only that snacks and water are provided after a two-hour tarmac delay, but "it's a nice thing we can do for our customers, and it's something we've been doing in these situations."