Passengers furious that their flight was delayed for nearly nine hours managed to triple the compensation offered by the airline by staging a sit-in on the plane.
A total of 159 travellers on the Hong Kong Airlines flight from Singapore were offered HK$400 before they landed at Chek Lap Kok at 5.30am yesterday.
But 80 of them said they weren't happy with the amount and refused to get off. Police were called as negotiations continued and 59 disembarked. But at 9am, 21 passengers still remained on board.
The four Hongkongers and 17 mainlanders eventually left the plane at 10.30am but continued their protest in the arrivals hall.
The mainland passengers, a tour group from Shenzhen, displayed placards accusing Hong Kong Airlines of being liars.
The protest finally ended at 1.30pm when the mainlanders showed the delay had caused the cancellation of their hotel rooms in Hong Kong. The airline raised the compensation to HK$1,200 and offered a coach to take them home.
One of the mainlanders told iCable TV they refused to leave the plane because the airline kept lying. She said: 'The amount of the compensation is not important. Their attitude was very poor.'