United Airlines Flight 1199 (Boeing 737-990/ER) had just landed from Newark with 175 aboard; Alaska Airlines flight 143 (Boeing 757-224) to Portland was departing with 182 aboard when they made contact.
The left hand winglet of the arriving 737 contacted the right hand horizontal stabilizer of the departing 757. Fortunately the Alaska jet was not on its take-off run, so the impact happened at a crawl (i.e. “taxiing at a low speed.”). Passengers said they felt a jolt. The planes were stuck together; and part of one plane had “snapped off.”
The impact occurred at 7:51, derailing travel plans of the passengers, and scheduling for the two damaged jets. Some passengers were put up at local hotels, but there were no reported injuries.
A passenger who shot a well-circulated picture that was released on twitter was besieged with reporter requests to post the image. Actor Peter Cambor who was aboard also tweeted that the jets were “stuck together.”