My flight on Air China’s CA107, which was supposed to take off from Beijing at 8:20pm tonight for arrival in Hong Kong after midnight, was cancelled due to protests at the Hong Kong airport, the second disruption in my return journey in as many days. The flight was delayed from its original departure time of 6:15pm.

I was flying to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific Airways’ CX331 from Beijing on Monday, a code-shared service between Hong Kong’s hometown airline and China’s flag carrier, originally scheduled to take off at 4:40pm and arrive at 8:40pm.

Just before boarding time, we were notified that the flight was cancelled because Hong Kong’s airport authority had scrapped all outbound and new inbound services.

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Cathay Pacific’s ground staff told us to reschedule our flights through our tour agencies or their customer service hotline, which some passengers said went unanswered for 20 minutes.

Chaos and confusion ensued. We waited for more than two hours in line to retrieve our checked-in luggage and to clear customs and immigration for the second time.

No accommodation would be provided by Cathay Pacific, because the closure of the Hong Kong airport wasn’t the carrier’s fault, said Zhu Yi, a ground crew. That set some passengers off, as they quarrelled with ground crew to assert their rights. I was lucky as the delay meant an extra night to spend with my family in the comfort of our own home in Beijing.

I paid 2,015 yuan (US$285) for a new ticket on Air China, that is now cancelled. Cathay Pacific said they would refund my original ticket, which was 1,056 yuan, at some point.

Pearl Liu:

I was flying back to Hong Kong on Scoot’s TR980 from Changi Airport after a week-long holiday in Singapore.

The service, originally scheduled to take off at 2pm and land at 6:05pm, took off on time. Halfway into the flight, with me halfway through a paperback of short stories called Balik Kampung that I had picked up, the captain announced that we were being diverted to Macau because protesters had occupied the Hong Kong airport.

Less than 30 minutes before touchdown, the captain came back and said that all the airfields in Macau, Guangzhou and Shenzhen were overloaded by hundreds of Hong Kong-bound flights that had been diverted there, so we had to turn around and head back to Singapore. As this was a low-cost carrier, there was no entertainment or free food on board. The cabin crew did start to offer passengers water.

Sitting next to me was a Singaporean working in Hong Kong. He was rather frustrated upon hearing that we were returning to the Lion City. He dropped his head against the seat in front of him and muttered that he had to “work tomorrow lah.”

He asked Scoot to issue him a letter with an outline of the diversion and service disruption, to explain his absence to his employer.

He declined to give his name or his company’s name, but we chatted about what was going on in Hong Kong. He thought that the protesters are achieving nothing more than goading the Chinese government into taking drastic action, which would ultimately be very bad for the city.

Day after grounding all flights, Hong Kong protesters return to airport

We landed in Singapore at 9pm, back at our starting point after seven hours of flying. Scoot arranged for a free overnight stay at Capri by Fraser near Singapore’s Chinatown, with complementary transfers between the airport and the hotel, without me having to spend any extra money on top of the HK$2,224 (US$283) for the ticket.

After seven hours of futile flying, I was too tired to explore the city any further.

Scoot gave every passenger S$30 (US$22) on Tuesday for taxi rides to the airport, where we were put on TR978 for Hong Kong, scheduled for 6am and an arrival at 9:55am. There was a slight delay, as Hong Kong airport struggled to get full service back to normal and had to stagger hundreds of delayed and cancelled flights.

I dozed off as soon as I strapped myself into my seat.

Viola Zhou

I was originally scheduled to fly from Xiaoshan airport in Hangzhou on Tuesday evening on Cathay Dragon’s KA637 service, departing at 7:35pm for a 10:05pm arrival in Hong Kong.

As Hong Kong’s airport struggled to resume landings and take-offs in the city, I was informed on Tuesday that my inbound flight would be cancelled. The earliest alternative the airline could offer was on KA623 on Thursday morning, which meant a delay of 37 hours.

I will spend tonight at my cousin’s home in Hangzhou. The airline did not offer accommodation, food or airport transfer for stranded passengers.

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I had to look for substitutes. Tickets on the high-speed railway, which can take me from Hangzhou to West Kowloon in seven and half hours on a second-class seat for 935 yuan (US$132), were sold out. Fortunately I did manage to get a seat on the G99 service on Wednesday, departing at 3:01pm for an arrival at 10:30pm.

Cathay Dragon did say that I could get a partial refund for the HK$1,800 round-trip ticket between Hangzhou and Hong Kong, but for now, the refund was unknown.

Lee Jeong-Ho

I was meant to fly on Korean Air Lines’ KE607 flight on Monday, departing Incheon airport at 7:45pm in Seoul for a 10:30pm arrival in Hong Kong, after an assignment in Seoul.

On my way to the airport, my friends in Hong Kong sent me texts that showed that the airport authority had suspended all outbound flights at 4pm, with the warning that they may also suspend arrivals soon. Sure enough, by the time I arrived at the airport, I was notified that my flight was suspended.

Dozens of people sat at the airport’s rest area, most of them busy calling their families and colleagues.

I met a Korean compatriot, who expressed her support to the Hong Kong protesters, even if she was inconvenienced by the flight disruption.

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“I had to change my flight back to Hong Kong, but I understand the frustration of the protesters,” said Sally Kim, who works as a professional in Hong Kong. “Koreans had similar protests in the 1980s. Sometimes you need to fight to get what you want.”

“Freedom is not free, and I’m sure many Koreans understand the situation in Hong Kong,” she said, adding that she would postpone her return flight to later this week until the situation settles. “No government should abuse their power [against] their own people.”

As flight delays were announced, the Incheon airport authority asked passengers to make changes to their itineraries by mobile phone to avoid crowding the service counters. I was finally able to find a seat on Tuesday back to Hong Kong, where I hope there wouldn’t be any further delays.