300 stranded in UK return on special Cathay flight
Tears and hugs said what words could not as about 250 stranded students taking a special flight arranged by Cathay Pacific were reunited with their families in Hong Kong last night.
The airline has arranged three special flights for students and passengers stuck in snowbound Britain.
The first, with 300 passengers, returned to the city at 7.30pm. The other flights are scheduled for today and tomorrow.
Arriving from Manchester Airport, Francesca Lai, 15, stranded since Friday, said she had asked Cathay to give her priority because of her asthma, but the staff had not responded.
'The airport was in chaos,' she said. 'The airline only arranged a doctor to offer medication in the last two days.'
Kelvin Yip, 18, who was put up in the conference room of a hotel, said he wanted to take a bath and sleep right away. 'The toughest time was having to wait for the ticket. I was really nervous,' he said.
His father said: 'I know it is the weather and has nothing to do with the airline, but the management of Cathay was really poor. They only offered free food on the second day.'
The airline said it was resuming normal services to and from London as Heathrow reopened its second runway. All four flights took off yesterday.
'We expect the three extra flights, along with the four daily scheduled flights will help clear the backlog of stranded passengers in London,' a Cathay spokeswoman said.
She said all students had left Park Inn Hotel's conference room. The last batch of students to stay in the hotel was expected to return today, along with 80 other students who did not hold Cathay tickets.
Quince Chong Wai-yan, Cathay's director of corporate affairs, said on RTHK more than 2,000 Hong Kong travellers were still stranded at Heathrow and if the daily and extra flights could not clear the backlog, another flight could be arranged.
While many stranded students and their parents expressed anger over the management at Heathrow airport and at airlines, many Hong Kong people said the students were spoiled.
'They should rely on themselves. These students overseas still can't take care of themselves and have to seek help from the government. How can they overcome adversity in future?' ahyiu2003 wrote on the popular forum discuss.com.hk.
'No wonder people think of committing suicide. Parents should be stricter on their children so that they can grow up.'
Tomymy wrote: 'Children are like princesses and princes and cannot deal with any problem. And their mother in Hong Kong will only say, 'I am so worried'.'
The Travel Industry Council said 171 Hong Kong people in nine tour groups were still stranded in Europe.
