flight Flight 052 departed Bogotá at 13:10 Eastern Standard Time, five minutes ahead of schedule, on January 25, 1990. The flight landed at Medellín at 14:04 and prepared to fly the leg to JFK. At Medellín, the aircraft landed with of fuel. The flight plan filed for the journey to JFK called for of fuel required for the trip to JFK, for reserve fuel, for alternate fuel, for holding fuel, and of taxi fuel totaling minimum of block fuel. The dispatcher at Medellín ordered a total fuel load of , including of "top off" fuel to raise the aircraft weight to the maximum allowable for the planned departure runway. At Medellín, the captain and dispatcher decided to use another runway and requested an additional of fuel. The flight departed Medellín at 15:08, bound for JFK. The flight first entered U.S. airspace of Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center at 17:28, flying at , and proceeded northward, climbing to . The flight was cleared to fly Atlantic route 7 to the DIXON navigational aid and jet airway 174 to Norfolk, Virginia. Flight 052 entered its first holding pattern over Norfolk at 19:04 and remained circling until 19:23. From there, Flight 052 continued on to the BOTON intersection near Atlantic City, New Jersey, where it was placed in a second holding pattern from 19:43 to 20:12. The flight proceeded to the CAMRN intersection where it entered its third holding pattern from 20:18 to 20:47. Flight 052 entered the CAMRN holding pattern at , having been cleared to descend prior to arrival at the intersection, and the flight descended further to while in the CAMRN holding pattern. At 20:44:09, while still holding at CAMRN, the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZNY) advised Flight 052 that there was an "indefinite hold" and to continue holding at CAMRN. At 20:44:43, the ZNY controller told the flight to "expect further clearance" at 21:05. The flight had previously been given two delay estimates that had passed. At that point, First Officer Klotz radioed the controller, saying, "ah well I think we need priority we're passing [unintelligible]." The controller inquired as to how long the flight could hold, as well as what their alternate airport was. Klotz replied at 20:46:03 that they could hold for five more minutes. The controller once again inquired as to their alternate airport and Klotz replied at 20:46:24, "It was Boston,